4/5 stars
Balzer + Bray, 2013
449 pages
YA Fantasy
Source: Received an ARC through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.
When I first saw this book (with its old cover, I think), I wasn't much interested. Nothing personal, I just didn't think I wanted or needed any more YA fantasy at the time, preferring to explore more contemporary offerings. Then I started seeing reviews for this and actually read the synopsis, only to realize that I actually really did want to give this a read--and I'm so glad I've had a chance to do so!
Publisher's Summary: Iolanthe Seabourne is the greatest elemental mage of her generation—or so she's being told. The one prophesied for years to be the savior of The Realm. It is her duty and destiny to face and defeat the Bane, the greatest mage tyrant the world has ever known. A suicide task for anyone let alone a sixteen-year-old girl with no training, facing a prophecy that foretells a fiery clash to the death.The part that most intrigued me was the promise of Iolanthe as an elemental mage, based on my love of Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Mage series. There's just something so interesting to me about directing power through the four elements. Don't think this is a copy though-the rules here are very different. I think I have a grasp on everything but I bet there are still a lot of new magical surprises to come in the rest of the series.
Prince Titus of Elberon has sworn to protect Iolanthe at all costs but he's also a powerful mage committed to obliterating the Bane to avenge the death of his family—even if he must sacrifice both Iolanthe and himself to achieve his goal.
But Titus makes the terrifying mistake of falling in love with the girl who should have been only a means to an end. Now, with the servants of the Bane closing in, he must choose between his mission and her life.
Add in the meticulous plannings of Prince Titus and Iolanthe's disguise as a boy at Eton (some of my favorite moments took place during those times) and I was quickly sold in mind. My heart took a bit longer as I really struggled with the writing. It took me two days to read about 150 pages, which is rather long for me. Seeing that the imprint is one from HarperCollins, I assumed I would be able to get into the story really fast and fly through it; previous experiences with Balzer + Bray books (such as Everneath and Unraveling) have been exactly like that. Maybe it was the third person narration that sometimes zoomed in on Iolanthe in her boy disguise as Archer Fairfax, sometimes on Titus, and sometimes zoomed out for a macro perspective. Perhaps there were my struggles to become acclimated to this fantasy world; one of the reasons I love contemporary is that you don't need much world-building because so much is already familiar to me. Maybe I was a bit distracted. Whatever the reason, though I was enjoying this book and desperately wanted to finish it, I did not make good progress on it until finally something clicked and I was frantically turning the pages to finish the book.
As I mentioned above, Titus is a planner. He has contingencies for his contingency plans but oddly he never planned for the mage he would protect to be female. This throws him for a loop but he adapts, leading to a burgeoning romance. Though both try to fight it, there are so many little hints and tingles for the reader as we are privy to knowledge that the other is not. And when they do give in to their feelings, it's small and subtle compared to romance novels but it brought the swoon for me. This may also be because I'm a planner and I appreciate that in other people.
Another huge plus is her disguise as a boy at Eton. Given her dire need, it's no surprise that she would attempt with her utmost but due to some innate talent and acting experience (along with a pinch of magic), she is a very successful boy. I loved all the worlds we visited but have a soft spot for Victorian England so that was a special standout for me.
Overall: I would very much recommend this fantasy even to people who think they are tired of fantasy. What was a slow-starter turned out to be a very rewarding reading experience and I can't wait for book 2!
Other Opinions:
Candace's Book Blog
Good Books and Good Wine
Reading Extensively
I'm so glad you enjoyed this too. I really liked the setting and the scenes at Eton and I'm looking forward to the next book.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you recommended it as I had originally skipped over it-thank you!
DeleteI loved this one too! (And you should give Thomas's romances a chance!)
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in trying them next time I have a romance craving.
DeleteAw, yay! Glad you enjoyed it :D I really, really loved it. <3 Sigh. I cannot wait for book two :) Amazing review sweetie.
ReplyDeleteIt had so many great parts and I'm really interested to see what is going to come.
DeleteI really liked this one too. Maybe not as much as you, but definitely enough to continue with the series. Though I originally thought this was a standalone so it was disappointing to find out that it wasn't. I loved the gender bending in this. And I really liked the characters and world-building. Such a fun books!
ReplyDeleteI would have loved this book if I could have gotten in to it faster-it took me ages to read!
DeleteYes yes yes - ok now I must read this stat. I love the idea of disguised as a boy!
ReplyDeleteYes-definitely seek it out because there are so many great bits!
DeleteSo glad you liked it!! I absolutely loved it :D
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about it before, but I think that I loved Titus so much is because he's a planner and I identify with that ;)
That was one of the first things I noticed about him and I'm glad I did because it really helped me love him.
DeleteI just adored this one too and I am excited for the next one. Great review. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was a most excellent read and I'm glad to see that pretty much all of my blogging buddies liked it a lot too.
Deletehmm good to know it's a slow starter but worth it in the end. I too appreciate planners, so I think I may like this guy. :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely want to give people warning about that so they can keep pushing through because I ultimately thought it was worth it.
DeleteI am reading this right now and could not agree more with your thoughts, it was really slow going at first but then I was hooked. I'm a huge fan of fantasy and this one is awesome so far.
ReplyDeleteSo glad we're on the same page :)
DeleteReally looking forward to this one, I can do slow-starter if it comes through overall. Nice review :)
ReplyDeleteMe too-I remember someone saying that about Seraphina and appreciating the warning when I approached the book myself.
DeleteI'm glad you liked this! It seems like it was a tad slow for me, but not that far in. Maybe a few chapters? Or maybe it was a little while in the middle it felt slow. But I get what you're saying anyway. I'm glad it did click though!
ReplyDeleteIt was slow for me for longer but it seems like most people agree that it was a little slow. I just think that fantasy needs more time to set the stage which is part of the reason I tend to read more contemporary which doesn't need that time to build the world.
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