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A review by ladilira
The Griffin Mage by Rachel Neumeier
4.0
I have a pile of books waiting to be read that could reach my ceiling, but I decided since this came from a personal recommendation I could squeeze one more in. Indeed, I thoroughly enjoyed the tale of griffins made of fire, and earth mages that burn with chilly fingers. I loved how each book centered around a different character and felt pulled in more each time I moved on to the next chapter.
The trilogy is an ongoing tale and should be read as one entire book. Characters from the first book come back in the second and third. You may loathe a character in book one and then find come book two they are not as bad as you thought. The way Neumeier shows us all the sides of many of her characters was in my opinion masterful. The good, the bad, and the ugly come out. But in the end you love them all because just like normal people they have many layers.
The magic system was unique and original and I enjoyed seeing how she twisted it. I cried with Mienthe, worried over Gereint, and even struggled with my love/hate of Kes.
My only gripe is where is the map? Epic fantasy needs a map and my edition did not have one, which was disappointing. I like to trace the journey and know exactly to which country a character is traveling to. In addition, in the first couple books the romance is very subtle to a point it almost feels like an afterthought. There was not much steam before the fire, and fire is not really what happened either. Therefore, I could have used more feelings expressed between the characters.
Other than those two issues, I have nothing but praise for this story. I would enjoy reading more from this author in the future and hope to stumble on more of her work.
Reviewed on https://cellardoorbooks.wordpress.com
The trilogy is an ongoing tale and should be read as one entire book. Characters from the first book come back in the second and third. You may loathe a character in book one and then find come book two they are not as bad as you thought. The way Neumeier shows us all the sides of many of her characters was in my opinion masterful. The good, the bad, and the ugly come out. But in the end you love them all because just like normal people they have many layers.
The magic system was unique and original and I enjoyed seeing how she twisted it. I cried with Mienthe, worried over Gereint, and even struggled with my love/hate of Kes.
My only gripe is where is the map? Epic fantasy needs a map and my edition did not have one, which was disappointing. I like to trace the journey and know exactly to which country a character is traveling to. In addition, in the first couple books the romance is very subtle to a point it almost feels like an afterthought. There was not much steam before the fire, and fire is not really what happened either. Therefore, I could have used more feelings expressed between the characters.
Other than those two issues, I have nothing but praise for this story. I would enjoy reading more from this author in the future and hope to stumble on more of her work.
Reviewed on https://cellardoorbooks.wordpress.com