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bright_night's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.0
anadantas's review against another edition
5.0
Scroll of you prefer to read in English
Sentimentos mistos sobre o fim do livro, porque por um lado eu queria que tudo se resolvesse e a solução foi perfeitamente razoável, mas por outro lado não era uma solução que eu tinha como prever e eu não gosto muito de soluções fora da tela.
Gostei demais da protagonista: ela é uma herdeira relutante, mas não irresponsável igual algumas situações semelhantes na literatura. Adoro o fato dela ser nerd de magia mesmo não podendo fazer magia. Ok, às vezes ela marca bobeira, mas até aí, ela é humana.
Achei a solução de Raverra para "o problema dos X-Men" fascinante. Porque realmente, em todo mundo onde existe magia, é muito fácil cair em um dos dois lados: ou os magos são super elite/aristocracia concentração de poder (Magneto), ou eles são super fique escondido pra não ser pego pela caça às bruxas (Xavier), mas o Império Sereno criou um sistema que consegue evitar esses dois extremos. Tem seus próprios problemas, mas isso é explorado no livro.
ENGLISH
I have mixed feelings about the ending, because everything I wanted solved was solved, and the solution was perfectly within the bounds of reasonable... but I didn't have any means to see it coming, and I don't really like off screen solutions.
I really liked the protagonist: she's a reluctant heir, but not irresponsible like some we see in literature. I love that she's a magic nerd even though she can't do magic herself. Sometimes she makes silly mistakes, but she's only human.
And Raverra's solution for "the X-Men problem" is fascinating. In stories with magic, it's very easy to fall in one of the two: magic people are rulers/elite with power in their hands (Magneto), or lay low and don't be caught in the witch hunt (Xavier). The Serene Empire has a system that avoids those extremes. It has its own pitfalls, but the book explores those.
Sentimentos mistos sobre o fim do livro, porque por um lado eu queria que tudo se resolvesse e a solução foi perfeitamente razoável, mas por outro lado não era uma solução que eu tinha como prever e eu não gosto muito de soluções fora da tela.
Gostei demais da protagonista: ela é uma herdeira relutante, mas não irresponsável igual algumas situações semelhantes na literatura. Adoro o fato dela ser nerd de magia mesmo não podendo fazer magia. Ok, às vezes ela marca bobeira, mas até aí, ela é humana.
Achei a solução de Raverra para "o problema dos X-Men" fascinante. Porque realmente, em todo mundo onde existe magia, é muito fácil cair em um dos dois lados: ou os magos são super elite/aristocracia concentração de poder (Magneto), ou eles são super fique escondido pra não ser pego pela caça às bruxas (Xavier), mas o Império Sereno criou um sistema que consegue evitar esses dois extremos. Tem seus próprios problemas, mas isso é explorado no livro.
ENGLISH
I have mixed feelings about the ending, because everything I wanted solved was solved, and the solution was perfectly within the bounds of reasonable... but I didn't have any means to see it coming, and I don't really like off screen solutions.
I really liked the protagonist: she's a reluctant heir, but not irresponsible like some we see in literature. I love that she's a magic nerd even though she can't do magic herself. Sometimes she makes silly mistakes, but she's only human.
And Raverra's solution for "the X-Men problem" is fascinating. In stories with magic, it's very easy to fall in one of the two: magic people are rulers/elite with power in their hands (Magneto), or lay low and don't be caught in the witch hunt (Xavier). The Serene Empire has a system that avoids those extremes. It has its own pitfalls, but the book explores those.
amatelier's review against another edition
1.0
J'ai arrêté à la page 100. Beaucoup trop d'incohérences.
theamazingmrg's review against another edition
4.0
I'll hold my hands up. I thought this was going to be awful. It wasn't.
Reading the synopsis, I had visions of the two leads in some kind of awful teen romance. They weren't.
