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A review by proseamongstthorns
Unlock the Dark by Sasa Hawk
adventurous
4.0
Read? More like devoured! I finished this in one day and loved every minute of it. This stand-alone fantasy introduces you to a unique magic system, a rich and expansive world and, of course, romance.
Shades of dark academia here. You have the lovable, slightly strange (secretly a prince) scholar and the ridiculously talented but scared of her gifts magician forced to compromise to help save her family. The whole quest is a hunt for knowledge, but rushing into things backfires when Trys (our prince) ends up becoming a monster.
My only issue with this book was the pacing. I wanted more time to get into these characters heads and understand their motivations. It's not quite insta-love, but it does give you whiplash a little with how quickly opinions and relationships change. Having said that, keeping this to a standalone of 350 pages must have been challenging enough so I can see why some of that background may have not made the cut.
And I do love that this was a standalone. Sometimes you just want to pick up a book and love it and then move on. The constant stream of never-ending series, especially in fantasy, is quite daunting as a book-buyer. These publishers are trying to bankrupt me! So this was a huge win for me.
The magic system is so interesting. The ability to create keys to any door with your tongue? The ability to make doors to anywhere? Weaving magical clothes with stories inside them? Having sonar for texts you're looking for? There's so, so many magic types and every single one of them was incredibly original. And yes, I just said being a standalone is great... but I'd be so interested to explore other characters in this universe to get a better idea of all the magic types, how they work and what else is out there.
Let's talk boss ass women. Elia is raising her siblings, working hard to make ends meet, talented, beautiful and never backs down. She faces an impossible nightmare and does not run or cower where others do. She has boss girl energy and she knows it. It's so refreshing to have the woman saving the man. It felt like a much more relatble and realistic FMC than in other books.
'Unlock the Dark' is an action-packed romance with morally complex characters with their own motivations in a high-stakes adventure. It'll suck you in to this world and you'll be disappointed to have to leave it at the end of the book.
Shades of dark academia here. You have the lovable, slightly strange (secretly a prince) scholar and the ridiculously talented but scared of her gifts magician forced to compromise to help save her family. The whole quest is a hunt for knowledge, but rushing into things backfires when Trys (our prince) ends up becoming a monster.
My only issue with this book was the pacing. I wanted more time to get into these characters heads and understand their motivations. It's not quite insta-love, but it does give you whiplash a little with how quickly opinions and relationships change. Having said that, keeping this to a standalone of 350 pages must have been challenging enough so I can see why some of that background may have not made the cut.
And I do love that this was a standalone. Sometimes you just want to pick up a book and love it and then move on. The constant stream of never-ending series, especially in fantasy, is quite daunting as a book-buyer. These publishers are trying to bankrupt me! So this was a huge win for me.
The magic system is so interesting. The ability to create keys to any door with your tongue? The ability to make doors to anywhere? Weaving magical clothes with stories inside them? Having sonar for texts you're looking for? There's so, so many magic types and every single one of them was incredibly original. And yes, I just said being a standalone is great... but I'd be so interested to explore other characters in this universe to get a better idea of all the magic types, how they work and what else is out there.
Let's talk boss ass women. Elia is raising her siblings, working hard to make ends meet, talented, beautiful and never backs down. She faces an impossible nightmare and does not run or cower where others do. She has boss girl energy and she knows it. It's so refreshing to have the woman saving the man. It felt like a much more relatble and realistic FMC than in other books.
'Unlock the Dark' is an action-packed romance with morally complex characters with their own motivations in a high-stakes adventure. It'll suck you in to this world and you'll be disappointed to have to leave it at the end of the book.