Novella Review: Non-Heir (The Black Mage #0.5)

Release Date: January 24, 2017
Author: Rachel E. Carter
Publisher: Self Published
Length: 138 pages
Source: Purchased e-Book/Audio Book

Prince. Prodigy. Mage.

Perfect for fans of Throne of Glass, Falling Kingdoms, and Tamora Pierce.

This prequel novella is set before the events of The Black Mage series. Novella follows Prince Darren as a child through adolescence and his first run-in with Ryiah at the Academy of Magic. Readers discover the dark backstory between the two princes and their father, as well as the ensuing events that shaped Darren into the Academy’s most prodigal mage.

    

Review:

Protagonist: This story is about a young boy named Darren, he's second in line to his country's throne and his father is a sick monster of a man. Honestly, while I like Darren more or less, it's more that I feel sorry for what he has to deal with, his father's an abusive dick, his brother shows some psychotic tendencies, on top of all that he has to be the best at whatever he does or he'll face his father's wrath. I just want to give him a hug and tell him everything is gonna be alright. As the story progresses his personality starts to harden and it kind of comes on pretty fast. It's not that his character is uneven or develops super quickly, there's a few time jumps in this book as well as key moments in his life to explain why he's changed, but it still felt a bit rushed to me.

World Building: So, going into this novella, I thought I could read it before First Year, and still get something out of it, but really, this is something to better read after you've read the first book. This story acts mainly as a character study for Darren and explains, presumably, why he's such a douche in the first book. (Again, that's just guess work, I haven't read Book 1 yet.) In the end, while I did really enjoy this story, and I do feel like it did introduce me to this world and pique my interest for the rest of the series, I just think I would have appreciated it more had I read Book 1 first.

Predictability: So, since this story is really mostly a group of short stories to act as a character study there isn't all that much in this book to act as twists or turns. I do have to say though that the beginning was a bit confusing since it was almost told in a non-omniscient third person and it took a little while to get into the names. Overall, there were some very interesting points to the story, but nothing that really shocked me, unless you consider being baffled at how big of a pile of human garbage the king is a shocker.

Ending: Again, since this serves as more of a character study than anything else, the ending wasn't a huge final climax that builds everything to a head and spells what's to come next in this series. Instead, the reader is treated to what I can only guess are scenes from the first book told from Darren's point of view, and the story just sort of ends after a certain scene. I wasn't necessarily disappointed by this, but since I don't have as much emotional investment in these characters that I would have if I read the first book, it was just sort of meh.

Rating:

Okay, so this story was very entertaining and emotionally scarring, but my biggest take away from this book is that for me to fully appreciate this story I should read the first full book, so after the BookTube-A-Thon, I'll pencil in time to start this series, because honestly, it looks pretty interesting.

Book Review: Flamecaster (Shattered Realms #1)

Release Date: April 5, 2016
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Publisher: HarperTeen
Length:535 pages
Source: Finished Copy from Publisher

A burning vengeance.

Adrian sul’Han, known as Ash, is a trained healer with a powerful gift of magic—and a thirst for revenge. The son of the queen of the Fells, Ash is forced into hiding after a series of murders throws the queendom into chaos. Now Ash is closer than he’s ever been to killing the man responsible, the cruel king of Arden. As a healer, can Ash use his powers not to save a life but to take it?

A blood-based curse.

Abandoned at birth, Jenna Bandelow was told the mysterious magemark on the back of her neck would make her a target. But when the King’s Guard launches a relentless search for a girl with a mark like hers, Jenna assumes that it has more to do with her role as a saboteur than any birth-based curse. Though Jenna doesn’t know why she’s being hunted, she knows that she can’t get caught.

Destiny’s fiery hand.

Eventually, Ash’s and Jenna’s paths will collide in Arden. Thrown together by chance and joined by their hatred of the king, they will come to rescue each other in ways they cannot yet imagine.

Set in the world of the acclaimed Seven Realms series a generation later, this is a thrilling story of dark magic, chilling threats, and two unforgettable characters walking a knife-sharp line between life and death.

