Author: Signe Hart
Blurb: She thought reclaiming her home was the only thing that mattered— until she met him.
Myrthe’s mission was simple—infiltrate the dreaded human city and retrieve an artifact that could change the tides of war. As a sylvan—born of the forest—she would do anything to save her people, but when she is caught by an arrogant human mage, her plans spiral out of control. Trapped behind the stone and copper walls of the city, Myrthe has to find a way to obtain her target without giving the mysterious, and enticing, man watching her every move a reason to ensure she never escapes, even if she's beginning to wonder if she wants to leave at all.
Ardin serves the Temple of the Aspectis in the name of finding vengeance, but his powerful magic is slowly killing him. With enemies lurking both within and without the city, the end of his quest is nowhere in sight– until he stumbles upon a woman trying to steal from the temple. Like a spark of bright light in his dim world, she brings a change that may light the way to his future or burn it to ash.
This is the first book in the Song of the Sylvan series, an epic fantasy with strong romantic elements that features a world conquered by forest and a war between humans and the non-human sylvan people. Slow burn enemies to lovers from opposite sides of the war.
My Rating: 8.5/10
Link: Goodreads
Disclaimer: I’m not usually a big reader of fantasy romance, and I received this book for free as an ARC reader. Despite that, I’ll try to keep my thoughts honest and genuine.
Realistically, my overall rating would be 4.5, but since I can’t give half-stars, I’ll round up. I always base my overall ratings on how much I enjoyed a story. Yeah, there may be some problems, but if they didn’t impact how much I enjoyed it, then I’m more than happy to give it a genuinely high score. I’m here to be entertained, after all.
This book will entertain you, and it will leave you wanting the next. I can wholeheartedly recommend it to others.
So, with that out of the way, here’s my review:
Plot/Romance:
The enemies to lovers romance aspect is incredibly compelling. I can’t think of any super new ground it treads, but it handles it very well. However, it is slowburn, and there’s no spice. Also, the male lead (Ardin) doesn’t really know how much of an “enemy” the female lead (Myrthe) is. None of that is a dealbreaker for me, and it’s all handled very well.
Ardin was the true standout for the two leads. He was by far the most compelling character in the book, with his mix of firm-but-caring and strong-but-flawed. To say more would be getting into serious spoiler territory, but I appreciate how clear his motivations were. Compared to him, Myrthe wasn’t as interesting, but that’s easy to do when you’re being compared to someone like Ardin.
Romance is definitely a main focus of the book, however, I think to define it purely as romance is selling it short. There is still a plot beyond the romance, and it really drives the story forwards.
Writing:
It’s well written. The prose won’t be the most wonderful thing you’ve ever read, but it’s always incredibly solid and does everything it needs (plus sometimes more). It’s never bad, and it’s never enough to take you out of the story.
Of course, there are a few little mistakes. If you’re used to reading self-published novels, they’re barely noticeable.
Worldbuilding:
I think worldbuilding is important for every fantasy novel, no matter the subgenre. Of course, there are limits, but I’m here to get lost in another world. For the most part, this book succeeds.
The worldbuilding here is very effective on a small scale, especially for the “humans” side. You really get a sense of the city (Faelow) and without being overwhelming. The silvani are given a similar treatment, and lots of the worldbuilding seems intentional, to highlight the differences in the two societies.
My biggest criticism on the worldbuilding front is that, most times, the settings didn’t feel very lived-in. My mind had a picture of clean, sterile streets and empty locations. The illusion of a world functioning beyond the main characters wasn’t created for me. Often, it felt as though characters would leave a room, and most things outside their experiences would cease to exist.
Magic:
The magic system in this book gives an illusion of being hard while generally feeling rather soft. While I can identify sources and some rules, there isn’t really enough for me to theory craft around. It does its job, though I wouldn’t have minded a few more detailed explanations.
This isn’t really a problem, because throughout the book, most situations the characters get into aren’t solely resolved by magic. However, at the end, there is a little bit of a change that (for me) seemed to come out of nowhere. Spoiler: Ardin is able to use a new type of magic (a new element). It was unclear to me whether he was hiding his third element all along, or if he just managed it in the moment. If I gave the book a re-read, I might find hints at it, but it caught me a little blindsided and felt a little too convenient.
Also, Myrthe gets a new type of magic near the start of the book, but she doesn’t really undergo any training to learn how to use it. And it’s not just learning a new element, but trying to learn human magic vs silvani magic. I feel like this was a bit of a missed opportunity to show her training and learning to use it, thus explaining the magic system better.
At the end of the day, though, this wasn’t a book about magic progression. The magic does its job, and shows us the purpose of mages in this world.
Conclusion:
Overall, a very enjoyable read. Well written, great story, great pacing, and great characters. It fell a little flat on worldbuilding and magic for me, but this is only the first book, and I’m sure there will be plenty of room for all that to grow in the next installments (because there better be more books after this, or I’ll riot!)
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