annieb123
Written on Oct 28, 2018
A Mage's Power is the first book of the Inquisition trilogy by Casey Wolfe. It's a NA/older YA paranormal romance with a m/m lead. Released 19th July 2018 by NineStar press, it's 270 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats.
This book struck me as more of a romance with fantasy/magic (worked in where convenient) than a fantasy with romance. Definitely heavy on the romance. There's nothing wrong with that, but readers looking for straight fantasy and magic with a side order of romance are possibly going to be disappointed.
There's also remarkably little dramatic tension in the book. This was a very low stress sweet novel with a plot that never really placed any of the lead characters in what felt like direct danger. Whatever the bad guys do, the good guys just manage to crush them.
It felt odd to me that techy items like cell phones exist side by side with shapeshifters, incantations, and grimoires. It probably won't bother a lot of readers. It honestly didn't bother me, but it was a noticeable nudge to my suspension of disbelief every time it happened.
The lead characters also do an awful lot of murdering and mayhem causing without much (any?) repercussions. This book also includes a fair bit of insta-love and insta-bonding. Again, that is likely a bonus for a lot of readers.
The writing is even and well done. There is an awful lot of good natured sarcastic banter, so if that's your thing, you'll be over the moon.
This is a clean romance and the naughty bits are implied rather than explicit. There is a fair bit of rough language (multiple uses of 'the F-bomb', as well as more minor bad language). None of it really seems overly gratuitous.
A nice m/m romance, sweet and low drama. It was a little bit on the sarcastic end of the spectrum for my tastes, but I'm not the target audience. This is an undemanding fun read.
Three and a half stars. I liked it well enough to seek out other work by the author and I'm looking forward to see what's in store for Rowan and Shaw.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes