Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on
Cloudburst Falls is preparing for the Tournament of Blades, a competition between the families where they battle it out on the field. Lila Merriweather, thief extraordinaire and bodyguard to Devon Sinclair is settling into her new role and life at the Sinclair castle. The trolls in Cloudburst Falls are acting strange, the woods are too quiet and accidents are occurring during the game. Lila’s spidey scenes are telling her something is off. Estep creates an engaging mystery that quickly hooked me as she continues to flesh out the overall arc of the Black Blade series.
Lila is still plotting to seek her revenge against Victor Draconi for her mother’s murder and has been using her skills to spy on him. This aspect of the tale was suspenseful and Estep created the perfect villain with Victor Draconi. He is someone readers will love to hate and uncovering his evil plot will give you the shivers.
I appreciate seeing growth and development from the characters and was pleased with Lila. We see her being to lay down roots, acknowledge her own feels and grow not only in her magic but emotionally as well. This bacon loving little thief is a heroine you will want to root for.
We spend time with characters we have meet previously including Devon, Deah, Felix, the ever-obnoxious Blake. Mo continues to be hilarious and I enjoy his humor and antics. We spend some time with the leader of the Sinclairs and I am truly beginning to admire this woman. We meet a few new characters that further develop the current mystery and series. Lila learns more about her mother, ancestry and father. Estep reveals some unexpected connections along with a prophecy. She really has a gift for grabbing the reader and pulling them completely into the world she has created.
The current mystery was dark and gruesome. The synopsis is very vague but let me assure you it is intense and dark. Estep slowly revealed the storyline creating suspense and slowly increased the danger. I will tell you there is death and a nail-biting climatic scene you will not want to miss. The villain of this thread may surprise you. Estep did a good job with the red herrings and foreshadowing. The tale still remains young adult but leans towards the older end of this genre.
The romance is still present and we some development. While it remains in the background allowing the current mystery and overall arc to take center stage. I am perfectly happy with this arrangement, but also felt the romance added depth, gave our character's vulnerability and a second romantic thread gives us a forbidden romance that helped propel Dark Heart of Magic’s storyline.
Copy provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 10 October, 2015: Finished reading
- 10 October, 2015: Reviewed