Review

I was parsing my feelings all night about this book. I remember several people I knew didn’t like this book, and I hesitated so much going into it. I was worried I wasn’t going to like it at all. In the end, I’m glad I give books a chance, even if I think I won’t like them. There is just something wonderful about this book that I really enjoyed. And I can’t even give a full explanation as to why. Something about it just stuck with me, because I am still thinking about it this morning. And it was one book I wasn’t even tempted to skim.

It was inevitable, but so far in life, ignoring the inevitable has always been easy for me.

This book drew me in from the very first. I loved the idea, and I loved the mix of our world and fantasy. And perhaps that is one reason that I found I had no trouble with it, this didn’t require a whole new world type of world building, but it did require a magic system. And I think this book benefitted greatly from that. It was a great magic system and I was so intrigued by it. In some ways I would have loved more content based on the end, and what happens after in terms of consequences, but I’ll take what I can get.

What was also a relief was this book was a standalone! I have recently learned how much I love standalone fantasy books. A whole lot. Because there is nothing wrong with them! And this worked so well. I mean, this author could do a prequel or even a sequel if they so desired. Not that they will, but this world had such amazing potential.

I was wowed! Also old houses? Yes. There is definitely ancient magic about them. Something special, and I guess this book played on my feelings about that. And so I liked it.

Blood and mortar, I miss it with everything in me.

I even liked the characters. Vi is so determined to be Caretaker – she doesn’t care what she has to do. She will do whatever it takes, even begging the King who killed her father. But her friend Wyn isn’t so sure. I loved Vi’s character arc so much. She grows and learns from herself and her mistakes. And really cool things are revealed in this book that I am not going to mention here. I just enjoyed the plot a whole lot. There were some interesting turning points that made me gasp.

I hope it helps, that I send my voice to him when I can.

I also like Wyn. He’s pretty much your typical mysterious character, and what does he have to do with anything? And so on.

I will mention there is romance in this book, but it doesn’t happen until much later, and I like its development. I was pleased with the way the author did things.

The pacing was also good for me. I didn’t feel like I was missing things, or anything was going too fast. In fact, I rather enjoyed taking my time with it. I never got to the point that I was desperate to finish it so I could move on. A good sign of nice pacing.

And finally, I did love the writing. I thought the writing was lovely, and it worked well with the book.

Definitely a four star book for me!