Instead, The Tethered Mage is very much a political fantasy, and the relationship between the two main characters (as indicated by the blurb) is secondary to that. The hints of teen romance did push the boundaries of cheese at times, but Melissa Caruso made the sensible choice to keep that side of things outside of the relationship between the core duo, which stopped me getting literary diabetes.
All in all, it was a string debut, with an interesting magic system, all the political Intrigue you could ever want, and a nice hook for the sequel. I did mark it down a little for the times it was a little schmaltzy and the fact that a worrying number of the main characters were a little dim! One distracted academic I could have forgiven. Three (and one gormless soldier) was a bit much! I'll definitely grab the sequel though.
Reading the synopsis, I had visions of the two leads in some kind of awful teen romance. They weren't.
Instead, The Tethered Mage is very much a political fantasy, and the relationship between the two main characters (as indicated by the blurb) is secondary to that. The hints of teen romance did push the boundaries of cheese at times, but Melissa Caruso made the sensible choice to keep that side of things outside of the relationship between the core duo, which stopped me getting literary diabetes.
All in all, it was a string debut, with an interesting magic system, all the political Intrigue you could ever want, and a nice hook for the sequel. I did mark it down a little for the times it was a little schmaltzy and the fact that a worrying number of the main characters were a little dim! One distracted academic I could have forgiven. Three (and one gormless soldier) was a bit much! I'll definitely grab the sequel though.
lizzy_22's review against another edition
3.0
Well written YA fantasy, good for its target audience but lacked real suspense for me.
driedfrogpills's review against another edition
3.0
I won't lie, I pretty much wanted to read this because of the cover and the promise of magic. The Tethered Mage starts out really strong, but once it got into the more political intrigue part of the plot I started to lose a little interest. But that's all on me, I'm not a big fan of stories driven by political games (for all that I keep running into books that involve them). The ending does pick up the pacing and the action, though, so I feel good about the sequel.
With Amalia as the narrator, the story feels more about her than anything else (so don't go into this like I did thinking we'd have two narrators or two sides of the story). I found her a little more naive than I would expect someone born into her world to be. She's sheltered in a way I would think the heir to the most powerful/most conniving political force wouldn't be? But I did appreciate that her mother's belief that her daughter will find her own strengths
The minor characters were okay (Marcello is kinda dull to me but the other Falcons are fun), the possible-future-big-baddy is creepy and fantastic but I think my favorite part was the shifting antagonizing-to-friend-ship between Zaira and Amalia. More of these two doing things together and having more adventures.
Overall, the book is good if a little slow in the middle. Caruso does tell a decent story, and the plot has promise.
With Amalia as the narrator, the story feels more about her than anything else (so don't go into this like I did thinking we'd have two narrators or two sides of the story). I found her a little more naive than I would expect someone born into her world to be. She's sheltered in a way I would think the heir to the most powerful/most conniving political force wouldn't be? But I did appreciate that her mother's belief that her daughter will find her own strengths
Spoiler
for all that she does and doesn't. I still think it was a little deus ex machina that her mother's aid/spy showed up at the end to save Amalia from dying. I mean, I'm glad she did, but it felt like if you suspected something was afoot long enough for her to travel to the city, wouldn't you have gone one step further and stopped most of this from happening in the first place?The minor characters were okay (Marcello is kinda dull to me but the other Falcons are fun), the possible-future-big-baddy is creepy and fantastic but I think my favorite part was the shifting antagonizing-to-friend-ship between Zaira and Amalia. More of these two doing things together and having more adventures.
Overall, the book is good if a little slow in the middle. Caruso does tell a decent story, and the plot has promise.
reingerman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lelia_1's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
aly_ssa_k's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing!! One of the best fantasy books I've found since Harry Potter and the Tamora Pierce series. Incredibly captivating plot, and even better were the characters. The author effortlessly built a world with women truly in power and where all sexualities are already accepted and unquestioned. I cannot wait to read the next book. I only put it down once, and regretted to do so, finishing it in two sittings. I cannot wait to read the next book!