A friend gave us a gift card for Barnes & Noble and so my wife and I decided to make an event of it. With Covid still raging, we planned a date night that involved some high-end take out fried chicken and followed that up with a trip to the book store. We ate our chicken in the great outdoors, and masked up to find some new bookly treasures.
We spent some time looking for a book that would interest us, and I kept finding book after book with great cover art, and sub par content. It took some time, but I finally decided I wanted something with fantasy magic and found this book. The back didn’t say much:
In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled-taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon army.
Zaira has grown up on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire Empire.
Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations. But fate has bound the heir and the mage.
War looms on the horizon. A single spark could turn the city into a pyre.
I actually only read the middle two paragraphs and decided it was interesting enough to give a go.
Right off the bat you’re introduced to a somewhat rebellious young woman sneaking about to get what she wants, and she encounters a dangerous situation, another young woman being attacked by a group of thugs.
These two women end up being the most prominent characters in the story and their lives become intertwined. They end up leaving their home town and traveling to another city in an effort to easy political tensions and find a horde of children that had been kidnapped. But neither of them is particularly skilled in diplomacy and they end up getting in a lot of trouble along the way.
The story gets a bit contentious with an underling plot of how mages are slaves in this society, their magic bound to serve the will of the government. This undercurrent was not only an undertone of the book, but expressly discussed and contrasted with the neighboring country that is ruled by mages. This topic was uncomfortable at times, but the author left the reader with the impression that our main character would be working toward the freedom of mages going forward and that result would likely be in a future book.
Overall I give this book 5 stars.
Tensions are high on the border and it seems inevitable that war will ensue. Our heroin must make alliances and quickly if war is to be averted.
And Amalia does just that, she stumbles into a courtship with a powerful mage and gets herself invited to the meeting where war will be decided. There she has a chance to plead her case and attempt to stop a war that would destroy her home.
Her courtship with Kathe is one of the most fun elements of the entire series. He is a man of intrigue and games. He will not speak straightforwardly, but would rather speak in riddles and be told riddles to see the intellect of others and his own truly shine.
Throughout the book you’re see drama, hidden agendas, betrayals, and manner of twists and turns. The magic will enthrall you and the politics intrigue you and you’ll find yourself rooting for certain events to unfold.
In this book we get to see a lot more of how the magic between the Raverran Empire and Vaskandar differ and how in truth, both kingdoms have slaves. Overall this was a thrilling tale and prompted me to buy the third and final book in the trilogy.
Overall I give this book 4 stars.
We start off with a meeting with the villain from The Tethered Mage meeting with our heroin. He claims to have information vital to the survival of the empire, but he’s been locked in prison for months, how could it possibly be true? Moments later we find him dead… how was he murdered in a locked cell? What secrets did he hold? What plot is Vaskandar planning to destroy the empire?
Our team thinks they’ve laid the best plans to protect the city, the empire, and the warlocks, but they find themselves outsmarted at every turn. They don’t know who they can trust, where to turn or how they could ever beat Ruven.
I have no doubt that if you made it through the first two books, you’ll love this book and be terrified for your favorite characters and eagerly turning each page to see what happens next.
Overall I give this book 4 stars.
Overall I give this series 4 stars.
Cautionary notes: There is some lesbian romance, gruesome war, and repeat depictions of slavery throughout.
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This Sporadic Life 