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fairytale42 's review for:

The Faceless Mage by Kenley Davidson
5.0

I read this a couple of days after it came out, and I devoured it in approximately 3. This was AMAZING.
First of all, we have a scrappy heroine who's a bodyguard (a new profession for YA heroines - I've heard assassins and spies, but not this), a mysterious and hurt mage (with a fascinating and achingly-sad backstory that we still don't know the whole of), and political premise that came off as legitimately concerning.
Some plots come off as silly or unbelievable, fairy tales and magic disregarding. This one, however, delivered on the horrific side of politics. While sometimes the other characters came off as overly suspicious, I do appreciate the severity of the issues at hand. Some politic-centered stories come off as overly complicated too, but the author handled it in such a way that even I understood, which is huge.
My favorite part was how the author handled the relationship between Leisa and the Raven. It was clear that both of them were conflicted about trusting the other, but they didn't really have much choice. I love how Leisa did her best to do her job without his help, and the Raven stated over and over again that he would not hesitate to do his job when it came down to it. Yet, I loved how the reader got to see both sides and how each of them were thoroughly confused (or annoyed) by their consideration of the other person. The concept of being sort of attracted to a person who was dangerous came off not as overly swoony or obsessive, but rather a mild curiosity that was a subtle addition to the story without becoming the main focus. It does get a little more intense at the end because hello, the Raven IS nice-looking (as one could probably guess), but hey, that's to be expected.
Overall, I cannot wait to see how the next book develops, and I'm DYING to know more about Leisa's family!