Buy: Amazon
Review
3.5 stars
The first book in the Esprithean Trilogy and beginning of the Sundered Realm Extended Universe, this is a great introduction to a brand new fantasy world, and I really enjoyed this one!
I picked this book up because I really want to read The Ascended, and saw that you should read Rifborne and Duskbound first, so I dove in. I had seen some less-than-favourable reviews for this one, but I was pleasantly surprised by how easily I was sucked into this story, and how excited I was to keep reading.
Fia is a Riftborne, the child of defeated revolutionaries, she was branded and taken in by their conquerors as an orphan child, but looked down upon as an outcast. When the Sidhe General witnesses her secret, dangerous magic, he brings her into his elite faction of magic wielders, making her a soldier in the army that destroyed her home and her family. But she needs all the help she can get to understand and gain control over her growing powers, so she reluctantly agrees to training, including one-on-one lessons with the general himself.
It’s a slow-moving story, but I was fully invested from the very beginning. I loved Fia as a character, and I felt for her as she tried to get a hold of her wildly dangerous powers. I loved her friendship with her best friend, Osta, the bonds she develops with her fellow trainees, and her simmering chemistry with the dark and broody general. There is romance, but it sort of jumps out at you towards the end of the book, and I have theories! And her growth as a character is great to watch.
“You’ll never get over your fears if you continue to give into them every time.”
The world is well developed, the magic system is interesting, and there is enough action and intrigue to have me fully invested. The ending brings some big twists, and I’m excited to see where the series goes from here. I’m diving right into book #2!
I really enjoyed this one – 3.5 stars.
The Esprithean Trilogy
Riftborne (#1)
Review
Buy: Amazon
Duskbound (#2)
Buy: Amazon
Untitled (#3)
Release TBA