Scan barcode
A review by sunbean
The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
4.0
Received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was so great, I stayed up late to read it; in my world as a mother of five and working full time, that's about as high of praise as I can give.
Likes: I like how it took a familiar trope of a powerful street orphan in the hands of a militaristic government and told it from the point of view of the supposedly spoiled rich girl in the position of political power instead of the magical person's POV. The empire in question could easily been cast as the villain, but instead it showed how each country or political group did regrettable things both in the present and in the past, and how individuals could make questionable moral decisions for the overall benefit of the countries they cared about. Each person and country had believable reasons for their actions and thought processes, so I was very interested to see where characters would draw the line, ethically, to achieve their desires. I liked the characters as well, especially Amalia. I loved to watch her development as a reclusive scholar and heir to a woman stepping into her intelligence and power without ever losing her compassion. She's very brave but in a believable way, not a reckless way. The idea of Falcons and Falconers was also really cool to me and I would love to learn about other pairs, only a few were mentioned. I also loved the plethora of female characters, each distinct in personality and strength. Amalia's mom is so cool, I wanted more of her.
Dislikes: You know, I just didn't really find a lot to like in the Zaira, the powerful mage/warlock that is bound to Amalia. I understand her grief, fear, and anger, and also why her history would make it difficult for her to be anything but a borderline sociopath but. Of course her actions speak loudly, but she was still kind of a huge jerk and just once I kind of wanted Amalia to call her out. And there was sooo much political machinations that at times I just wanted Zaira to set something on fire just to spice things up. The entire magic system of this world was super interesting, but for all that I wish we would have seen it more in action.
Anyway, great book. I'll be looking forward to the sequels.
This book was so great, I stayed up late to read it; in my world as a mother of five and working full time, that's about as high of praise as I can give.
Likes: I like how it took a familiar trope of a powerful street orphan in the hands of a militaristic government and told it from the point of view of the supposedly spoiled rich girl in the position of political power instead of the magical person's POV. The empire in question could easily been cast as the villain, but instead it showed how each country or political group did regrettable things both in the present and in the past, and how individuals could make questionable moral decisions for the overall benefit of the countries they cared about. Each person and country had believable reasons for their actions and thought processes, so I was very interested to see where characters would draw the line, ethically, to achieve their desires. I liked the characters as well, especially Amalia. I loved to watch her development as a reclusive scholar and heir to a woman stepping into her intelligence and power without ever losing her compassion. She's very brave but in a believable way, not a reckless way. The idea of Falcons and Falconers was also really cool to me and I would love to learn about other pairs, only a few were mentioned. I also loved the plethora of female characters, each distinct in personality and strength. Amalia's mom is so cool, I wanted more of her.
Dislikes: You know, I just didn't really find a lot to like in the Zaira, the powerful mage/warlock that is bound to Amalia. I understand her grief, fear, and anger, and also why her history would make it difficult for her to be anything but a borderline sociopath but. Of course her actions speak loudly, but she was still kind of a huge jerk and just once I kind of wanted Amalia to call her out. And there was sooo much political machinations that at times I just wanted Zaira to set something on fire just to spice things up. The entire magic system of this world was super interesting, but for all that I wish we would have seen it more in action.
Anyway, great book. I'll be looking forward to the sequels.