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A review by toggle_fow
The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso
4.0
REAL GOOD, LADS.
This book was great. It's set in a fake sort of Italy where Fake Venice rules all the other city states with a fist of iron and magic. As one expects from Fake Venice, there's a lot of poisoning. I won't say there's "intrigue" since the plot is really more straightforward than that word implies, but there's at least a political mystery that I enjoyed a lot.
The idea of mages conscripted into the service of the Empire and bound together with a non-mage to work as a team for the rest of their lives is also very... interesting. I liked how the Empire was shown to be messed up in some ways, and so was Ardence, and Amalia's mother was clearly shown to be ruthless and conniving, but also a sympathetic character. The only real 100% evil we have here is Skinwitch Man, and I appreciate that gray morality.
If I had written this book, I would have spent WAY more time on Zaira and Amalia's relationship, and a lot less time on Marcello. But I didn't write this book, and I still very much enjoyed reading it. Marcello's sister is great, and he's pretty cool himself, although it really doesn't seem like he has the guts necessary to take over the Falcons. I do wish that Zaira and Amalia had gotten to do more bonding under fire, or more bonding at all. Hopefully that will happen in the next books.
This book was great. It's set in a fake sort of Italy where Fake Venice rules all the other city states with a fist of iron and magic. As one expects from Fake Venice, there's a lot of poisoning. I won't say there's "intrigue" since the plot is really more straightforward than that word implies, but there's at least a political mystery that I enjoyed a lot.
The idea of mages conscripted into the service of the Empire and bound together with a non-mage to work as a team for the rest of their lives is also very... interesting. I liked how the Empire was shown to be messed up in some ways, and so was Ardence, and Amalia's mother was clearly shown to be ruthless and conniving, but also a sympathetic character. The only real 100% evil we have here is Skinwitch Man, and I appreciate that gray morality.
If I had written this book, I would have spent WAY more time on Zaira and Amalia's relationship, and a lot less time on Marcello. But I didn't write this book, and I still very much enjoyed reading it. Marcello's sister is great, and he's pretty cool himself, although it really doesn't seem like he has the guts necessary to take over the Falcons. I do wish that Zaira and Amalia had gotten to do more bonding under fire, or more bonding at all. Hopefully that will happen in the next books.