Wayward

EDIT:

As this author has begun using generative AI covers across many of her books, I'm updating my rating to 1* star and will be removing any books by this author that were on my TBR. I'll also be blacklisting R.A. Steffan in perpetuity. There's no excuse to use genAI slop for your covers, and I won't support authors who do so.

I've recently re-read Miners of the Mystics, one of my favorite books, and I think I somehow enjoyed it even more this time around.

Miners of the Mystics is just an incredible book and start to a series. If you haven't heard much about it before, I hope you stick around for this review or jump directly into its world because this book is... intensely meaningful, so smart, and something I haven't seen on bookshelves before. Which, do you know how rare that is? A *unique* book? Miners takes themes I love – found family, liminal spaces, magic, monsters, and monster romance, to name a few – and makes them not only exceptional but NEW.

To start with, just one part of what makes Miners so deeply hypnotizing, is the world-building, which is phenomenal. Taking place largely in a mountain and nearby town, this first book easily, gradually, and without info-dumping, lays the groundwork for some of the rules of how this world works (or at least how the characters THINK it does), and then breaks some of those rules in ways both supernatural and profoundly human. It sets up powers I haven't seen done these ways before and multifarious portals to dimensions filled with unheard of creatures. There's unique magic here in the literal AND literary sense, laced with sibylline nuance and dark and unknown threats nipping at the characters' heels.

Which, the plot is just insanely good. It starts out quite gradual here in the first book, with a laundry list of unknowns and characters trying to move towards what they want while being tugged in the direction their morals make them go. I don't want to say much here because there are so many twists and secrets every reader deserves to discover for themself, but suffice to say it KEEPS me on the edge of my seat. And I'll gladly talk about the characters instead.

The cast of characters in this series is FULL. You want to read about found family, with no blood relation, being there for each other no matter what? Friends with unique histories and personalities getting thrown into danger at every turn, and only having each other to stay alive or stay sane? Forbidden love interests sweetly falling for each other and being so fiercely protective they'd RUIN themselves for the other? Yeah, this book has all of that too, and it has it in spades. It's rare I find a romance book so rich in its characters, with beloved side characters featuring almost as much as the mains, one of the many things I love about it!

Oh yeah, and that ROMANCE. in a queer-normative world full of queer characters of many flavors, the only thing any character finds odd about Oliver's infatuation with the Sentinel Tau is that Tau is twice his size, magical, doesn't seem to be human, and also, touching him is completely illegal. And yet...? Touch, they do.

The slow-burn romance in this book is precious. Despite the setting, despite the darkness and monsters and horrors the characters must survive, Tau and Oliver are preciously sweet. There's no other way I can say it. They're curious and tender and kind, yet roughly desperate when they touch, and if you've ever wanted to read a dark fantasy/horror that ALSO makes you blush and kick your feet? You've found that too.

AND and and if you didn't know, included in this catalogue of qualities, Penny Moss, the author, is also an artist who NOT ONLY has made the cover of every book it has written, but ALSO has made chapter art for every. Single. Chapter. Of this series. EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER!!

You want character art? You want to see the love interests' tender moments? The terrifying monsters? The portal to another world? The weird, whimsical, and wonderful in this book? YOU'VE GOT IT. IN THIS FIRST BOOK ALONE, there are twenty-five chapters and twenty-five pieces of human-made artwork rendering EXACTLY what the author intended because the author. Is also. The artist. Aphantasia who?!

Miners of the Mystics is a favorite of mine for so many reasons, not even all of which have been included here. Actually, there's not a single moment Miners has only one thing going for it. Every chapter is rich with smart writing, character development, friendship, mysterious plot, and sweet, swoon-worthy romance. I just... I go on these tangents of this series because it’s so insanely good, and I freaking *love* this book. Suffice to say, I am *obsessed*. I can't recommend this book or this author more highly, and if anything here has piqued your interest, please add Miners of the Mystics to some of your lists. While there IS a bit of a cult following for this indie series and queer author, they both deserve more accolades than they've gotten, and all I can do is scream about them both from the rooftops until they finally find their way into more readers' hands. Check them out!!

While this book takes a unique spin on style as the entire book is written in letter form, with how much description Gavin puts into his letters it's easy to picture all of the characters and the adventures Gavin gets up to. It's quite a cute romance in a regency setting with a relatable neurodivergent main character.

That being said, it's a pretty slow-moving story that I don't know if I would have gotten through had I not been reading it by audiobook so that I could listen to it while doing something else. It was PERFECT for audiobook, though (with an excellent narrator too). Easy to listen to while performing some other task and entertaining enough in that way.

Surprising to probably no one, this is definitely not a bodice-ripper. It's a charming, heart-warming, and rather wholesome romance with a lot of very gradual character development and growth. If that sounds like it's for you, then check it out. I think it would fit in the "cozy" category quite well. As for me, I have most of the rest of the series on audiobook, so while I'll probably read something else first, I'll likely come back to this series when I'm in the mood again for a charming, light-hearted book of manners.

70% of this book of this book was buildup that was extremely slow and dull with repetitive writing and monotonous thoughts and actions from the characters, intermingled with obnoxious, rebellious teen angst. The remaining 30% was rushed, skipped over most of what could have been interesting parts, and clarified the top goodreads review of this book to me, which merely states, "Well that was pointless."

I can't elaborate without spoiling, but let's just say that from the first three quarters, this experience went from a boring book that focused on its weaknesses instead of its strengths, that wasn't remotely scary, and that was carried along by uninteresting, annoying characters and was hovering around a two-star read for me, to a disappointing, highly implausible, and ridiculous one in the last quarter that rewarded stupidity and left me rolling my eyes while feeling like I'd wasted my time and dropped my rating to a rare-for-me abysmal one star.

Bird Box? Great, tense, paranoia-filled apocalypse horror survival story. Malorie? Coming of age teen drama. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Do not recommend.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. This series, in many ways, embodies that quote, this book in particular, expressing that last part as we get to see Sasha BECOME everything she feared and hated the most.

To me, book one of this series feels like it can be read as a standalone, especially if you dwell on the ending or figure out what was intended with it. That whole book has all the mystery and edge-of-your-seat suspense you could want. If you read the sequels, then you should read both of them, as they're a complete journey as book one was its own journey. They are continuations of Sasha's story, but set in future/different timelines and far removed from book one. No more secrets or mind-bending revelations or metamorphoses. Just swimming through this world that Sasha has landed in/created and figuring out how to make it all work. It's still a weird and confusing and fascinating setting and world system but not nearly as haunting or evocative as the original Vita Nostra.

What I really liked about this book is that it diverted from the single point of view of Sasha and followed several relevant characters. The POV was switching so often as to be discombobulating at times, but it also kept it nicely fresh. We got to see some of that youthful horror at the unknown again while still following Sasha's journey at the same time. It was a change I appreciated and enjoyed.

At the end of the day, I had a good time with this story and series as a whole and the way it made my brain chemistry shift, and I'm not sorry I read the whole thing. That being said, I think I would recommend only the first book as a standalone. The sequels had such different feelings to them, such different vibes and themes, and I didn't enjoy them nearly as much as I did the first. They were good, but there was just something lacking for me. The authors, however, I'm definitely going to read more books by. The unique and mind-bending ways they seem to create their stories is something I find so rarely and desperately want more of.