“They wanted to kill her, so this Vhalla would die, she resolved, and a new Vhalla would be born from her ashes.”

Stars (Out of 10): 9/10 Stars

Overall Thoughts: I absolutely loved this book!! I’ve been in a terrible slump these past two months, and this book has basically reignited my need to read again. I loved the plot, the characters, the world, everything! I am super super curious as to how the series will continue too, as there are so many ways for it to go now as well!

The Good: I really loved most parts of this book. I loved the characters we were introduced to, and how we already got to see them grow in this book alone. In addition, I’m really interested in how the plot will continue, since what we’ve seen so far has opened so many ways for the book to go as well. The plot also had quite a few twists, and I have the feeling that there’s much more of that in store in the series!

The Bad: The beginning was a bit rough, since it didn’t seem to paint a true picture of Vhalla’s life before finding out about her powers, and jumped rather quickly into the action. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but it was a tad harder to connect with Vhalla because of this, since we didn’t really know who she was before magic.

SPOILERS BEGIN HERE

The Characters: I grew to love the characters very quickly, especially Vhalla, Aldrik, and Larel. I also like that the main characters (Aldrik and Vhalla) have obvious flaws, and didn’t automatically change their ways just because they met each other. Vhalla held onto her hatred of sorcery for quite a while, and didn’t just suddenly change her mind because her magic was rare. It built up a more “real” character, and I really loved that.

The Plot: I was really intrigued by what has happened so far, especially the trial near the end. Seeing everything come together, both people and plans, is always my favorite, especially when we as readers have no idea about it.

The World Building: We haven’t had the most of this yet, only the limited knowledge that Vhalla herself had, but we were taught enough to understand the story and plot. I’m super curious to learn more though, about the magic, the war, etc. and I think we’ll get that in book 2 when Vhalla moves to the front!

The Favorite Character: Vhalla

Buy it, Borrow it, or Bin it: Buy it!

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Reread review: I'm finally trying to finish this series, after having it stare at me from my shelves for ages. However, it's been years since I originally read this book, so I decided to reread the first few books again first. Unfortunately, I don't like this book as much a second time around, though I am still intrigued about the series as a whole. While I still enjoy Vhalla and Aldrik's dynamic, I feel like I'm less forgiving of Aldrik's harshness, and the man still has a lot to make up for in the next book. I also found the writing quite simple overall, feeling more like only a vessel through which the story is told, rather than adding to it. This is one of Kova's first books however, so I'm not judging this story too harshly in terms of technical skill yet, because I do think she's grown a lot since this book, and probably within this series as well. I still agree with my earlier thoughts of the book falling a bit too quickly into action, not really giving us a proper glimpse of Vhalla's quiet life before. It makes it hard to see why she would ever want to remain in the library, and give up her powers for that peaceful life. It also means we never get to see Roan and Sareem act as proper friends before they sort of turn on her for her new powers/interest in magic, so it makes those relationships seem quite shallow as well. Readers are just never given enough to understand why Vhalla would want to stay in the library, behind her just adamantly claiming that that's so. Anyway, I'm excited to finally dive into the rest of the series, both relearning twists I'd read once already and discovering new ones.