| Title | : | Blood for Magic |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1634766938 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781634766937 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 234 |
| Publication | : | First published November 23, 2015 |
While on a quest to heal his dying brother, Tarquin is attacked by a horrific, flesh-eating monster. He’s saved by an enigmatic and mute young soldier, cursed with a terrifying form that conceals the heart of a knight. There’s an almost instant attraction between the two men, but no time to explore it. The monster’s attack is the harbinger of a new invasion.
With Kelor helpless, the realm’s only hope lies with Tarquin. As Mage of the Realm, he alone can sacrifice himself, the way his mother did, in exchange for unimaginably powerful magic. He’s prepared to give up his life to defeat the coming evil, but before the battle is over, he’ll be faced not just with his own death, but the death of everyone he cares about.
Including the monster he’s come to love.
Blood for Magic Reviews
-
4.5 STARS
Great fantasy/magic tale, it's quite different from the norm and I really liked the originality of the plot, it was excellent and the MC's were really intense but also playful and fun. It was also really well written too and had a great way of balancing out the sadder and rather darker side of the storyline, simply having other character by just being very accepting of others for the merit in their actions and not their looks, faults or disabilities. Even though bad things happen, it gives off a lot of warm fuzzy's. OMG did I just say that, lol. It's a charming tale and I really enjoyed it. -
This was a 2 star read for me.
WARNING! NOT a spoiler (people need to know about this, before they get into the book. Granted, the scene was short): Jerk off session with a man-lizard (and not a Cardassian kind). Half shifted form.
Among crazy amount of magical species (what the hell is wosu?), lectures on magic and local history, we follow pain and suffering of Tarquin the Prince, his man-lizard, his brother, his cousin, his sister-in-law... wash and repeat 3-4 times. Tarquin is constantly injured, bleeding, sick and dying. Five, his man-lizard lover, is constantly injured from fighting, he is always cold, he is underfed and mute and is suffering from amnesia on top of everything. Fali, Tarquin's brother, is suffering from a curse. Tarquin, in turn, is suffering from guilt. And it just goes round and round. More pain, more suffering, more grief and guilt.
I am not going to get into how unprepared higher ups are when it's time to come up with a strategy to defend the Capital. They don't even know when that attack is going to happen, two days? four days? Send out a scout or two for god's sake! There is no higher military personnel to guide the Queen, either. A very odd country, I don't know how they survived to the day.
Another issue I have, which seems to be a trend in m/m books lately - a 20-something virgin. I am talking about strong, healthy, capable men who did not jerk off once in their entire life since they hit puberty. Tarquin's "first time" was with Five, jerking each other off. Tarquin, of course, had no idea how amazing "sex" was until then *desk, meet face* OK, maybe I will just roll my eyes, it'll hurt less.
In the end the author manages to pull everything together, more or less. Quite an imagination and I wish it was used evenly throughout the book. This is no
Rifter Series with twists and turns so wicked it holds you all the way to the amazing end. This particular ending is lost on me simply because I was tired and bored for 75% of the book, which was mostly spent in the castle and the sickroom. But whatevers, I will throw in a star for the potential.
Oh, and did I mention, there is absolutely no chemistry between MCs? None whatsoever until the last 20% or so. Yep :( -
3.5 stars I can't decide whether to round up or down - may change rating... :/
I wasn't sure what to expect from this, as it was a new to me author and nobody I know/follow has reviewed this yet, but it was actually pretty good. I liked the characters straight away and the non-typical gender roles (a number of women were the royal shields/knights etc, there was a warrior queen) and the way it was implied that same sex partnerships were common (i.e. Tarquin's blood mother & the queen) was intriguing - however I never really felt this element was well explained and I would have liked to know a bit more.
The world and magic itself were interesting and I liked the fact there were different types of magic and numerous magical species/beings. The world itself never felt particularly vivid for me though, it was a bit vague in my mind.
Interestingly, despite some upsetting things occurring with death, bloodshed! and the situation with Tarquin's brother, the whole thing had a fairytale quality about it somehow - especially towards the ending, it felt a bit Disney almost - well, maybe a little darker. I did enjoy this fairy tale feeling to the story though. The romance was sweet in this way for the most part too and Tarquin & Five fell for each other pretty fast it seemed - although I have to say that even though I love me some smexy times, the one sex scene I can recall here felt maybe like it wasn't really needed. So yeah thinking on it, maybe not quite Disney! ...Disney + a mutual jerk off session! :D This scene didn't spoil it for me, but it didn't feel in keeping with the style of the story and I would have been quite happy without it.
