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A Trial of Sorcerers

A Trial of Sorcerers – Elise Kova

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Synopsis

Ice is in her blood.

Eighteen-year-old Waterrunner Eira Landan lives her life in the shadows — the shadow of her older brother, of her magic’s whispers, and of the person she accidentally killed. She’s the most unwanted apprentice in the Tower of Sorcerers until the day she decides to step out and compete for a spot in the Tournament of Five Kingdoms.

Pitted against the best sorcerers in the Empire, Eira fights to be one of four champions. Excelling in the trials has its rewards. She’s invited to the royal court with the “Prince of the Tower,” discovers her rare talent for forbidden magic, and at midnight, Eira secretly meets with a handsome elfin ambassador.

But, Eira soon learns, no reward is without risk. As she comes into the spotlight, so too do the skeletons of a past she hadn’t even realized was haunting her.

Eira went into the trials ready for a fight. Ready to win. She wasn’t ready for what it would cost her. No one expected the candidates might not make it out with their lives.

Review

“Be careful when you go hunting for the truth. It’s rarely what you expect.”

Eira is a Sorceress, particularly a Waterrunner. She studies alongside her older brother Marcus at the Tower of Sorcerers. But, while her brother is talented and adored by everyone. She’s an outcast whose only friend is Alyss, a Groundbreaker.

“I saw your brother come by, so I knew you wouldn’t be far behind.” Marcus’s shadow. That was all she ever was. Even Alyss, her best and truest friend, knew it.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Eira hears voices, and probably killing someone 3 years ago didn’t help much either.

Anyway, she was an outcast under her brother’s eternal care. Which was bad enough, but made so much worse by Marcus’s best friend, Cullen, a lord and the first Windwalker after the Empress. He was literally known as “The Prince of the Tower”.

Eira has a chance to change her life when the Tournament of Five Kingdoms is announced. Friendly game to be in Meru, the elven kingdom that was discovered not long ago and completely obsesses Eira. She is willing to show her potential and earn her place on that journey. Even if it means disappointing her family and making changes that she might later regret. Furthermore, a certain elf ambassador has given Eira even more reasons for wanting to go to Meru. But winning the trials may be the least of her problems…

Should she go with him? She could already hear Alyss saying no. Even if the elfin were friends of Solaris and he was clearly a nobleman, she should definitely not sneak off into the night following a stranger. So, of course, Eira did.

Do you want my honest opinion? Here’s my honest opinion…

This is the first book from Elise that I read, but I knew her fame. I can’t understand how such a sweet person enjoys hurting us so much ?.

When the trials are announced, her whole family tries to clarify that she must support her brother and not compete. The truth is that Eira complains all the time, but I did not find it unpleasant. I feel like she was right about everything, and it’s very sad to see that no one but Alyss understands her.

“I am my own person. I don’t just jump when asked and I won’t neatly exist only where and how you or anyone else wants me to.”

Marcus is an excellent older brother and they both love each other, but he also does not realize the damage done to her by “protecting” her. In truth, her parents go too far and I find it hard to believe that they did everything for her.

His gaze swept to hers and Marcus gave her a small nod, one Eira returned. To him, it was likely a gesture of a plan they both knew. For Eira, it said, Let the games begin.

As for Cullen, I super hated him at first. It was horribly disgusting as well as cocky. However, it turns out that Cullen only acted like that to her in response to how she treated him. And now I love him ?.

“It’s admirable,” he said, finally. Eira noticed he didn’t immediately withdraw or flinch from her touch. “To be so passionate about something. To not care what anyone else thinks of that passion.”
Eira laughed softly. “It’s not that I don’t care what they think. It’s that I can’t care. It hurts too much when I do. It’s easier to encase myself in—”
“Walls. So they never see the real you. If they don’t really know you, then they can’t really hurt you.” She had been going to say ice, but… “Yes.”

There is a small love triangle. Small because Eira is not interested in opening her heart at first, and I pride myself (and surprised myself ?) to say that for the first time I was not Team Elf. You can imagine how interesting Cullen is… Although I just remembered that he is a lord, so maybe I am not so surprised of myself ?.

This is a magic academy book, full of dark secrets and mistakes. It also has slow-burn romance, loyal friendship, and complicated family relationships. And, of course, magical trials.

Eira is forced to go on a journey of self-discovery when her world is destroyed. For the first time in her life, she will have the opportunity to prove herself and unleash her true powers.

She was the one in charge of her own destiny; and, now that she knew this feeling, Eira would never let anyone take it from her again.

The book has excellent world building, vivid emotions. The trials to decide the representatives of the Tower were quite interesting and original. Although I can’t help the Harry Potter vibes, particularly The Goblet of Fire for the trials and The Half-Blood Prince for a mysterious book of dark magic ?. Also, I really like the magic system, it’s elemental, but the abilities that each element has have very interesting twists.

“No…the cold won’t kill me.” It hadn’t claimed her when she was a baby, it wouldn’t now. It had been a part of her for her whole life. It was the only thing she knew she could trust to be real.

