Review:
*I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
I don’t read high fantasy all that often, but this book caught my interest for a couple reasons (one of those reasons being elves, since I haven’t read many book about those), and I’m glad I decided to give it a chance.
For one thing, it was just a nice read. It was rather mild in that it didn’t have a ton of action or intense emotion, but it had easy-to-read writing, likeable characters, and a fairly light, enjoyable plot that kept my attention. Generally I like my books to pack a bit more of a punch, but sometimes I enjoy taking a break with something lighter. And though this book was a little anticlimactic, it felt like it was a really a setup for the main course, which means the rest of the books are likely to be at least a little more action-packed and exciting.
As for the romance aspect, it was small, but it was sweet, and it seems like it might also get a little stronger in the rest of the books.
Possibly the best thing about the book though was how it handled gender and LGBT issues. It was a little heavy handed, but I can easily forgive the book for that since it was such an important message. There were gay characters and a transgender character, and of course they faced prejudice in the world, but the focus was on the characters who accepted them for who they were and who didn’t judge them for who they happened to love, so the general feeling of the book was a positive one.
Overall, it was a fairly quick, light, adventure-y start to a high fantasy series with a positive LGBT message.
Recommended For:
YA/LGBT/high fantasy readers who want something light and adventure-y with elves and mages.
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I can’t remember the last time I’ve read a book with elves. I don’t really read too much fantasy but this one looks interesting.
I read a lot of paranormal but not much high fantasy, but this one just looked interesting to me too 🙂 And I’ve read only maybe 2-3 other books with elves.
I don’t think this one is for me, but KUDOS to the author for writing a book with a positive LGBT message. Thats always awesome! Great review!
I mean, I read a lot of LGBT books and have also read some that weren’t focused on an LGBT couple but still had important messages, but this one really focused on the positive side of things rather than the prejudice and negativity, and I think some people will really like that 🙂 And it was a nice little break from my usual dark stuff lol. Thanks!
There was a time were I read a lot of high/ epic fantasy, but nowadays I don’t read them as much anymore. It’s nice this was a high fantasy book with LBGT elements.
I do like how there’s a cat on the cover next to the model. Does the cat actually make an appearance in the book as well?
I hope the next books are even better as you mentioned this one felt a bit like a set-up for the later books. Ofcourse if you decide to continue the series.
The cat is the main character’s familiar, so yep, the cat is there and talks to him in his head 🙂 Thanks, I haven’t quite decided about continuing the series. I’ll probably wait to see the blurb and maybe a review or two before I decide.
I’ve read a lot of high fantasy I guess but not so much lately. And even though elves are associated with HF I can’t remember the last time I actually read a story with elves! For a while it seemed like all high fantasy was derivative and the same but maybe there’s a lot of new blood now with all the self pub and indie stuff. That would be nice to see.
I also tend to like my fantasy with low magic or magic has a cost, and not just thrown around everywhere, and a lot of the HF I’ve seen is just so magically infused that it doesn’t really interest me. That can make it hard to find stuff I like. I mean I like the creatures and some magic but just not overkill, you know?
I couldn’t really tell you how much is out there or if it’s less derivative since I don’t read much of it and really haven’t read any of the older stuff. But I’ve noticed that with self-pub in other genres it seems you can always find stuff that’s outside the box and different from traditionally published stuff, so it’s probably true for high fantasy too.
Yeah, I think I get what you’re saying. I don’t like too much magic either, I don’t think. Even some paranormal books bother me, usually ones with witches, because the magic just keeps getting crazier and crazier and then it’s like the magic can do anything and all becomes arbitrary, like it’s just whatever the author decides and there are no rules. That may not be what you were talking about lol, but that’s one of the things that bothers me about too much magic.