There were a couple of things I struggled with - one early on where Tarquin is dreaming/remembering something while injured and then he wakes up and I had no clue what was going on with his brother - I usually like learning things as we go, but this just felt a bit confusing, like maybe I'd missed something. I even went back a bit and flicked through some pages to try and work out what was happening, but in the end gave up on finding anything and just carried on reading...so I don't know if that was just me? Or if this bit was actually confusing to other people too?
Another thing I never quite got my head around was what Five looked like - was he like a reptile? I kept thinking of the reptile-dude from
The Last Hour of Gann (if anyone's read that), but with a "wolf pelt" style hairdo from the description given...which was...yeah, confusing? Unfortunately I could never quite picture what he was supposed to be, so it meant I had a hard time understanding why Tarquin would feel attracted to him, rather than just feeling gratitude and friendship.
Looking back, a lot of the niggles I had with this book were due to lack of detail so that a few things felt a little vague to me.
This isn't a cliffhanger, everything is wrapped up and there seemed to be a HFN? maybe HEA depending on how you visualise it I guess... there's info about dragons here too, which I think is the loose set up for a potential sequel possibly. BUT, final niggle - I was a bit disappointed by the ending. I enjoyed the story, was quite invested in the characters and there was a big finale ending and a reveal about Five...and then the ending is kinda just 'meh'. -
Okaaaaayyyyyyy so this book was literally everything I didn't expect and never wanted. The entire plot was very nice and the budding romance was beautiful. The instant it started I was like "Ah yes a Beauty and the Beast type of thing...they'll have something going beforehand, but once he changes back....ooooo boy" NOPE. HE JACKED OFF LIZARD DICK, I'm literally having a fit. Then when he changed, it was STILL LIZARD DICK - JUST A DIFFERENT COLOR. aasjhdgfjsahgfjkhsdjkf
My point is - is that this book is geared toward a very specific community of people. Do you like werewolves, dragons, and humans with no sexual boundaries whatsoever? This book is for you.
I really wished that this book was toned down for a more general MM audience, because I literally cannot get over the fact that the MC just jacked off a lizard. -
A
Hearts On Fire Review
3.75 Hearts--Mages, Haldur and Vyr...Oh My!
Aundrea Singer's "Blood For Magic" is a high fantasy, action packed tale that reads like it was written by a gamer. There is so much magic, blood and violence in this novel. It wasn't necessarily dark but it got brutal in some sections.
Tarquin is the Mage of the Realm in a fantasy land called Kelor. He's only twenty and is the top mage due to his mother's death. Mages have to sacrifice their blood as payment to wield their magic. Poor Tarquin isn't a fan of having to cut himself over and over again, but it was what he has to do to in order to protect his country and city. While on the hunt for a ravaging beast that has been attacking a nearby town, he and his cousin Ainya are attacked be the most feared beast called a haldur. And they are saved by a mute solider of origins unknown who Tarquin and his cousin nicknamed Five. Tarquin is also son of the current queen by marriage so his royal ties run deep. He has a sick brother he tries to save, while preparing for attacks and falling in love with Five.
This high fantasy story drops the reader directly into the action from the first chapter. I should warn if blood and violence isn't your thing, you might not enjoy as much. I thought the world of Kelor was cool! From the matriarchal society (shout out for the non-specific gender roles!) to the different species (*coughs*dragons*coughs*) to the way magic is practiced (mage magic is cool minus the sharp objects things) I was enthralled. And it takes skill to emote for a character who can't speak in a book. Five was my fave character...even if most of the book the mystery of what type of species Five was loomed in the background.
The romance takes a backseat to the action, with the way of the pacing, it was more insta-lovey. I tend to let that slide when lives are on the line and the world could possibly end as the main characters know it. But a little more tender times between the men and less talking about Tarquin's thoughts on things that already happened wouldn't have been bad.
You know when a story is solid but it just needs some tightening up in a few areas? Maybe a re-edit? The parts where a lull slowed the fast pace the story started with, like fighting and action, then we get Tarquin going into detail of mage history and I feel some parts could have been edited out.
