Week 24 Review: The Tethered Mage

From Goodreads:

CONTROL THE MAGIC, CONTROL THE WORLD

In the Raverran Empire, magic is scarce and those born with power are strictly controlled -- taken as children and conscripted into the Falcon Army. Zaira has lived her life on the streets to avoid this fate, hiding her mage-mark and thieving to survive. But hers is a rare and dangerous magic, one that threatens the entire empire.

Lady Amalia Cornaro was never meant to be a Falconer. Heiress and scholar, she was born into a treacherous world of political machinations.

But fate has bound the heir and the mage. And as war looms on the horizon, a single spark could turn their city into a pyre.

The Tethered Mage is the first novel in a spellbinding new fantasy series. 

My Review:
Man, this was an excellent read! I've been meaning to read it ever since I read The Obsidian Tower, but the idea of the Falcons put me off, because it is a hard topic, because there's a disturbing amount of overlap with slavery. But I read it, and I really enjoyed it!

There were two parts to this book-Amalia and Zaira, and their relationship. And the politics of the Raverran Empire, of a city state that doesn't want to be under it's control, and an outside country that they've warred with before. It was all so complicated and pretty intense, and I loved it!  

I really enjoyed how Amalia played to her strengths, in her scholarly knowledge, and how she relied on her friends. There were so many intense moments, and I need to know what's going to happen next, because honestly this was pretty large in scale right from the get go! 

Prince Ruven of Vaskandar was an excellent set up villain, this isn't the last time that we'll see him, and I can't wait, because he was such an awful person! I do want to know more about Vaskandar from an outsider position, as well as it's been so long since I read The Obsidian Tower. 

This was a really great read, and I can't wait to see where the series goes from here! 

Author: Melissa Caruso
Series: Swords and Fire #1
Read: June 14th, 2022
Source: Ebook.bike
Reason Why: Loved The Obsidian Tower, and it's a DAC Book and a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2022 Book!
Publisher: Orbit
Published: October 24th 2017

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

/5 Stars