annieb123's Review of The Godstone (The Godstone, #1)

by Violette Malan

This new epic fantasy series begins 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 the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin's Practitioner's vault. Arlyn can't ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can't allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.

Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.

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.

The Godstone (The Godstone, #1)

by Violette Malan

Reviewed by annieb123 on Dec 26, 2021

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