Another thing that I will lump into my gripe on why this story isn't a full 4 hearts or better: too many names, species and information about each faction to keep track of. If there was ever a book that could've benefited from a glossary to help the reader know who is who and what is what. I won't complain about the different character names but when paired with all the magical beings, it was a lot. The author seemed to know what was going on, but some parts didn't relay the information quick enough to get the full extent of what was happening. And the odd names and species were starting to meld in a couple of places.
The epilogue was good to certain point and then it dragged a little. Same with the climax of the story, it got bogged down by extra words and not enough explanations. It ended in a weird spot for me. But hooray for the HEA and solving the mystery of Five.
(I wonder if there might be a sequel that could jump off from this. I think it could. There is so much more to this world the author created.)
Overall, the imagination was there, the key elements that I as a high fantasy lover enjoy were there. Just some tightening up, more romance times (sex fiends this book won't be for you either - it's barely a blip and more about the feels) and a glossary could have made this a stellar read for me.
Recommended for high fantasy lovers who could possibly be gamers too! ;) -
4.5
total momo book...serious heart eyes.
Very low steam, but hit me in the feels several times. Love Tarquin and Five!!!
Great characters!
High fantasy, will be reading more from this author -
3.75 Rounded up.
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DNF @ 36%.
I had a hard time with this one.
I think the author put a lot of thought behind the world-building for story, I just don't know how much of it made it into the book. There's the shields (not capitalized, but would have made for less confusing reading if it wasn't, since it's already a noun and a verb to begin with), different types of magic users, different types of magic, sharebloods, golem-turning illness/curse, a bunch of different creatures (magical and non-magical), kingdoms, gods, etc, etc. What is a firu? What is a haldur? What is a kintara? Just calling things by a different name isn't world building, it's just confusing. What is the Kawj? A person? A place? A thing? It's a lot to fit into such a short book and I think this book would have needed to be longer to build that world effectively.
(On that note, I think firu=fairy, kintara=centaur, vyr=were(wolf/cat)... who knows about the rest?)
And then there is my confusion about the haldur. At the very start of the book, Ainya, Gretta and Tarquin are discussing what the creature they are pursuing could be. Ainya says, "It still sounds like a haldur.". Gretta replies, "The haldur are gone. Burned to greasy ash at Telir." And when it turns out to be a haldur, Tarquin says, "But, they're gone. The haldurs are gone. Burned. The dragons-". . In a dream sequence in Chapter 3, Tarquin's mother tells him that the haldur are coming and Tarquin responds, "No. We're safe. Their horde was broken at Telir. You broke them. Then in Chapter 4, Tarquin says, Why were they even here? Their horde was broken at Telir. The survivors were driven back into the mountains". Later still, "The reports we were able to receive from the battle said at least several hundred fled back to the Shadowcliffs.". Several hundred sure doesn't sound like "gone" to me. So, they start off saying that it couldn't possible be a haldur because the haldur are gone, a fact that is reiterated a few times... except apparently they didn't mean 'gone' as in extinct, they meant that they killed most of them and they swept the rest off into a corner. So, if they knew there were survivors, why wouldn't they assume that those survivors would come back at some point in time? This is exactly why I kill bugs that come into my house and don't just shoo them outside, because if they're left alive, there's no guarantee it won't just invade my home again.
And if you can magic someone clean, why couldn't you also magic their claws into a nicely manicured length while you're at it? -
This book was monster romance meets dark fairy tale fantasy and I LOVED IT.
I cannot believe this doesn’t have a sequel. It was so GOOD. I loved the world, unique magic systems, and characters so much.
And THE ROMANCE. I believe in love again!!
My favourite quotes or aka reasons you should read this and fall in love with Tarquin and Five too
When Five stood up and grinned with a big, toothy lack of repentance, Tarquin couldn’t help smiling back.
“Because he’d crawl into bed with you the instant he came in from outside, to cool you down. He’d be shivering like he had palsy every time too, poor thing. I was worried he was going to freeze himself solid out there. You know how wyverns hate the cold.”
Five smiled, then stroked Tarquin’s cheek with his thumb and leaned in to touch their foreheads together. Five closed his eyes and breathed out in what could only be a contented sigh.”
