I received a free digital copy from the author/publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest feedback.

The Novice is a fantastic new fantasy debut that contains lovable demons, amazing magic and war that consists of elves, humans and dwarves facing off against terrifying orcs. The unlikely hero is Fletcher who, after being gifted a strange book. discovers he has the ability to summon demons and perform magic, meaning he is a vital member of the war effort against the orcs.


This book contains a school of magic which means it's already on the road of being loved by me. Fletcher was a pretty usual character in such a novel. He had no idea who his real family were, lived a modest life but was tough and friendly, meaning he could easily make friends but also make all the wrong kind of enemies. I really loved that the demons in this book weren't the type of demons you automatically think of. They were more like lovable monsters, bonding with the people who summoned them and becoming like pets that you don't want to cross. Ignatius reminded me of a mini Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon and I really loved him and his bond with Fletcher.

I loved all of the characters though there were the typical tropes regarding the relationships between the nobles and the commoners. The way the nobles treated both the commoners and the elves and dwarves reminded me of how the slum people were treated by magicians and nobility in Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy.

The story was paced really well and I got a great feeling for both Fletcher's life in Pelt and then his new life in the Voltans. The last few months towards the tournament were pretty rushed, squashed in one paragraph but other than that I was happy with the pacing of the story and how the lessons went. I really felt the unfairness in the way the noble novices were treated compared to the commoners and i did wonder how it could be so obvious yet it could be brushed away. I also felt that squeezing four years of studying into one year was pretty far-fetched, though with the circumstances in the war, I guess it could be forgiven. Most of the novices aren't completely trained, and they were pushed aside a lot so the nobles could get an advantage, so how can they be expected to survive on a battlefield?

At the end of the day, I loved pretty much everything about this book from the characters, to the magic, to the world (also, there was great world-building though I would have loved more, which I think we'll get in the next book). I can't wait for the second book!

The Inquisition is the sequel to The Novice and continues the adventures of Fletcher Wulf who became a summoner - a kind of magician capable of performing spells and summoning demon-like creatures as companions from something called the 'ether.' In The Inquisition, Fletcher must fight to prove his innocence of charges of attempted murder and treason while also trying to save the kingdom from invading orc armies. Oh, and also help unite the human, dwarf and elvish races while at it!

I really enjoyed this one. It took me a while to remember everything that had happened at the end of The Novice so everyone outside of Fletcher, Othello and Sylva were not familiar to me at first as I tried to place them in my head. This meant it took me a while to get into the story but once I did, I loved it. I really liked seeing how the (corrupt) courtroom worked and learning about the Tirumvirate and seeing King Harold and King Alfric. The Raleigh revelation literally had me speechless but I loved it! And I loved Athena of course.I really liked seeing more of the works outside of Vocans and more creatures like the Gremlins and more Orcs. The ending left me completely heartbroken at some things, and speechless at others. I need the next book now!!

I was so happy after finishing The Novice to realise there was a novella and, at 100 pages, this novella is decent sized and gives just the right amount of story.

Origins takes place when Summoners realise that commoners and not only nobles have the chance to summon demons and perform magic. Arcturus, who is Fletcher's mentor and teacher in The Novice, is the main character in Origins and the novella gives the reader a look at Votans in a way the other book didn't. The Novice is set in a time where the learning needs to be rushed and it isn't in Origins so the reader is really able to get a feeling for the school and the magic lessons - plus the prejudice that was held against the commoners and dwarves even before it was learned they could do magic.

As I said, the novella was a great size for an extra few hours of enjoyable reading. I just really love this world that I'd happily jump into the next novel in the trilogy if I had it in my hands!

Ye Gods and little fishes!

I'm so sad this trilogy is over. It was absolutely amazing. The final book gave me everything I was looking for and more, even though I'd be quite happy with another three books as I just love all the characters so much.

In The Silver Tide, The Black Feathered Three travel to an island called Euriale which is seeped in old magic. The mercenaries and ex-mage have been employed by Wydrin's mother, fierce pirate captain Devenia the Red to find some hidden treasure. But they end up stumbling across a god fanatic that is determined to bring back the old Gods (you know like Y'Ruen who killed hundreds of thousands in the first book for the hell of it) and our heroes end up travelling back thousands of years to the past to stop her.

I've always felt like this trilogy was amazing for the world building and character development and it didn't stop at The Silver Tide. Now, the reader was able to see Wydrin and Frith grow together as an official couple which was great (they may be my fantasy OTP) I think they both came through at the end better and stronger people, and better and stronger together. Sebastian has always been an interesting character for me. He has been so tortured all the way through the books, from before with his time as a Knight and then with everything that happened with the brood sisters and Skaldshallow. I liked his developing relationship with Oster and while I was sad about the ending, it made a lot of sense to me. And it means I wouldn't mind a few novellas to see what they got up to.

