Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Im actually gonna go insane I need more of this like yesterday. I was so excited when I saw that it was a trilogy only for my heart to immediately sink when I realized the rest isnt published yet. This was such a gorgeous slow burn romance with a really realllyyyyy interesting magic system. I liked that a lot of it was ambiguous, it let me focus more on the actual story and characters. Im going to be thinking about this forever and I may have to cast some spells to get the next book to release ASAP
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
i have no idea how to rate this because this is fanfiction. read "Mo Dao Zu Shi" and dare tell me it's not.
if there's no A-Yuan in this book series i'll be seriously disappointed. this book had me so confused. i've only heard positive reviews but no one ever mentioned that this was at least heavily influenced by "The Untamed". i started googling two chapters in and found nothing. which i found odd. but sure. maybe it's the pacing. the tropes. my brain seeing patterns where there are non. half way through the book there were just too many similarities and parallels. so i googled again. and i'm glad to report i'm not crazy. just nearly crazy enough to write down every parallel, similarity, specific catchphrase and vocabulary that made it obvious to me that "Sorcery and Small Magics" is ... well ... more than a touch influenced by "Mo Dao Zu Shi". i read the author's foreword half way through the book. i believe her that the original idea for this book was her own but in my opinion there's too much of "Mo Dao Zu Shi" in this to call it anything else but fanfiction. is it a well written fanfiction? it is one i would continue. i would have preferred a subplot and a slower pacing. a slower burn. and maybeno kiss between Wei Wuxian and Baoshan Sanren (i know that's not who they are ... but aren't they?)
reading this as a fanfiction i'm interested in the second instalment. had i read this as an original work i might have rated this somewhere between 2 to 3 stars and dropped the series.
if there's no A-Yuan in this book series i'll be seriously disappointed. this book had me so confused. i've only heard positive reviews but no one ever mentioned that this was at least heavily influenced by "The Untamed". i started googling two chapters in and found nothing. which i found odd. but sure. maybe it's the pacing. the tropes. my brain seeing patterns where there are non. half way through the book there were just too many similarities and parallels. so i googled again. and i'm glad to report i'm not crazy. just nearly crazy enough to write down every parallel, similarity, specific catchphrase and vocabulary that made it obvious to me that "Sorcery and Small Magics" is ... well ... more than a touch influenced by "Mo Dao Zu Shi". i read the author's foreword half way through the book. i believe her that the original idea for this book was her own but in my opinion there's too much of "Mo Dao Zu Shi" in this to call it anything else but fanfiction. is it a well written fanfiction? it is one i would continue. i would have preferred a subplot and a slower pacing. a slower burn. and maybe
reading this as a fanfiction i'm interested in the second instalment. had i read this as an original work i might have rated this somewhere between 2 to 3 stars and dropped the series.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at page 72 (17%)… because I’m not feeling it. This book feels like a carbon copy of so many other books in this genre at the moment. So oversaturated …
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I actually really love the world this book creates. The magic system is extremely interesting. There are two types of sorcerers: scrives who can write spells and casters who can use them. They have to work together and can’t really cross over (some scrives can cast a little bit, but it’s the typical drawback of magic tapping into your “life force” or something unless you’re able to use it properly).
Unfortunately/fortunately, this left me wanting more. I don’t think it fully delivers on some of the premise or promise that it set up early on. It does seem to be the first in a new series, and I bet I will love the rest of the series.
Our main characters, Leo (point of view character) and Sebastian are each kind of lovable in their own flawed ways. Leo does a lot of stupid things, though, and Sebastian is pretty unyielding in some regards. They’re at a magic college together (not much focus is placed on the school aspect) and are forced together through circumstance. You get some forced proximity tropes and hints of enemies to lovers. They’ve each got their Tragic Backstory™️ to eventually share.
My main irritation was that Leo is such a jerk at times. I found him hard to root for when he was responsible for so much of his hardships. It seems like his favorite activity is handing someone matches, then waiting until they light one to throw it on a bonfire and douse it with gasoline.
I think there is a ton of potential from what is set up, though. There’s a national magic “Coterie” that needs to be reformed. There’s a group of deserters who stole rare spells and fled. There’s a fascinating sorcerer in a tower building things that the public could not handle safely. There’s potential new forms of magic being birthed in front of our eyes. Creatures are hidden in a neighboring wood that are very poorly understood, but no less dangerous for it.
There’s some really cool stuff in this book, and it’s well constructed and paced. I just can’t wait for the meat of the plot to get going.
Unfortunately/fortunately, this left me wanting more. I don’t think it fully delivers on some of the premise or promise that it set up early on. It does seem to be the first in a new series, and I bet I will love the rest of the series.
Our main characters, Leo (point of view character) and Sebastian are each kind of lovable in their own flawed ways. Leo does a lot of stupid things, though, and Sebastian is pretty unyielding in some regards. They’re at a magic college together (not much focus is placed on the school aspect) and are forced together through circumstance. You get some forced proximity tropes and hints of enemies to lovers. They’ve each got their Tragic Backstory™️ to eventually share.
My main irritation was that Leo is such a jerk at times. I found him hard to root for when he was responsible for so much of his hardships. It seems like his favorite activity is handing someone matches, then waiting until they light one to throw it on a bonfire and douse it with gasoline.
I think there is a ton of potential from what is set up, though. There’s a national magic “Coterie” that needs to be reformed. There’s a group of deserters who stole rare spells and fled. There’s a fascinating sorcerer in a tower building things that the public could not handle safely. There’s potential new forms of magic being birthed in front of our eyes. Creatures are hidden in a neighboring wood that are very poorly understood, but no less dangerous for it.
There’s some really cool stuff in this book, and it’s well constructed and paced. I just can’t wait for the meat of the plot to get going.