The Godstone (The Godstone, #1)

by Violette Malan

Now in paperback, this new epic fantasy spins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and hazardous magic that could bring about the end of the world as she knows it.

Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using her magic to heal, ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. One of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of his distant cousin Xandra, a legendary Practitioner who is missing and presumed dead. Arlyn suspects the White Court intends to use him to access his cousin’s vault which he knows contains a Godstone, an artifact so dangerous he can’t allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly realizes that there is no cousin, that Arlyn and Xandra are the same person. The Godstone almost destroyed the world and sealing it away left Arlyn powerless and ill. He needs Fenra to help him keep it, and the world, safe.

• ISBN10: 0756416280
• ISBN13: 9780756416287
• Publish Date: 11 October 2022 (first published 3 August 2021)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: DAW Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780756416287

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Godstone is an immersive and beautifully well written cross-worlds fantasy by Violette Malan. Released 3rd Aug 2021 by Penguin Random House on their DAW imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats (paperback due out 4th quarter 2022). It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a wonderfully engaging fantasy with impressive complexity and subtlety. The characters are three dimensional and believable, the dialogue flows well and I never got yanked out of the story once during the read. In fact, this was my commute read over the course of a week and I almost missed my bus stop a couple of times because I was so immersed in the story that I was unaware of my surroundings.

The narrative arc is slow to build and meticulously constructed. I found the denouement and resolution competently written and (mostly) satisfying. It's ostensibly a standalone but there are strong hints foreshadowing more to come.

I enjoyed this volume enough to seek out the author's other works; high praise for me, since I never seem to have enough time to read my towering mountain of TBR books.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.