I knew I would like Elise’s books, but I hadn’t had a chance to read one before. The moment this book was announced, I knew it was made for me, so I moved land, sea and sky to get an ARC and it worked! I devoured it and didn’t even realize when I finished, I should have read it slower to be able to stay longer in Solaris, but at least now I have the Air Awakens series in the same world.

Honestly, I loved this book, and Elise joins my favorite authors where I knew she would belong.

I will leave here a small summary of the special abilities of each type of Sorcerer (mainly because I know that when the second book comes out I will not remember any of this ?):

  • Waterrunners:
    • They control the water.
    • They can create “vessels”. In a bowl with water and a token in the center they are able to record the words of a person. They use this skill in the West Clinic to record the voice of dying patients in case they don’t have time to talk to their families. The voices Eira hears are actually accidental Vessels that have been created in time.
    • Illusions. They can control the water in the room and reflect light at will, creating visual illusions.
    • They also control the ice.
    • Their powers make it difficult for them to drown, as their magic automatically protects them and creates an air bubble, but eventually the magic is depleted or the air in the bubble may be depleted.
  • Groundbreakers (Earth):
    • They control the earth.
    • Healing.
    • They can easily write on stone ?‍♀️.
  • Firebearers:
    • They create and control fire.
    • They make the name plates for the student’s rooms as practice when they enter the Tower ?.
    • Fire does not harm them, unless it is magical fire created by a more powerful Firebearer.
    • Some have the ability to see the future.
  • Windwalker (Air):
    • They control the wind.
    • It is the rarest affinity and it was believed extinct until Empress Vhalla (Air Awakens, there I go).

Bye bye 💕

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The Light of Supremazia

The Light of Supremazia ((after)life lessons Book 1) – Alana (Siegel) Mag

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Synpsis

An outcast teen. A supernatural academy. An evil spirit that wants revenge.

Jules Winklevoss attends a high school taught by the most brilliant minds in history. Imagine if Albert Einstein was your science teacher and John F. Kennedy was your social studies teacher…as if surviving high school wasn’t hard enough! Jules can handle bullies and homework, but an academy run by spirits? She may be dead meat. Jules is determined to protect her family and keep herself alive, even if that means delving into the world of the dead.

The Light of Supremazia is the first installment in a YA fantasy series. If you like hidden worlds, fast-paced adventures, and teenage angst, then you’ll love Alana Mag’s series starter. Join the adventure today!

Review

Jules is a 14-year-old girl who spends all her time with her best friend Johnny, and her 13-year-old sister, Meggy.

After Johnny’s death in strange accident, things get even worse for Jules as she discovers that her entire life is a lie. She is actually “adopted” and now her biological family demands that she attend an academy for people with “special abilities.”

This way Jules learns that she is capable of seeing ghosts, a necessary skill to enter the Vita Post Mortem Academy, especially since many of the teachers, and even students, are, in fact, ghosts.

Things get complicated when Jules discovers that her family is the target of the revenge of Machiavelli, an evil spirit who recruits followers in the best style of Death Eaters, after Jules’s grandmother ruins his plans to form an immortal army.

At least now that she knows she can see ghosts, she understands that she hasn’t lost Johnny forever, but why doesn’t he show up?

Vita Post Mortem Academy is basically Hogwarts but with ghosts… But at Hogwarts there were also ghosts so… Like Hogwarts but without magic.

The detail that the professors are people like Einstein, John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe is really fascinating and funny, however, it is horrible to imagine that all the ghosts continue to look like they did at the time of their death, even if that implies very beautiful wounds…

It really reminded me a lot of Hogwarts, for example, there are also “houses” here, but there are 3. Corpus, the pure-muscle blues, Mentis, the intelligent-egotistical grays and Viscus, the reds… normal ?. It really is the first time that I would have liked to be in the “house” of the “losers”.

Jules befriends Dahlia, a very intelligent but shy girl, and Logan, a mudblo… sorry, a Charity boy, whose parents are not from a long line of visioners, they are Mugg… I mean ableptic (blind to ghosts). She also becomes a frenemy of Sharpée, a very interesting character to say the least, and of Chase, the unbearable younger brother of Ryder, who was in charge of taking Jules to the academy and basically left her drooling over him ?.

Together they must simply survive school, until Jules realizes that Johnny’s “accident” was indeed directed at her, plus the fact that Johnny started talking to everyone around her except her, and the fact that she knew Machiavelli was getting closer and closer. This is basically the perfect recipe for disaster… making it the perfect recipe for a good story.

The more I think about it, the more I doubt how to rate this story. I enjoyed it very much and could not stop reading it, but I feel that there are things that do not convince me. For example, Meggy is 13 years old and while Jules mentioned that it has always been like the difference was more, there really are times when it seems that Meggy is 6 years old. This does not affect the story in any case though.

There are also a couple of things that left me somewhat confused, but since it is the beginning of a saga, this does not complicate me too much.

Anyway, for me this is a highly recommended and fast-reading book. Although it might not be a good idea for overly sensitive people, especially going through descriptions of injuries or deaths.