Five kept grinning and started walking, with his tail up, swishing happily in the air. -
This is a nice, pleasant, fast-paced fantasy adventure romance. There's magic and epic battles and eeevil and magical creatures and love and it's a very enjoyable and easy book. I liked the main characters, especially Five, and the secondary characters play a pretty big role. It's not a really heavy story or particularly dark or complex, so if you like your fantasy romance on the lighter side, this is worth a look. The writing is good, the story is exciting, the characters are engaging, and it's a quality book that really held my attention. I was confused by a few things early on, but don't worry, everything is explained by the end.
-
** Deals with death, blood magic, suicide, self harm, and incest (though I'm still not sure if that's right or not) **
So, this book dealt with a lot. It had fantasy, golem's, dragons, mages, even some steampunk elements in there. Overall, it was a little too much and too confusing to follow. So I've marked it a 3.5, rounded up to a 4, because of the potential and the overall storyline.
I liked the characters; Tarquin is the only POV and he's a great character to choose for that, because he's young, impressionable, but not without strength and opinions. Five is also a great character, and I like that even though he's mute, he and Tarquin can communicate.
However, it was almost impossible to follow, within the world, because the world-building left a lot lacking. We have multiple (what turned out to be) creature names thrown at us within the first few pages, that didn't make sense and weren't explained. At the time, I didn't know if they were the name of a humanoid species, magical species like Elves or if they were for actual animal creatures. It was only about halfway through that things were explained and that left too much guesswork on my end. What it really needed was a glossary at the start that I could bookmark and refer to when I needed it.
It deals with blood magic, which is generally frowned upon in most fantasy books, so I give it kudos for dealing with it. However, it sort of "normalises" the whole slitting the wrists and self harm thing, so I really don't like that part. It's a dangerous avenue to take.
I found the relationship between the characters really difficult to fathom, but in the end, I think I get it. The Queen and her Consort are two women, but they chose strong men with lots of daughters to breed them more daughters. What they got were two unexpected males which, technically, are useless to them, so they marry one off to a daughter who will be the future Queen, as her consort, then let the other become a mage. Anyway, as far as I see it, there's incest in there somewhere, even if they're only half-brother/half-sister. Although, honestly, the whole thing was just so hard to follow without any clarification that made sense, that I could be wrong.
Although Tarquin and Five can communicate, there's a small issue of having Tarquin responding to him, before we even know a question has been "asked" silently. Ex. Tarquin answers "Yes" then we're told that Five made a questioning sound or look. I often had to re-read a section to make sure I understood what was happening.
There's also a continuity issue where it's claimed that Faladir killed Mundir, when Tarquin explains to Five how Faladir became the steampunk-ish creature he's become. Except, he didn't kill Mundir then, because Mundir didn't die until right before this conversation, not months ago in the past.
Overall, quite disorientating, but the overall storyline is good. The use of magic, creatures and the resolution of the threat is well done. The writing is, generally, well done except for the lack of consistency within the description. -
A
Joyfully Jay review.
4.25 stars
Blood for Magic was an excellent, quick-paced fantasy that stumbled a few times, but overall did a good job of balancing characterization with plot and world building. Tarquin is a royal Mage and as such is considered a rare and extremely powerful form of magician. But his power comes from the sacrifice of his own blood, which means he perpetually risking himself to save those around him. Tarquin is brave, but young, and some of his actions read as filled with the impetuous stubbornness of youth. He is often too quick to throw himself into harm’s way instead of trying a different path. Yet there is no maliciousness in him and his willingness to die for those he loves reads as compelling and you always want to cheer him on. Five is a conundrum for much of the book. Trapped in an outwardly monstrous form, he can neither speak nor remember much of his past life but his devotion to Tarquin and to his calling as a Shield is absolute. These two work together on most levels, despite not having much of a courtship. They meet and seem almost bound together from that point forward. It borders on insta-love, but doesn’t fall quite over the edge and while I would have preferred a more realistic maturation of their relationship, the scenes between Tarquin and Five have an easy, natural flow that I enjoyed.
Read Jay’s review in its entirety
here. -
This book was amazing and the world this author created was awesome!
Tarquin is a blood mage who is very smart but also very reckless. He meets Five while fighting the haldur and trying to save his brother who is Turing into a Golem.