One of my favourite characters to watch development over the trilogy has been Ephemeral and I was so happy that she was involved in this story and this time she was not only warrior and scholar but also wife and in some way a mother. Her marriage with Terin was really cute and heartwarming and I really love that she found happiness with him. I also liked the companionship that grew between them all and Devenia.

The three travelling back to the time of the mages was amazing and just proved to be again what an amazing and complex land and history Williams has created. She not only gave the time of the Black Feathered Three their history but she also gave the mages their history and places, and times before them as well.

An absolutely amazing trilogy and my only gripe is that it's over. I need more more more!!!

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF - 40%

Wanted is the second book in the Soelled series and this time follows sidekick character Rexi Hood as she tries to make her mark in the land of fairy tales and magic.

I quite enjoyed Spelled, the first book in this series and though it was a bit silly and juvenile at times, I was mostly just amused and entertained. However with Wanted, I kind of feel like everything that I didn't like about Spelled was multipled tenfold in this book. It just felt a bit rushed and messy and I was just so confused the way it seemed to jump all over the place all the time. I would think Rexi was going to one place and had a goal and next minute she'd be somewhere else. It felt like a map with a start and an end but then the middle was just a bunch of squiggles.

I also think a proper recap would have worked at the beginning as I did find I had forgotten a lot of the finer details from Spelled and scrambled to figure who was who and what was happening at the start.

I received a free copy of this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Darnuir, the Prince of Dragons is gravely injured when his castle is stormed. To save his life, the wizard Brackendon must cast a special kind of spell, reversing Darnuir's life, essentially rebirthing him. Growing up with humans, the new Darnuir is different to the old and now must learn how to be King of the dragons in the face of a hoard of demons and a terrifying enemy.

This was actually a much more solid fantasy book than I had expected and i ended up really enjoying most of it. The fantasy setting has enough world building that I could understand where the characters were, what they were doing and where they were heading. The characters were also intriguing, particularly Darnuir as I often felt i couldn't quite get a grasp on him - my opinion of him kept changing. His battle with the flashes of his old self were very enjoyable to see though I think maybe I would have liked to have seen a bit more character development in this sense and see him battle his old self and impulses a bit more. A lot of characters are a little bit grey like Darnuir, not all good but not all bad either. Blaine always seemed like he had an ulterior motive but then he did really seem to believe in Darnuir at other times and followed the dragon's religion closely. Dakoona was another interesting character, particularly because of what happened with the spectres at the end - I can only assume that was on his orders and I'm interested to see what happens with that.

It could be a bot description heavy at times and the action took a while to really get going but I enjoyed this a lot and will definitely continue on.

2-5 -3 Stars

I received an e-copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

In an American town called Santuary, a large group of Supernatural creatures lives in one community group. Rel is one of these supernatural creatures. She is a 16-year-old vampire who hasn't developed her powers yet which is a good thing because her adoptive parents are a succubus and incubus and can't tell her what she should expect. When a new guy arrives in school, Rel suddenly finds herself having urges that aren't just to do with teenage hormones. On top of that, it seems like a new hunter has arrived, and a mysterious beast is killing people.

This is a great, fun read for a younger reader. I think this book would have been a 4-5 star read for me when I was younger, and especially around the time I would have been reading books like House of Night and Twilight. It's full of teenage angst and Rel not only has to deal with a changes with her body and feelings (which young teenagers can totally relate to, even though they are obviously not vampires) but also ends up on a bit of an adventure when she tries to track down a fearsome monster.

Unfortunately this book wasn't fantastic for me but I do think it has largely to do with my age. I'm 25 now and while I do like YA still, I can't quite connect with some of the more angsty feelings that get thrown into such stories, like this one, now. Rel called Richard (or Rick - we never actually heard from him which he prefers) the love of her life on a few occasions, instead of just acknowledging him as her crush, even though she had literally only spoken to him about three times. I also feel like Richard kept cropping up as this romantic interest but there was nothing that seemed to spur this interest on for Rel apart from his looks. We didn't get any deep conversation from Richard, we didn't learn about him such as who he was, his life in England before he moved, how he really felt about moving, where his mom was, etc etc. He ended up being a very flat character because all he was used for was a tasty (literally and figuratively) romantic interest.

I do have to give kudos to A Lynch for having Rel's parents very much involved in the story. They were there for her (most of the time) and were concerned with her whereabouts. Richard's dad was also in his life. However, Rel's parents approach to her vampirism just confused me. Why did they never get someone to come and talk to her before her powers came out and almost killed someone. And they were happy to have her going out and about with a blood lust, and a strong one for a classmate, and that baffled me. Why didn't the SCIM have some sort of operation set up aka The Vampire Diaries where blood bags were available for vampires so they don't have to hunt and hurt humans.

I did like the variety of supernaturals that were in the story and how they were set up in their little community. I think A Lynch has the potential for a great story/series set up and one that not only has to follow Rel but might follow other characters and how they deal with their powers as well.

One other small thing I didn't like - that Rel joined the cheerleader squad just to get Richard's attention. Nope.