I forgot to mention that I listened to the audiobook of this story. It was harder for me to understand it than other audiobooks I’ve heard, but I quite liked the narrator anyway. However, I still laugh a lot when they try to make voices. In this particular case, the narrator is a man with a deep voice, and Meggy’s voice is “soft.” You really get used to it fast, but it always makes me laugh when I start an audiobook.

PS: A detail that is not very relevant but that I cannot get out of my head is that the girl on the cover is too blonde for me to be Jules, and yes, it is irrelevant, but it bothers me ?.

Bye bye ?

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everlight academy

Everlight Academy (Faeling Book 1) – Tiffany Shand

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Synopsis

Magic can be blessing or a curse.

Seventeen-year-old Silvana Eldry, a faeling, lives in fear. Shunned by society, bullied by her classmates, and ignored by her foster parents, she’s an outcast in a world ruled by the fae.

When she’s offered a prestigious placement at Everlight Academy, she finds herself in a strange, new world. One filled with magic, gorgeous fae beings, and the chance to learn about her powers. But there’s a catch!

There are trials and challenges ahead because Everlight doesn’t just let students survive. They must earn their survival. And Silvy must tear herself from the unwavering connection she feels to a handsome fae prince.

Will her quest for a new life cost her everything or will she get the new life she craves?

Faeling is a slow-burn non-reverse harem romance with one feisty heroine who will stop at nothing to find out who she really is.

Review

I want to give this book 1 star, that’s how angry I am. I was reading happily when, out of nowhere, it says “continued in Fae Born”.

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That’s right my friends. This book ends in a damned cliffhanger.

Normally I wouldn’t be that upset, but ages have passed since I read a book that ended in a cliffhanger and the saga wasn’t complete already. Now I have to suffer until the next book comes out (goes to a corner to cry).

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But well, I can’t give it 1 star because it deserves the 5. I couldn’t stop reading.

Human beings were about to destroy their world (tell me something new) and the fae world along, as both worlds are connected. Faes helped to save the human world and then disappeared.

Silvy Eldry is a faeling, that being half human half fae. She was abandoned after she was born in a place called Eldry Woods, that’s where her last name came from. Even though she was a half-blood, her only non-human quality were her decorative wings, as they couldn’t even fly. She passed through uncountable foster houses, but she was never well-received. At age 17, she lives with the Carter’s, two drug addicts that use all the money they get from taking care of Silvy in Dust, some kind of Fae drug. Silvy doesn’t get any care from them, not even clothes or food. She’s just used as a mule for going to buy their drug. They even destroyed her wings. At least she just needs to resist till she become 18 and gets to start her own life.

At school, she doesn’t get a breath either. Ava, one of her classmates, is on charge of making each of her days even more miserable.

Ava said she didn’t know how someone could stand to live the life of a faeling. I wouldn’t give up. My life might suck but one day it would be better. I would get to live life on my terms and not be pushed around by anyone any longer.

When it seems her life couldn’t get any worse, Silvy finds out she has a fae stalker following her and that he has attacked Ava and Ron, the drug dealer, for her defence. Or at least that’s what it seems like, as the other option would be that Silvy has magic and that was impossible, she has been tested all her life for being sure.

Now fearing humans would lock her up for having magic. Her only “friend” Freya, the librarian, tells Silvy she has an all-included spot at a fae school, Everlight Academy.

There she finds out indeed she has magic. Although she’s completely unable to control it. Also, she finds out her stalker is actually the prince of the Seelies, “light” faes. And that Freya is not being completely honest with her.

How could a forest be inside a castle? That made no sense. Then again, no part of today had made any sense to me so far. All of it was just a jumbled mess of confusion.

Now Silvy finally has a chance of a good life, but for that she needs to prove the Fae elders council, including Tristan’s mother, that she’s not a treat. Something that will not be as easy as it seems.

Geez, good job, Silvy. You pissed off the council Fae elders and a prince all in one day.

For me this is a pretty original story. Not predictable at all and hilarious. I tend to highlight in the e-books some sentences I like and the truth is that I felt like doing a resume for school… I highlighted all the book ?.

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I loved Silvy from the beginning. She has a horrible life, yet she’s incredible funny when she tells her story and I love she never gives up.

You should never think about what-ifs — I’d learnt that growing up. I couldn’t change the past. No one could.

I also loved that the book doesn’t revolve around Tristan. He is an important character, and pretty interesting too, but Silvy has more things to do that just drool for him.

Typical male. They never did anything they were supposed to do.

Silvy has to learnt how to use her newly discovered magic, and also learnt how to trust in somebody else. But, if all her hard life wasn’t enough, the only person she could trust has been hiding things from the very beginning.

The only real critic I could make this book is that the story ends without any trails mentioned in the synopsis actually occurring, which make me feel the synopsis is more for the saga that this particular book.

However, 5/5, Wonderful start for a saga, excellent descriptions y perfect story for romance lovers that don’t like pink novels. This makes me think of Jennifer L. Armentrout style, one of my favourite authors.

Bye bye ?

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