There was just so much action in this book I was on the edge of my seat until the end. This author did a amazing job with these characters and this story! I can't even tell you how much I loved this world this author created. I loved Tarquin's character but I also really loved Five's character too! He was just so sweet even though he could not talk for a lot of this book you could feel how much he cares and I loved how everyone accepted him even though he was so different then the others. You also meet so many different characters in this book and I have to say I really loved all of them.
With this book you get so much action and steam between Tarquin and Five. Then there was the way everything just comes together so perfectly and the ending was just so awesome!
I do not want to give away any spoilers because this book was just so good you really need to read this one for yourself. So I will leave this review with...
I 100% loved this story and I would definitely recommend this book!
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review from Inked Rainbow Reads. -
This was great and I really enjoyed the world that Singer created! Tarquin was such a great character: kind, brave, and intelligent. He's a Mage who uses magic by "paying for it" with his blood. Blood for magic...hence the title. All I could think of the entire time was the anime Full Metal Alchemist and "Equivalent Exchange"...you can't get something for nothing. I really loved the end when Tarquin discovers that maybe he doesn't know everything about magic that he thought he did. There are still some pretty big secrets left in the world...
The other MC, Five, was just so sweet and caring! He was adorable and I loved him to pieces! Strong, brave, and compassionate, Five becomes close to Tarquin quickly after they meet. I loved that this couple was able to communicate and bond despite Five not being able to speak.
I'm going to have to get this in paperback so I can have it on my shelf...
4 Stars -
Amazing story! The world and character building was excellent. The couple was so adorable.
To put it roughly it was a beauty and the beast type tale, but this story defiantly had an original plot.
Tarquin is a prince that is desperate to save his kingdom from evil beasts that are quickly invading as well as break the curse that is slowly killing his older brother. He is rescued by Five, a mysteries half man half lizard type creature. I wouldn't call it love at first sight more like-you are adorable and interesting at first sight from both guys. Five is mute and has no memory of who he was before he was cursed.
I was instantly hooked on the romance, Five explains things through jesters and Tarquin helps him find friends in his circle. They were both sweet and I loved how they constantly protected each other. -
What... just what.
Honestly, the best description for this book would be "confusing as hell". Too many foreign names and races and titles and I got kinda lost in it. Wasn't sure who is who and how the hell they are related.
Not that it's bad, per se, but it could use some polishing. Main character is nice and the romance is okay, though I hoped it would be more slow burn. And the explanation for the reason why the other main character was a weird lizard guy felt kinda lacking.
I liked the system of magic, though.
All in all, this book isn't bad, just... not as good as I expected from the summary.
Also, it contains having sex with a lizard. Weird scaly humanoid thing. You know what I mean. -
I really really REALLY enjoyed this book! I wish more m/m romance was written like this. That being with more focus on the plot and not just the two leads getting together. Yes, it's light on the sex, but it felt like a breath of fresh air because I feel like too much of m/m is just about that. It's nice to have an actual plot. Also this is a very short read and doesn't feel dragged out at all.
So for anyone looking for a fantasy which just so happens to have an m/m romance--this one's for you! -
Had a lot of fun with this book! :)
Once again I'm amazed by the author's imagination and captivating writing... *admire*
I love boys doing magic, monsters, action- lots of fighting!- and adventure and yes, you guessed it; this story had a lot of it all :)
Plus there were quite the gory bits, and I cried a few sad tears and happy tears! -
Honest review up ahead.
So this book was in my library, I probably downloaded it a while ago but forgot about it, so I decided to sit down and read it. All in all it took me about 2-3 hours, maybe a little less, it was early morning (around 2am) and I couldn't sleep so I decided to start it and consequently stayed up until it was done.
The problem with male/male fiction, is the lack of selection especially in the fantasy genre. As someone who is bored by realistic fiction, this sort of book is seemingly right up my alley.
Mystical beasts and strange creatures? Check.
Magic and super powered characters? Check.
Random inclusion of beasts that I've never heard of that do nothing for the plot because they aren't actually explained? Check. Wait.... what?
So where I do like a little bit of mystery, and I do like to figure out what's going on as any avid reader does, there is a point where that turns into annoyance and takes AWAY from the plot.
We immediately begin with the mention of at least three types of beasts or creatures or humans (I really wouldn't know) and while the reader can easily figure out what the purpose of some of them is, on the other hand, some of the strange names just get annoying because they're literally never explained. It confused me to the point where I thought that maybe there was a book, or a game that would explain this that I forgot to read.
