Book Review: Mystic by Jason Denzel

Pros: fun protagonists, good world-building, interesting plot

Cons: immersion broken at times

Pomella AnDone is astonished when she’s invited by the new High Mystic to compete for an apprenticeship.  Though Pomella has a book with mystic symbols and songs from her grandmhathir, and has always been able to see wispy animal shapes no one else can, she never dreamed that a commoner would be allowed to apprentice.  Defying her Baron, her fathir, and custom, she sets out.  Pomella wants to start her new life by leaving her old life behind but her potential beau Sim, follows after, wanting to make sure she gets to the meeting place safely.  And others aren’t keen on a commoner rising above her station.

It took me a little while to get into the story.  While I appreciated the attempt at making some words sound ‘fantasy’, I kept tripping over ‘fathir’ and ‘grandmhathir’.  There were also a few early scenes that bumped me out of the story - particularly when Pomella starts reading her grandmhathir’s book in the rain - and the book somehow doesn’t suffer any damage (nor does it suffer much damage after being left out in the elements - open - for 2 days).  I also had a few issues with light sources that other readers probably won’t notice or care about.  In one scene Sim tries to pass time by reading - under a wagon, when the sky’s dark with clouds, with no candle or other named light source - and yet he’s able to see the colour of the ink on the page.

Those minor nitpicks aside, this is an enjoyable book.  A lot of effort was put into the world-building.  My favourite aspect was the wide variety of world - and character - appropriate exclamations and expressions.  Sim, an apprentice blacksmith, uses a few that reference metal-working.  It was also cool to see sumptuary style laws in place, stating what people of different classes were allowed to do, along with specific written languages for each class.  The multi-racial make-up of the continent vs the island where the book takes place, was also cool to see.

Pomella, as a sixteen year old, isn’t sure what she wants out of life, and so questions her decisions often.  She’s feisty but she also realizes she can’t do everything on her own.  In one scene that made me want to cheer are these sentences; “Now, faced with the first Trial, she needed someone.  Not because she couldn’t succeed by herself, but because the thought of being in this alone made her sick” (p122).  Too many books assume that for a protagonist to be strong they have to do everything alone.  But they ignore the reality that friendship is important, and we all need help and support to achieve our dreams.

The plot is interesting, and the ending is quite exciting.  I really enjoyed how things pan out.  While it wasn’t a perfect book, it was a good debut.

Book Review: Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Pros: brilliant world-building, interesting characters, interesting politics, thought provoking

Cons: 

For Parents: no swearing, minor suggestive content, a few kisses, some violence, nothing graphic

Seraphina has a secret to hide regarding her mother.  Her distant father warns her to avoid calling attention to herself, but her love of music makes it hard for her, especially when she becomes the assistant to the court composer.  It’s a mere two weeks before the Treaty Eve festivities when the Ardmagar Comonot visits to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the peace pact between the Goredd nation and dragonkind.  Not everyone is happy with the peace, especially since Prince Rufus recently died in a suspiciously draconic way.  The Sons of St. Ogdo are stirring up the populace against the vile scourge even as members of the royal court make snide remarks behind the backs of the draconic embassy members.  The depth of Seraphina’s knowledge of dragons and her willingness to stand up for them in the face of prejudice, brings her to the attention of Prince Lucian Kiggs, Captain of the Queen’s Guard, as more and more incidents occur.  As the days count down both her secret and the peace pact are in danger.  

This is a brilliant novel.  The writing is top notch and the world-building excellent.  It’s a pseudo-European world, but one that remembers there are other nations with other peoples, many of whom travel and have political and economic ties to each other.  The religion is obviously based on Catholicism, with a plethora of interesting saints (including St. Ogdo the dragon slayer).  I loved that the politics around the peace weren’t simple.  The racism of humans to dragons and vice versa is covered (in multiple forms), as is the peace pact between the human nations that came about beforehand, which allowed the humans to present a united front to the dragons.  I also liked that the book pointed out the uncertainty that people feel when forced to trust that their former enemy is trading in good faith.  

The dragons are coldly logical, refusing to allow feelings to affect them.  But when they take human form, they can have trouble dealing with the wash of emotions that come over them.  Dragons that forget themselves face harsh punishments - the excision of those emotions and any memories that could revive them.

Seraphina is a wonderful character.  She lies to protect herself, knowing that she’s hurting herself by doing so.  I loved that many of her lies are uncovered, forcing her to face the consequences of her actions and make difficult decisions based on them.  Lucian’s great, always asking questions and sometimes getting burned by the answers.  Princess Glisselda was fun to read about, with her obvious intelligence and political savvy.  It was refreshing to see a friendship develop between women that didn’t involve any backbiting or gossip.  I also loved Orma, who tries so hard to appear human but doesn’t quite grasp all of the intricacies involved even as he often has to prove he has no emotional attachment to Seraphina.  

The book has some great examples of how to stand up for yourself - and others - when facing bigotry.  It isn’t easy and Seraphina sometimes does the wrong thing, but it’s great seeing examples of how to deal with bullying behaviour head on.  It’s equally good that it shows the potential backlash and consequences that standing up for something can elicit.