    

Review:

Protagonists: Adrian, known as Ash for most of this book is the son of the Queen of the Fells and her consort. After some the loss of someone close to him Ash is out for revenge against the King of Arden, who he holds responsible for the act. After years of training and waiting Ash finds himself closer than ever to finally ridding the world of the great evil that is Gerard Montaigne. Jenna just wanted a normal life, but after two of her friends are brutally murdered by the King of Arden's own hands she joins up with a rebellion to fight back any way she can. Soon though there are people looking for a girl with a birthmark like hers and thinking that it's due to her being in the rebellion she does her best to hide from trouble, but trouble always seems to have a way of finding her. There are two other characters with POVs in this book, a mysterious smuggler who befriends Ash, but seems to have more of a loyalty to herself than anyone else, and the son of Marin Karn, the evil bastard of a mage general from the Seven Realms series, who doesn't seem to be as bad as his father and seems to hold an unknown loyalty. Dear Lord, all of these characters are great and while Ash is by far the most prominent character featured in this book each of these characters has a chance to shine. All of these characters don't play at being pure or wholly good, they know they have shades of darkness in them that they've chosen to embrace rather than deny.

Romance: If I had one criticism of this book it would be that the romance advanced a bit too quickly. It wasn't an insta-love not exactly, but there was this moment that both Jenna and Ash magically connected that seems to be the catalyst for the romantic feelings advancing so quickly, and while I'm sure it's there to sort of explain the quick connection, it sometimes felt more like an excuse than an explanation. Despite all that however, there were some moments where I really started to root for this couple. They do have a great connection and there is some pretty great chemistry, I just had hoped that all the romantic stuff would occur a lot slower and be more of a slow burning, possibly at odds from time to time, romance.

World Building: This series takes place about 25-30 years after the end of the Seven Realms series. I have no idea why on the Goodreads series page it says 20, but it's wrong. Anyway,  I love being in the Seven Realms world, and while it hasn't been so long since I left, a lot has changed, or maybe it's stayed the same. The Fells is still at war with Arden, though it seems Arden has gained no purchase on the Fells, but has recently, as of the beginning of this book dealt a huge blow not only to the Fells but to Raisa, Han, and their kids. Because of that, and some other things, it sends Ash into Arden, which we first glimpsed in The Exiled Queen, the church of Malthus is still at large unfortunately and the King seems just as evil, if not more so than he previously had. I was surprised at how little fan service there was in this book. Most authors that write a spin-off that takes place a generation alter would jump at the chance to introduce as many kids of previous characters that they could or have best friends' kids fall in love, but this more than anything is a perfect mix of new and old, sure there are some references to old characters, as well as their possible children, and a lot of this book is told from our previous protagonists child, but there's a sense to this book that's all new. Very little of it takes place in familiar territory it's told from completely new characters, and there's a deeper mystery at work that comes almost out of nowhere, in a good way.

Predictability: There are quite a few mysteries in this book, and as I've said before Chima does a fantastic job at keeping secrets and letting off just enough information for it all to make sense once the truth comes out, and it seems she hasn't lost her touch. The biggest mystery seems to be the magemark on the back of Jenna's neck. She's not a mage that's for sure, but there's something magical about her still. While Chima teases us senseless with possibilities, she's doesn't quite give up the goat yet. There are of course many other mysteries and twists in this book, most of which shocked me, some left me squealing more than I'd like to admit, and some I was so proud I called, though there's still one twist I'm still bitter about, something I should have called, but I forgot one detail and it forever evaded me until its big reveal.

Ending: Part of me really regrets adding this section during times like this. Honestly I'm not sure what to say about the ending without giving anything away but I'm going to try. As this book starts to wrap up I'm not sure how everything was going to not only work out, but where everything was going to go and what position our characters could be in by the time the book ends. The final climax of this book, and the smaller bits of tension that come after were very epic. I mean, I can't believe how insane and awesome some of the stuff was. I don't want to say there's a cliffhanger, because there technically isn't but things aren't all finished, there are still a lot of mysteries and questions to be answered and some of them are so burning that in some way it does feel like this book has a cliffhanger.

Rating:

So, while I wasn't completely happy with the romance, it is only one part of this much, much greater story and all of the awesome of this book outshines that so brightly. I can't wait to see where this series goes, though from the looks of it Book 2: Shadowcaster is going to focus on some different characters so I don't know quite when this story will continue.