Example-
Within the first page we are introduced to the idea of a shareblood. Pretty easily explained if you ask me. Half human half something. We are also introduced to the Kawj, nothing about it explained besides a few adjectives, which is used to in turn describe the dark of the night. It really adds nothing to the story.
Then we are immediately introduced to the "firu" in which literally nothing is explained.
Honestly, the first few pages were a jumble of characters and words and phrases and adjectives and creatures and places that made no sense to me as the reader and took away from the story. In fact if I wasn't so persistent I would have put the book down right away.
The amount of characters we are introduced to in the first three pages is far too many to keep track of or comprehend. Not much about them is truly explained right away which to me just takes away from the current plot.
I don't want to be confused right off the bat, I want to have a simple beginning that slowly draws you in the story but the same time catches your attention.
This wasn't achieved as it's a jumble of words and characters and introductions immediately going straight into action and death and BAM plot begins.
Now you might think by the way that I am talking, that I hated this book. In fact I actually enjoyed this book a lot.
I loved the characters, the use of magic and how there were mages and alchemists and all sorts of magic users.
I loved the SPOILER ALERT, plot twist at the end, how the Kawj was actually evil and the whole time I was rooting for the main character to sacrifice himself for the country but at the same time I was dreading it.
The way that he fixed what happened Dahm, the way that the brother and five were spared, and the way that the book came to an end was satisfying and left me hungry for more but at the same time gave me closure.
To me, this is a must read, but remembering it is amateur.
Honestly I've read fanfiction that explain the concepts better, and that's coming from works based off of other works for which the author assumes you already know everything.
I think that a guide would be a great additive, maybe with illustrations of the characters and creatures or something that can really help us visualize them.
It got much too confusing for me because I had never heard of half of the introduced creatures.
Would I read this book again? Probably.
Woll I recommend this to my friends who like male on male fiction? Yes! But that is partially because there aren't that many books out there for us.
Good effort, decent book, but lost potential -
Rating: 3 stars
This book was hard to read, especially in the beginning. We get dropped into this world with no explanation and you spend the whole first half of the book confused. I think it would have been better if there was a little more world building on the part of the author. If the author didn’t want to spend time during the story and heaven knows that there is such a thing as too much exposition, then maybe a glossary at the end to explain what each creature was would have been helpful.
Overall it was just okay for me. I thought the second half to be better than the first half. Still, I won’t be re-reading it in the future. -
I LOVED the Magic in this. The story was great. The characters were great. My only complaint would be the world building and I don’t know that I can call it a complaint because I honestly just wanted more! I could stay in this world forever. There are so many different factions to learn about! The vyr? The dragons? The firu?
If this ever becomes a series I guarantee I’ll be one of the first in line for the next installment. -
This reads like it's part of a series, because of the way the characters and concepts are introduced as if we've already heard of them, but evidently it's not! I found the romance to be sweet and charming. This world would be an interesting place to explore, if it weren't full of monsters. There's a lot of violence - the main characters seem to be constantly recovering from something, without ever being fully recovered.
-
This book was really great! Though I was slightly lost at the beginning, I got hooked on the characters and the story itself quite fast. It was epic and thoughtful and the characters' every action had its consequences, which was pretty refreshing! I highly recommend it!
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This book was quite darker than what I was expecting it to be. I enjoyed reading it. What happened to Faladir and his entire story...oof, it really hurt my heart. I don't think I've ever read a worse thing to happen to a fictional character before.
-
Great Book. It was worth the money :p
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Ahhh there are many good things about this book but also quite a few things that hit me wrong so I was conflicted as hell!!! But I ended up liking it at least, and it was one of those books I wish were way bigger or even divided into two so I could explore it more!
Good things:
The female representation is overall, so intensely great, specially considering this is a MM book, in which mostly the female representation tends to be awful and cringe worthy, so this one was such a nice change! Definitely one of the biggest highlights of the book is the female representation: The War Room council was made up of one white-token-old-man magician and the rest were all women; the women were all bigger (physically) than the main dude, and yet never described as or compared with masculine attributes in any way, they’re all warriors and protectors of the realm and so is the mc.
More very good, simple, and natural representation is present in this book: the main character is poc, in fact, the majority of the characters are poc aside from being women (a HUGE change from most MM books I've read, so amen).
