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A review by bookstarbri
A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Three words to describe this: magical, haunting, romantic. It reminds me of those old romance novels that took place in creepy victorian homes flooded with ghosts. This is such an interesting story and, as I was reading it, I kept getting this gothic feeling reminiscent of Phantom of the Opera or something like that. Needless to say, the tone of this way very clear from the beginning. The setting and the eerie coldness of it all was wonderful and only further developed by the lovely writing and stunning characters. Wes was amazing and he reminded me of myself many times. However, it was Margaret who was the standout for me. She was my favorite character in this by far and I loved having her as the heroine. She's gone through so much but she's such a strong character yet also desperately needs to be taken care of herself sometimes. The balance between these two characters and their love was nothing short of amazing.
The plot of the story was really amazing too, though I would say this leaned slightly more to character driven than plot-driven (emphasis on slightly). The plot is pretty simple: there's a hunt and they have to kill this ancient creature using both Margaret and Wes's talents. I think what prevented me from giving this a full 5 stars is that we didn't really get enough of this side of things. The love between these characters was gorgeous, but the plot was also super interesting so I just wanted more on the history of the hala and maybe a firmer resolution with it how it all ended. It was a great ending overall, I think I just wanted it to be drawn out a bit more since we were leading up to the hunt for the whole book only for it to end in like 2-3 chapters. Overall though, this is a minor gripe and I really enjoyed this book! It's the first I've read from Allison Saft and I'm really excited to read her other novel as well!
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
The plot of the story was really amazing too, though I would say this leaned slightly more to character driven than plot-driven (emphasis on slightly). The plot is pretty simple: there's a hunt and they have to kill this ancient creature using both Margaret and Wes's talents. I think what prevented me from giving this a full 5 stars is that we didn't really get enough of this side of things. The love between these characters was gorgeous, but the plot was also super interesting so I just wanted more on the history of the hala and maybe a firmer resolution with it how it all ended. It was a great ending overall, I think I just wanted it to be drawn out a bit more since we were leading up to the hunt for the whole book only for it to end in like 2-3 chapters. Overall though, this is a minor gripe and I really enjoyed this book! It's the first I've read from Allison Saft and I'm really excited to read her other novel as well!
Thank you to Wednesday Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Abandonment, Blood, and Animal death
Minor: Hate crime and Religious bigotry