Jerry Cooke
5⭐️ - An absolutely phenomenal and atmospheric standalone story in a Scottish inspired world of conflict and magic!
Grey Flynn is tethered to Keir Seward - almost never apart, emotionally or physically. As his hand and well of power, she defends him body and soul. As her mage, his powers on the battlefield rely on her, neither of them being able to call on magic without the other. The true connection, since childhood, goes far beyond what anyone suspects, something that they have worked hard to conceal. When they're placed in charge of accompanying a mystery child to their High Lord across the country, they find themselves in close proximity with others who might soon deduce the truth.
This was a fantastic story - a deep magic system and world building, fantastic lore and history, and bones of family and friendship that run deep. The core relationship between Grey and Keir forms the bulk of the story, but there's so much of the world shown, the complex political relationships, and the way responsibilities fall upon them all. The sumptuous environmental descriptions evoke so much of the landscape of Scotland and it was utterly gorgeously laid out.
I loved that it was a queer-normative world, with Grey and Keir both being pansexual, their companion mage Brit being non-binary, and their Tepic (unpowered) guard Eron being trans. No big thing was ever made of it, a casual mention of transitioning a few years prior to the story and knowing themself better. I want this to be more common in books, because why should a fantasy world perpetuate the heteronormative state of reality when it could be so much more open. I've got so much time for V.L. Bovlino writing like that.
The audiobook was a joy to listen to, with Samara MacLaren providing a soft Scottish lilt that was smooth to the ear. Honestly, I'd listen to her read the phonebook, so lovely. This is the first in a trilogy of interconnected standalone novels and I'm really excited to see where she goes with the next one and which characters she focuses on!
5⭐️ - An absolutely phenomenal and atmospheric standalone story in a Scottish inspired world of conflict and magic!
Grey Flynn is tethered to Keir Seward - almost never apart, emotionally or physically. As his hand and well of power, she defends him body and soul. As her mage, his powers on the battlefield rely on her, neither of them being able to call on magic without the other. The true connection, since childhood, goes far beyond what anyone suspects, something that they have worked hard to conceal. When they're placed in charge of accompanying a mystery child to their High Lord across the country, they find themselves in close proximity with others who might soon deduce the truth.
This was a fantastic story - a deep magic system and world building, fantastic lore and history, and bones of family and friendship that run deep. The core relationship between Grey and Keir forms the bulk of the story, but there's so much of the world shown, the complex political relationships, and the way responsibilities fall upon them all. The sumptuous environmental descriptions evoke so much of the landscape of Scotland and it was utterly gorgeously laid out.
I loved that it was a queer-normative world, with Grey and Keir both being pansexual, their companion mage Brit being non-binary, and their Tepic (unpowered) guard Eron being trans. No big thing was ever made of it, a casual mention of transitioning a few years prior to the story and knowing themself better. I want this to be more common in books, because why should a fantasy world perpetuate the heteronormative state of reality when it could be so much more open. I've got so much time for V.L. Bovlino writing like that.
The audiobook was a joy to listen to, with Samara MacLaren providing a soft Scottish lilt that was smooth to the ear. Honestly, I'd listen to her read the phonebook, so lovely. This is the first in a trilogy of interconnected standalone novels and I'm really excited to see where she goes with the next one and which characters she focuses on!