There're more things I enjoyed a lot: I’m not sure if it was on purpose or if it was just my personal interpretation, but at first I really disliked the cutting in exchange for magic. But then after Tarquin got hurt by Faladir, and he and Prea were talking about this, I absolutely loved the way the concept was used as an analogy. I felt it so intensely I started to cry and that’s a sign of a really good book for me: a book that makes me feel. It was a very thoughtful, strong, smart, bittersweet point to make.
In fact, there were very few things I didn't like in the book, but they were a bit too major for me.
First: the way the "gal pal" card was pulled with the queen and her consort. 0/10 didn't appreciate that. I was so happy when I saw some actual representation for lesbian (a veeery loose term I'm using here but you get my meaning) queens that when later there was the attempt to discredit the relationship it was like a bucket of cold water.
Second: these quotes
Third and maybe more present: The worldbuilding is interesting but it feels underdeveloped. A lot of the places and things' names are thrown around really close together, so you know there’s a lot of places but it’s hard to orient yourself. Even a minor explanation a bit throughout the story would do.
I feel like the magic was the only thing really well explained enough, at separate times, for me to understand it. Also because of this, some parts feel weird: the “royal” family eats in the kitchens, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a court life around them; some of the species, like the kintara were explained but it didn’t stick with me. I think because when you’re introducing completely new concepts, like species in Fantasy books, sometimes if it’s done right at the beginning or when the reader is focused on something else that's happening, it’s hard to stick. I was still getting acclimated to the story and the main character, and what was happening, when the species were briefly described, so later on, I had a hard time remembering. The firu though, were an exception, because later you saw other firu characters appearing, and there were descriptions of them and what they did, so I got accustomed and knew what they were.
Like I said, I think these small things would have worked better if the book paced itself more and was bigger! For the representation and difference it has, I liked it, but these three points made me not love it, which I felt I almost could. -
Review can be read at It's About The Book
3.5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this book. I thought it was worth reading but can’t say I’d recommend it either. The first few pages were very violent and graphic. Lots of death right away. It definitely sets the tone of the book. There some evil creatures coming out of hiding and they’re literally monsters. I liked the premise of the good kingdom of people versus the bad evil creatures from the mountain. I particularly liked how the world created wasn’t just humans. It was other beings and they all lived together. There’s no discrimination whatsoever between the civilized beings. I say civilized since there are some that aren’t. The accepting and open nature of these people and beings made me not even blink at the prospect of a lizard like creature and prince of the realm falling in love.
Tarquin and his guards find themselves being hunted by a vicious creature they thought extinct. Another man like creature later named Five intervenes and saves their lives. Whatever hunted them had a partner who massacred a small village. Together they race home to warn the queen of the creatures impending attack. Plans are quickly thrown together as best as they can to fight a war they’re terribly outmatched for. Tarquin knows his duty. He knows he will have to follow in the steps of his mother and sacrifice himself to save his people. It’s just really bad timing he also falls in love with his protector.
Some people might have a problem with the inter-species lovin going on in this book. I’ll admit it’s a weird visual physically what with scales and tails but there’s really not much sexual activity going on in this book so the focus is more on the love story. Which I enjoyed even though it had an insta love kind of feel to it. The book is pretty fast paced considering they only have a matter of days to prepare for the attack coming their way. For me in these circumstances the insta love worked. I thought Five the Lizard creature was pretty adorable. He’s mute but his interest in and connection with Tarquin is pretty obvious. The author did a good job showing me his affection for Tarquin through his actions. Considering Tarquin is the Mage of the Relm he had little to no combat capabilities at all. He relies solely on his ability to trade his blood for magic. Even then he wasn’t always quick enough to do anything or use it to it’s fullest. Honestly I found him frustrating. Great and powerful but bumbling. And not in a cute way. He’s also a martyr. Literally.
I liked the plot well enough. There were some points where the story lulls. Maybe too much contemplation on Tarquin’s part. There’s lots of action and blood. The world building was good. To me all the magical elements in this story were probably the most interesting. I had more questions about Tarquin’s blood magic and how it was ingrained in their society than anything. It’s all kind of left open with possibilities. Basically this was good but not great. I might have enjoyed it more if I’d liked Tarquin better. I enjoyed most of the secondary characters. Five was my favorite. His story was a sad one I was happy to see get a happy ending.
