A review by ladyazulina
A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-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

5.0

I'm writing this review because I had the luck to be part of this book's ARC team and I loved it and need to share this love in a review format.

I already said the most important part: I loved it. Since I found out about the cover reveal on Tumblr, I felt drawn to it and I'm glad I didn't let my shyness stop me from signing up as an ARC. I was curious about how characters in the background of adventure D&D stories can make their own, and what they would be about. This was a great example to satisfy my curiosity and give me the spark to look for more of this kind. There's no reason to lie, I love calm and quiet, cozy, love stories... though the calm and quiet part is pretty relative...

Who knew wand and potion makers can have that much fun? I'm not saying they exactly had fun, it wasn't fun for them, but even for their undisturbed kind of lives, they had maybe too much action and drama for a lifetime. At least that was what I thought. For not adventurers kind of people, they're also full of adventures. And it's satisfying. We don't always have to venture to the woods and slay dragons (please, do not slay dragons, dragons are friends!) to have a fulfilling, enriching life.

And what a potion maker needs to spice up their almost boring and not exactly fulfilling and enriching life more than another potion maker opening a potion shop right in front of their own? It's war, baby. And people don't always think this through, but war, wanting it or not, always leads to love. And I'm here for all the love.

Goddess, this book broke me and healed me in ways I'm still unaware of. Because of the love. Here are so many kinds of love and each and every one of them touched me differently. But don't let me forget to tell you, this annoying potion maker didn't want any kind of love.

I think I have said enough already. Why you don't dive into the Scar and meet these amazing people? At first, I thought I wasn't going to love them, but on the journey, all my thoughts changed. That's what usually happens when you pass enough time, everything you thought about tends to change. Well... I'm glad. This is one of my favorite books so far.