dragonwriter 's review for:

The Beasts We Bury by D.L. Taylor

5.0

adventurous challenging dark hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Mood: 😢🥺🥰😡😱

In a world where magic requires a terrible trial that could kill a man or drive him mad, royal inheritances aren’t determined by birth order, but rather by the strength of their magic. So it’s second-born Mancella who is next in line to the throne. Though she and her older sister both entered the fearsome Citadel and emerged alive, it was Mancella who developed magic, and her magic instantly won her father’s approval. Any animal she kills in a fair fight is absorbed into her, and she is able to summon it whenever she wishes. Mancella hates being soaked in the blood of animals, hates killing and violence period, and she is rightly mortified when her father orders her to kill a human to see if she is able to summon them as well. Desperate to avoid becoming a murderer, Mancella seeks the help of a servant, Silver, but Silver is not quite what he seems. Sent into the castle to fulfill three quests in order to secure a home and papers for him and his friends, Silver has to decide if Mancella is truly the bloodthirsty monster her father would have the kingdom believe, or if she wants peace as she claims.

I sincerely enjoyed this book! Mancella’s father was abusive and awful, and the book did a good job of showing how this abuse has affected the family’s lives, and how her mother and sister were forced to live in survival mode. I liked how they both tried to help Mancella in their own small ways, and I loved how the general constantly stuck up for Mancella, pushing the prime as far as she could to protect her. The magic system was really cool. The citadel being a terrifying place that would give you strange powers (like making unbreakable glass or boats that drown you if you sail for too long), that traumatized literally everyone in the family was so unique and creative! I like how the darkness of the magic was portrayed, and how each magical power had its own bloodthirsty edge. Then Silver comes in with his Flynn Rider vibes and begins to accidentally (at first) help therapize Mancella and give her courage to stand up to her father and do better for her kingdom was so good! Silver was such a sweetheart! I loved his friendship with Rooftop and Vi--though I have to give Vi an Arcane side-eye. The ending was quite brilliant, and it really leaves me wondering what’s next for book 2, because the semi-teaser at the end didn’t feel like quite enough for a whole book. But I like the characters and world enough to want to go back and see what happens next.

TW: Don’t read if you are sensitive to animal deaths. They happen on page and are reflected on in detail.