I personally found the jump between the prologue and the first chapter very confusing.  The prologue shows Seraphina’s birth, which made me think the book would progress through her life, but the first chapter jumps several years ahead, and you have to read a few chapters to understand how she got where she is now.  Logically prologues tend to stand apart from the rest of the book so that was my failure of attention rather than a flaw in the text.

I loved this book.  The characters felt so real and Seraphina’s loneliness so heartbreaking that I cried several times while reading it.  The mystery is a little on the slow side, but I found the world and happenings so fascinating that I didn’t care.  If you love fantasy, get this book.

Book Review: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

Pros: political intrigue, some empathetic characters

Cons: Auranos royalty was irritating, very fake siege and war

For Parents: some violence, off page sex 

The lands of Mytica are slowly dying, their magic draining away.  Magnus, prince of Valoria, forced to cut himself off from his emotions in order to deal with his abusive father and distant mother, is very protective of the younger sister, Lucia, he loves too much.  But Lucia is more than he or she knows, heiress of a vast power she’s about to come into.

Cleo is the spoiled younger princess of Auranos.  On an excursion to the dying land of Palsia, known for their fine wine and nothing else, her friend, the arrogant Lord Aron Lagaris, kills a vintner’s son.  The victim’s brother, Jonas, swears vengeance.

War is coming to the 3 lands of Mytica.  And the actions of these teens is the spark that ignites it.

I wanted to like this book, I mean, I really did.  The cover is gorgeous and the plot sounds so interesting.  

The good: The author had some great politics going on.  There’s a lot of intrigue among the three countries, and part of Palsia’s troubles are due to trade agreements made in the past that are only now causing major problems (deals very similar to ones made by African nations in the real world).

I loved Magnus.  His attempts to keep his emotions hidden even as he falls in love with his sister - the only person who shows him any kindness and consideration - is heartbreaking.  The author’s attempts to make him evil just made me pity him more.  I loved his entire storyline, and that of Lucia.

I found Jonas an interesting character.  Not quite as sympathetic as Magnus, despite the tragedy he experiences, his actions at least follow through from that action.  And while I’m not sure I believe what he does at the end of the book, again, his decision stems from what’s gone before.

The bad: I hated Cleo.  She’s got a few redeeming features, like she’s sorry the vintner’s son dies, but she’s selfish in her sorrow.  She does nothing to redress what happened, sends no funds to help the family afterwards or the land she knows is dying, even as hers flourishes.  She makes some truly, truly horrible decisions.  Decisions that someone her age, in her position, should never make.  Her older sister is dying for the dumbest reason, which ends up causing added problems for their kingdom.  I’ll explain more about these in the spoilers section.

Cleo never seemed to learn from her mistakes.  I could understand how certain things happened - life gets out of control sometimes, especially when you’re 16.  But things keep happening and she never seems to make better decisions.  At one point she believes that having a hissy fit will save her from one of her father’s decisions.  If that’s not entitlement, I don’t know what is.

My final point - the one that made me almost throw the book across the room in frustrated anger, deals with the ending, so it’s in the spoiler section below.

I wanted to like this book but didn’t.  I forced myself to finish and I’m not sure why.  It had a lot of promise, but too many of the characters rubbed me the wrong way and too many actions made no sense for me to continue with the series.

SPOILERS

Jonas - at the end of the book he decides he’d rather help Cleo than see his country annexed by Limeros.  I can understand he doesn’t want the annexation to stand, but while Cleo explains earlier that she’s sorry his brother is dead she was still in a position to have saved him and didn’t.  And she does nothing to rectify the mistake.  So I can’t see him following her.

Cleo - her decision to search Palsia for magic seeds to save her sister is ridiculous.  She knows the country is experiencing unrest due to her actions and yet she goes there anyway, chasing a story that - if true - would have saved Palsia.  I also didn’t understand why the witch, when encountered, gave Cleo the seeds.  In her note the witch praises Cleo’s honesty - when Cleo told her nothing but lies.  Yes, Cleo did say the seeds were to save her sister, but that’s the only truth that came from her mouth beyond her name.  Seems to me the which could have been helping her own people rather than saving another spoiled princess.

And make no mistake, Emilia was a spoiled princess, despite her otherwise desire to subsume her needs for that of her kingdom.  She wasn’t, after all, sick.  She was dying of a broken heart.  She literally chose to die because the man she loved (who was at least 35 years older than her - he had a 20 year old son) accidentally died.

My last complaint deals with the siege / war at the end of the book.

OK, if you’re attacking a fortified castle complex you need more than 5000 men.  Especially if you’re not bringing any siege engines of any kind, ladders, sappers or anything else that might help you get past the walls.  Most sieges worked because they starved out the inhabitants.  In this book the ‘siege’ lasts - I kid you not - 3 days.  Yup, 3 days.  And the attacking army is running out of food, having no supply train set up to feed the peasant troops (the wealthier, armoured troops we’re told do have food).  For some reason the defending army decides to leave their fortifications and fight on the field.  Not sure why when they’ve got this wall behind which to throw things at the enemy.  The attacking fighters manage to breach the walls - without any siege weapons mentioned at all - after 12 hours of straight fighting, no breaks.  Not sure how that worked, as most battles lasted a few hours and than broke apart so people could rest and tend their wounded (or surrender/run away).  Not to mention, with only 5000 men, I’d have expected the fighting to end much earlier.