Synopsis:

Magic has made the city of Tiran an industrial utopia, but magic has a cost—and the collectors have come calling.

An orphan since the age of four, Sciona has always had more to prove than her fellow students. For twenty years, she has devoted every waking moment to the study of magic, fueled by a mad desire to achieve the impossible: to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry. When she finally claws her way up the ranks to become a highmage, however, she finds that her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues will stop at nothing to let her know she is unwelcome, beginning with giving her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.

What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was once more than a janitor; before he mopped floors for the mages, Thomil was a nomadic hunter from beyond Tiran’s magical barrier. Ten years have passed since he survived the perilous crossing that killed his family. But working for a highmage, he sees the opportunity to finally understand the forces that decimated his tribe, drove him from his homeland, and keep the Tiranish in power.

Through their fractious relationship, mage and outsider uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first. Sciona has defined her life by the pursuit of truth, but how much is one truth worth with the fate of civilization in the balance?

I LOVED THIS BOOK!

Will I be able to write a coherent review???

Probably not.

BUT SHE’S GOING TO TRY ANYWAY!!!

_{What a trooper}

What I Loved!

Sciona! Just everything about Sciona as a whole! As the main character and narrator of the story we couldn’t have better! In her world (much like in ours sadly) only men can achieve greatness because the doors to greatness are only open to men. But Sciona put her foot in the door, kicked it down – did a Jack Nicholsen in The Shinning.

She was getting behind that door no matter what! And she had the skill and the perseverance (and by god the patience) to do it THEIR way! They couldn’t deny my girls talent no matter which way they twisted and turned! She’s genius level smart and applies herself to every problem thrown at her. Almost every jab at her seems to roll off her like it was nothing.

She just wants to get back to work and all these people keep talking to her… how dare they?

Like all great MC’s Sciona is flawed. Glaringly so. She’s borderline arrogant (a necessary trait, I would say) and blind to the lives of those around her – but not in a cruel way. She’s not mean. Just narrow minded. And where the Kwen are concerned it’s almost like she’s been so focused on her work her whole life that all she knows about the Kwen are the awful rumours and stereotypes about them.

I enjoyed her character arc more than any other character I’ve read from the perspective of. Going step by step through Sciona’s thoughts and watching as she over comes a harrowing, genuinely disgusting, truth and hatches a plan so brilliant that I was sitting there with my mouth open reading on.

I can’t say I’ve ever done anything productive when I was in a slump! Much less something HUGE that undoes evil!

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Thomil! He was probably the best secondary character there could be! He suffered so much grief in the first few pages and then he just had to get up and get on with it. Working for people who see him and his whole race as lesser. But having no way out. He just wanted to do his job and go home to his niece – consumed by the knowledge that even though life as it is is god awful it can always be a million times worse.

I loved his back and forth with Sciona! He was trying his best to remain professional, as her assistant he tried so hard to just go with whatever she told him to do but a lot of time he was just like:

Poor guy. He thought raising his niece and trying to navigate a society that wants him dead was hard. Sciona was like ” YOU’RE GOING TO LEARN SOME MAGIC TODAY!” My guy was a janitor yesterday… No wonder he was always stressed.

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The dark gritty setting! This is a dark fantasy book, and my god it got dark! A lot of books tend to hint at something bad and horrid and then the characters defeat it and then it’s not spoken about again. But in this book… all the details were there. The horror of what had been done and was continuing to be done KNOWINGLY!

This is a world that takes. It takes and takes and doesn’t care about how it effects those it can’t see. That is doesn’t CARE to see. The Kwen and the poorer folk in society, though mainly the Kwen.

In a way it’s set up much like our Capitalist society, feed the less fortunate into the horrible machine and keep those at the top powerful and wealthy. And that added to the horror of it even more.

That even though it’s fantasy… the horrors are all too similar.

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Story Overall!

While it was a steady, almost slow pace to begin with, once it picked up there was no putting it down. The amount of times things shifted in the last 40% had me on the edge of my seat!

I’m sitting there like “Oh, this is the worst it’s going to get!”

It never is.

Readers.

Don’t say those words… I’m convinced the writers can here you and they’re cackling

It can always get worse…

I was sobbing by the end.

Genuine. Heaving. Sobs.

Some how this book managed to rip my heart out and put it in the shredder while also patting me on the back, lovingly whispering hopeful messages to me…

Overall… 5 star read right here!

This book became a favourite so fast it was on the list before I finished reading the last pages! And M. L. Wang has a nice comfy spot on my authors to buy anything and everything from list!

Highly recommend if you love a dark fantasy with a strong female lead!

Please check the trigger warnings before reading!! This book deals with some really heavy topics!

Have you read this book?? What did you think?? What was the last book that had you sobbing??