Community Reviews
2/5
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher
Leo Loveage is a scriver, someone who writes magical spells, and not a very good one at that. Everything he does is silly and inconsequential, thought there is a reason for that, which doesn't make him many friends. Add to that his disregard for rules and his perchance for mischief, and it's no wonder Sebastian Grimm, a very talented and serious caster, cannot stand him. But when a mix up with a spell leaves them forced to remain close, and for Leo to follow all of Grimm's commands, the two of them will have to put aside their grievances and work together to vanish the spell. Regular solutions don't seem to help and, with no one they can turn to for help, they decide to take a trip deep into the dangerous and monster ridden Unquiet Wood where they might find the counterspell if they manage to survive.
I actually started liking this and then it just lost me. The pacing was one of the main problems, the promised Unquiet Wood's adventure doesn't start until 50% or so and, after a while of the same repetitive events from Leo's unchanging point of view, it got boring. Maybe if there had been more about the school or the magic system it could have been tolerable, and even enjoyable, but the way it is right now wasn't interesting. Then there's Leo and Grimm. As a narrator, Leo was ok at first, but he quickly started grinding on my gears. I understand the kind of character he is, the jokester who is secretly very hurt and uses humor as a defense mechanism, but there was never much internal evolution or a change in perspective from him. I needed more development. Grimm was even worse because there's nothing there. Silent and strong, ok? And what else? You have to give me something more. For this reason I never rooted for the romance, not that there was much to be honest.
Full transparency here, before finishing my reading I did read a couple reviews and I could not stop thinking about two of them that mentioned similitudes to The Untamed and I kinda see it. Magical school, forced to work together, their first meeting that we see has one of them drunk and breaking curfew, learning sword forms as part of their magic lessons, a nice supportive female character that is like a big sister, a brash big brother convinced that the main character wants to join him in his work, musical instruments used to cast magic and that being considered unorthodox... yeah. I don't think it's a copy of it, but I can understand the comparison and I'll admit that it might have colored my perception of the book a bit.
Other than that I can see people liking this, especially anyone who enjoys really low stakes cozy fantasy. The ARC I got was the audiobook edition and I do recommend it, I think the narrator was great. He carried Leo the whole book, making him more charming than I considered the character to be. The other characters had distinct voices and the audio was easy to understand.
I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher
Leo Loveage is a scriver, someone who writes magical spells, and not a very good one at that. Everything he does is silly and inconsequential, thought there is a reason for that, which doesn't make him many friends. Add to that his disregard for rules and his perchance for mischief, and it's no wonder Sebastian Grimm, a very talented and serious caster, cannot stand him. But when a mix up with a spell leaves them forced to remain close, and for Leo to follow all of Grimm's commands, the two of them will have to put aside their grievances and work together to vanish the spell. Regular solutions don't seem to help and, with no one they can turn to for help, they decide to take a trip deep into the dangerous and monster ridden Unquiet Wood where they might find the counterspell if they manage to survive.
I actually started liking this and then it just lost me. The pacing was one of the main problems, the promised Unquiet Wood's adventure doesn't start until 50% or so and, after a while of the same repetitive events from Leo's unchanging point of view, it got boring. Maybe if there had been more about the school or the magic system it could have been tolerable, and even enjoyable, but the way it is right now wasn't interesting. Then there's Leo and Grimm. As a narrator, Leo was ok at first, but he quickly started grinding on my gears. I understand the kind of character he is, the jokester who is secretly very hurt and uses humor as a defense mechanism, but there was never much internal evolution or a change in perspective from him. I needed more development. Grimm was even worse because there's nothing there. Silent and strong, ok? And what else? You have to give me something more. For this reason I never rooted for the romance, not that there was much to be honest.
Full transparency here, before finishing my reading I did read a couple reviews and I could not stop thinking about two of them that mentioned similitudes to The Untamed and I kinda see it. Magical school, forced to work together, their first meeting that we see has one of them drunk and breaking curfew, learning sword forms as part of their magic lessons, a nice supportive female character that is like a big sister, a brash big brother convinced that the main character wants to join him in his work, musical instruments used to cast magic and that being considered unorthodox... yeah. I don't think it's a copy of it, but I can understand the comparison and I'll admit that it might have colored my perception of the book a bit.
Other than that I can see people liking this, especially anyone who enjoys really low stakes cozy fantasy. The ARC I got was the audiobook edition and I do recommend it, I think the narrator was great. He carried Leo the whole book, making him more charming than I considered the character to be. The other characters had distinct voices and the audio was easy to understand.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.