This book is an introduction to an entirely new world by
Yasmine Galenorn which makes me very very eager
I’ve followed Yasmine Galenorn’s Sister of the Moon/Otherworld series (the name seems to change
depending on who you ask) for a long time and I’ve always enjoyed her world
setting, her characters and her stories. I haven’t enjoyed the massive massive
bloat that besieges the series because there are so many ideas that it’s heard
to fit them all in
So a new series entirely? That is promising.
And it is – promising pretty much sums up this book because it is an excellent introduction book. There isn’t so much a plot to this book as there is a general laying out the land. We meet Maudlin (Maddy) and learn a bit about who she is, what she does,
One thing I really like from the offset here I that we’re
introduced to Maddy, he recent past and experiences, the fact she’s a witch,
her friends and some nice world building around her but there’s no sense of
specialness. That doesn’t mean she’s not an interesting character – far from it
– she’s intriguing and strong and determined and has a really good relationship
with her friends. And she can definitely become special and awesome – but because
of what she does in the books, not because she’s come in to this book with the
special heritage/magic/woo-woo of specialness. Neither tragic nor ordained for
greatness.
She does have a past- but it’s a very mundane bad past.
The simple but powerful story of a woman leaving an abusive and soul destroying
relationship and beginning to find herself again. And that’s an excellent story
– because having someone with a compelling history that doesn’t have to be
epic, soul-shattering or so extreme is a wonderful thing to see. I want to see
Maddy leave her ex in her dust and build herself an awesome future
I also really like her cjinn – a wishing cat with a
mischievous streak. Who doesn’t like a mischievous cat?
Along with the cat, Maddy has some great friends and an
obvious community that had her back. We don’t know much about them yet because
it is an excellently brief introduction to the world, not overwhelming us with
extraneous facts before we’ve had time to digest this.
But the little we’ve seen with the supernatural and an
express supernatural community (which isn’t something we’ve seen often) is
definitely intriguing g me
Now the bit I don’t like so much – Aegis. Because all
those wonderful things I said about Maddy? Don’t apply to Aegis. He’s super
ancient and super special and super powerful and super cursed and super tropey.
And he sees Maddy and he finds her super duper compelling and super duper
attractive after 2 seconds of seeing her and now he wants to cohabit with her
and *siiiiiiigh*
I could have done without Aegis. I want to see Maddy
continue to get over her bad break up, find her new home, create her new life, connect
with her friends and establish herself and grow. I would have loved to have
seen that, especially in an introduction novel all about showing us Maddy and
her world without introducing a love interest.
Especially if witch blood is going to be an aphrodisiac and
we’re going to spend so much time on how hawwwwt each one finds the other.
