Reviewed by Silvara on
I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book takes turns telling Tyen and Rielle's stories from their point of views. The first handful of chapters are Tyen, then the next handful are Rielle, and so on. I liked getting to know about both characters and the people and world around them. However, when it came time to switch to the other character? It always seemed to 'end' the chapter on a cliffhanger! There were very few times this didn't happen. Switch between characters by all means, but not in places that you leave the reader yelling out loud (literally in a few instances!) because of where the previous character left off.
I'm not sure who I liked better between Tyen and Rielle. They are so completely different in nearly every way that I can think of. Tyen is poor, and attends the magic academy to learn magic and one day hopes to teach at the school. He's also adventurous and skilled at making mechanical things.
Rielle is sheltered and well-off. She attends a temple school where she is supposed to be searching for a husband from the other wealthy families. Magic is forbidden to all but the priests. She's smart and a clever painter, and quite devout. She sees nothing wrong with magic being in the hands of only the priests.
It never states it, but just from how society works for each of them, I would guess they are from two different worlds. Literally. It would be interesting if they ever met each other. Both Tyen and Rielle don't always make the best decisions. Most of their decisions are made due to the circumstances making them for them. Which leads to interesting situations. The few times they do actually take their fate into their own hands, it doesn't end well. Leading to more interesting situations as well as plot twists.
I loved Vella. Why I'm not exactly sure. As a sentient book who has self-admittedly lost a lot of her emotions due to being turned into a book, she didn't have as much personality as the other characters. And yet at the same time she did. I like the way it was explained that she came to be, and how her book-self works. I'm hoping Tyen's quest succeeds.
I also really enjoyed reading about Beetle. As well as the people Rielle came into contact with. The different magic systems were well thought out, and made sense for each world. There was world building, but not as much as I would have liked. You really only learn about one city in Rielle's world, and that one isn't very well fleshed-out. In Tyen's you learn about more cities, but it's still mostly bits and pieces. As this is a first book in a series, perhaps there will be more world building to come.
I can hardly wait to pick up book 2, and I would highly suggest you try this book if you haven't read it yet.
This review was originally posted on Fantasy of the Silver Dragon
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 21 June, 2015: Finished reading
- 21 June, 2015: Reviewed