Thank you to evic.lit on Instagram for the ARC!!
For me, this book was a solid 3. I'm going to start by listing the things that gave me pause. These are light story spoilers but not the overall plot.
**Potential Spoilers**
-Quell and her mom have been running her whole life from a magical society that wants to kill her for her magic. When she's separated from her mother with nowhere to go, Quell enters the magical society in question without much thought.
-There is no true explanation to the reader about how the magic system works. There's stones, blade, latin, feel, kor, etc...and it took me to about 50% to get a decent grasp on how it works.
-Quell has never actively used her magic, it's always just blossomed when she's in trouble. However, when she does her first instruction she's better than most of the class who have been at the school for at least a week. I get she's the chosen one but this was too much to suspend disbelief.
**End Spoilers**
Now to the things that made me want to finish the book and ultimately want to read the second.
Quell is a firecracker. Her whole personality makes a lot of sense for what she grew up with. She doesn't trust easily for good reason.
Headmistress Marionne is sus AF and I love that for her.
The love interest is a shadow daddy who doesn't actually WANT to be able to wield the darkness because that's the "wrong kind" of magic.
This was a tough read and I can understand why someone would DNF based on the three major hangups I had but if you can push beyond that the story is an interesting take on the chosen one and rebellion on an oppressive society tropes.
House of Marionne is out on August 29th!!
For me, this book was a solid 3. I'm going to start by listing the things that gave me pause. These are light story spoilers but not the overall plot.
**Potential Spoilers**
-Quell and her mom have been running her whole life from a magical society that wants to kill her for her magic. When she's separated from her mother with nowhere to go, Quell enters the magical society in question without much thought.
-There is no true explanation to the reader about how the magic system works. There's stones, blade, latin, feel, kor, etc...and it took me to about 50% to get a decent grasp on how it works.
-Quell has never actively used her magic, it's always just blossomed when she's in trouble. However, when she does her first instruction she's better than most of the class who have been at the school for at least a week. I get she's the chosen one but this was too much to suspend disbelief.
**End Spoilers**
Now to the things that made me want to finish the book and ultimately want to read the second.
Quell is a firecracker. Her whole personality makes a lot of sense for what she grew up with. She doesn't trust easily for good reason.
Headmistress Marionne is sus AF and I love that for her.
The love interest is a shadow daddy who doesn't actually WANT to be able to wield the darkness because that's the "wrong kind" of magic.
This was a tough read and I can understand why someone would DNF based on the three major hangups I had but if you can push beyond that the story is an interesting take on the chosen one and rebellion on an oppressive society tropes.
House of Marionne is out on August 29th!!