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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
An enjoyable poly romance with magic and demons.
* second chance romance
* reunited lovers
* poly
* age gap (10 - 15 yrs)
* magic
* a mage and his familiar
* part demon
* grandpa's an actual demon
It took me a while to read. I found the start quite slow going while things were set up but once they set out on missions I spent more time with the book and raced through the second half of the book.
As an aside I wouldn't have picked this up based on the cover alone.
* second chance romance
* reunited lovers
* poly
* age gap (10 - 15 yrs)
* magic
* a mage and his familiar
* part demon
* grandpa's an actual demon
It took me a while to read. I found the start quite slow going while things were set up but once they set out on missions I spent more time with the book and raced through the second half of the book.
As an aside I wouldn't have picked this up based on the cover alone.
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Reread: November 2022:
Same as before: audio is heaven and the book is great! Gearing up for the audio book for book two to come out tomorrow!
Audio: millions of stars haha my ears have been blessed lol
Book: 4-4.5 stars
This was a good start to the series, i am excited to see where this will go, and if these three are the narrators yes i will give all my money to this series haha. Gives me some Alice Winter vibes which is a win for me.
Bel, Nico and Garen complimented each other very well, i will say the internal monologuing from each character for if either character would be interested in a poly relationship went on for much longer than i felt necessary.
i think that the team that they form with different mages will bring a great sense of adventure in future books.
Book two i am ready for you!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
holy shit, Greg Boudreaux, Tim Paige and Michael Ferraiuolo are narrating this sucker!! sign me the hell up! June 21st come faster!
Same as before: audio is heaven and the book is great! Gearing up for the audio book for book two to come out tomorrow!
Audio: millions of stars haha my ears have been blessed lol
Book: 4-4.5 stars
This was a good start to the series, i am excited to see where this will go, and if these three are the narrators yes i will give all my money to this series haha. Gives me some Alice Winter vibes which is a win for me.
Bel, Nico and Garen complimented each other very well, i will say the internal monologuing from each character for if either character would be interested in a poly relationship went on for much longer than i felt necessary.
i think that the team that they form with different mages will bring a great sense of adventure in future books.
Book two i am ready for you!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
holy shit, Greg Boudreaux, Tim Paige and Michael Ferraiuolo are narrating this sucker!! sign me the hell up! June 21st come faster!
Basically just ao3 adventure-fluff crack fic with original characters. Cute, but everything is 2-dimensional, if that. Poly rep is nice.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I was really looking forward to this book. I don't read a lot of M/M/M books just because the romance doesn't always work in them. But this was a long-ish book, and I like the author.
The story follows Bel, a unique variety of mage who has demonic eyes that give him the ability to see beyond what's humanly possible—like he can see molecular structures and the intricacies of magic spells. Now, Mages in this world all have familiars. But the kind of Mage Bel is, he gets a human familiar who can protect him. In comes Nico, hyperactivity personified and in love with anything dangerous. And he brings in Garan, his ex, someone with the skills needed for defence.
For most of the book, I was on board. This book is a lot of fun. I like Nico because he's entertaining. And he's balanced out by Garen, who's more serious and rational. And Bel is sweet but very smart and humble. The three of them worked well together, and I could definitely see chemistry there. I also thought Bel's abilities were fascinating. But as we got farther along, cracks began to show.
Let's start with the first big "why?!" that I experienced. As I said before, I saw the chemistry between the three characters. And because this is a series, I thought the author would build on it for a while. But then the dreaded L-word came out of fucking nowhere. There's a difference between three people admiring and being attracted to one another and being in fucking love. I could understand Nico and Garen because they were already in love, and they'd only broken up because of distance. But they barely knew Bel! I really wish the author would've held off on such declarations. It's the same issue as I had with Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case.
The second issue is kind of related to the first. A significant part of the book is the trio going on cases/missions. The entire point of those should be a mystery, a conflict, or to learn about Bel's abilities. Except I think it was just to make jokes? Because there's no mystery or problem to be solved. And we don't learn any more about what Bel does than we already know.
That last part really bothered me. You see, spells in this world aren't specific incantations. They're just verbal instructions. And Bel, as someone who can see into anything, is better able to get to the root of problems and create spells. But we never really see him create one because whenever he does, we see it from someone else's—often Nico's—point of view, who isn't interested in details. But I'm interested in the details! If you're going to put so much time and emphasis on Bel's awesome powers, the least you can do is let me see them in action!
Overall, this was disappointing. I feel like, in almost 400 pages, the book didn't accomplish enough. Relationship and magic systems played second fiddle to the humour. And I'm sorry, but if I just wanted something to make me laugh, there are shorter books out there for that.
The story follows Bel, a unique variety of mage who has demonic eyes that give him the ability to see beyond what's humanly possible—like he can see molecular structures and the intricacies of magic spells. Now, Mages in this world all have familiars. But the kind of Mage Bel is, he gets a human familiar who can protect him. In comes Nico, hyperactivity personified and in love with anything dangerous. And he brings in Garan, his ex, someone with the skills needed for defence.
For most of the book, I was on board. This book is a lot of fun. I like Nico because he's entertaining. And he's balanced out by Garen, who's more serious and rational. And Bel is sweet but very smart and humble. The three of them worked well together, and I could definitely see chemistry there. I also thought Bel's abilities were fascinating. But as we got farther along, cracks began to show.
Let's start with the first big "why?!" that I experienced. As I said before, I saw the chemistry between the three characters. And because this is a series, I thought the author would build on it for a while. But then the dreaded L-word came out of fucking nowhere. There's a difference between three people admiring and being attracted to one another and being in fucking love. I could understand Nico and Garen because they were already in love, and they'd only broken up because of distance. But they barely knew Bel! I really wish the author would've held off on such declarations. It's the same issue as I had with Jon's Downright Ridiculous Shooting Case.
The second issue is kind of related to the first. A significant part of the book is the trio going on cases/missions. The entire point of those should be a mystery, a conflict, or to learn about Bel's abilities. Except I think it was just to make jokes? Because there's no mystery or problem to be solved. And we don't learn any more about what Bel does than we already know.
That last part really bothered me. You see, spells in this world aren't specific incantations. They're just verbal instructions. And Bel, as someone who can see into anything, is better able to get to the root of problems and create spells. But we never really see him create one because whenever he does, we see it from someone else's—often Nico's—point of view, who isn't interested in details. But I'm interested in the details! If you're going to put so much time and emphasis on Bel's awesome powers, the least you can do is let me see them in action!
Overall, this was disappointing. I feel like, in almost 400 pages, the book didn't accomplish enough. Relationship and magic systems played second fiddle to the humour. And I'm sorry, but if I just wanted something to make me laugh, there are shorter books out there for that.