Forbidden Healing by Rachael Watson * * * *

I debated if I should give it 5 stars, but in the end it was more like a 4. I did really enjoy the book, it just wasn't perfect.

The world itself is interesting. You get the sense right from the beginning that all is not right with the picture portrayed by the dominant people, and that only becomes more obvious as things progress. What I found really interesting about the world was the description of fanatism and religious brainwashing, which are in interest of mine. The world itself is pretty small. We learn about two cities and the path between them, and not really a lot about anything else. It does keep thing streamlined and leave space for further exploration.

There are two POV characters, Kyla and Marlowe. They're very different people, and not just because one is a guy and the other one is a woman. Their narrative voice is different too, so that was well done. I found Kyla's story a bit more interesting in this book, but things were just amping up for Marlowe at the end, so this will probably be a bit different. I think we do get more chapters with Kyla, so that was actually a good thing, since not a lot happened to Marlowe.

Now let's talk about the story. The story itself is rather simple. There is a hint of something more complex going on in the background, but this isn't a very long book. So this portion of the story is mostly straight-forward. There is a lot of foreshadowing for future books. I don't want to spoil anything, but it is farely obvious that by the end of the book the two main characters meet. As for predictability, I did guess a lot, though nothing totally specific. So it was still enjoyable.

Overall, a grea start, but it definitely feels like a start. I'm so glad all three books are out now, because I'm going to gobble these up.

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The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso * * * *

This is the first book I managed to get to the end of in a while. I’ve been in quite the funk. This novel is not perfect, but it kept me reading, so that’s a gold star.

This book is about two young women caught up in the intrigues and mysteries of a fantasy version of 16th century Italy.

The magic I really liked. Basically, there are people who as kids have these “mage marks” in their eyes, which is like central heterochromia. That is when around the pupil you have a ring of different colour. I actually have this. Why I hate surveys with eye colour. So I guess I’d be a mage in this world. Mages can have active powers like being able to command elements, or make plants grow, and then there are kind of scientists that can mix magic with machines, and people who make potions. So according to the author the basis of the story is this magic system, since obviously these powers manifest in little kids, and what do you do with them? Raverra – Venice – decided to bind their magic and make them live on an island with people they’re bound to. Their families can come too. Of course this situation may be good for some people, maybe not. If you’re a poor washerwoman and your kid is a mage, jackpot! You move into the fortress and you’ll never have money problems, your kid will have a job. For other people this may not be such a good thing. Especially because Raverra is in control of a whole Empire and everyone in the Empire has to take their kids to this one island in a foreign city. Yeah, major conflict.

So that’s pretty much the set-up. Now for the characters. They’re all pretty good and distinguishable. No one annoyed me too much. I DNF-ed a lot of books recently, because the lead just made me want to do stuff to her… and none of them good.

The story itself had a mystery, politics and romance. I really enjoyed the mystery, even though I figured it out before the reveal, and the politics was smartly written. The problem I had was with the romance. I know that’s kind of mandatory in most books, but I could have done without. Partly I wasn’t that well-written, the weakest part of the story, and it was kind of insta-love. Luckily it’s not that dominant in the story. In a way that part felt to me like the writer had as much enthusiasm for it as I do. Like someone said “you have to have a romance”. The writing itself is pretty good, though sometimes a bit lacking in details. I don’t mind much, because my ADHD brain can’t do long dress descriptions, but I felt like I was doing a lot of filling in. I felt it got better towards the end, so perhaps that evolved as the story went along.

I also have to make a note on the corset thing. Again, we have another story where whenever the heroine puts on a corset, she’s gasping and can’t breathe or eat. Please watch videos on YouTube from experts on this. This is totally a modern idea of corsets facilitated by several people in history. People who are experts on corsets, who made corsets and worn them can testify that the myth is untrue. Modern spandex is worse. Not that I ever wear them.

Overall, I’m going to go on with the series. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to people who like a fantasy story with strong female characters that are actually powerful.

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