Summary:
This new epic fantasy series begins a tale of magic and danger, as a healer finds herself pulled deeper into a web of secrets and hazardous magic that could bring about the end of the world as she knows it.
Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin’s Practitioner’s vault. Arlyn can’t ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can’t allow it to be freed.
Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.
Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.
Review: 4 Stars
I picked up an ARC of The Godstone on a whim because the blurb sounded interesting, but I didn’t really expect much from this book. When Susy wanted to buddy read it with me I figured it would help motivate me to pick it up as sometimes I procrastinate reading epic fantasies, but I had no idea how much I’d enjoy this book. Once I picked up The Godstone I found it really easy to tear through and was surprised by how much I really enjoyed this book. The Godstone jumps right into the plot and moves pretty quickly. This fantasy debut was a really wild ride and I can’t believe more people aren’t talking about this one.
The characters were all well written and there are multiple points of view. It was really nice to get the story from multiple angles, including the POV of the villain, While Arlyn was at the center of the story, he wasn’t my favorite character. Arlyn was a really interesting character that had many sides to him and watching him grow throughout this book was one of my favorite aspects of this story. Fenra was my favorite character. She was really kind-hearted and saw the good sides of everyone. I admired her caring heart and loved her personality. I really liked Elva as well. He was incredibly loyal and honorable. He kind of reminded me of Grey from A Curse So Dark and Lonely, except he could be incredibly brutal at times. I wound up really invested in all of these characters and their stories. I will definitely be reading the next book because I need more of these characters.
The Godstone is the type of fantasy novel where you’re just thrown into the world and you slowly pick up pieces of the magic system and world building along the way. I was a bit confused in the beginning, but as the story continued things became more and more clear. This book has a really fascinating magic system and world and I wish it was explained in a bit more depth. I found the Modes incredibly fascinating and the magic system was so cool. Everything was vividly described and really brought the story to life.
The plot revolved around the three main characters trying to keep the Godstone from falling into the wrong hands. It isn’t an action packed story, but the plot kept a steady pace and kept me captivated. I had a few issues with the book, like the confusing beginning and use of both third and first person points of view. These issues kept this book from being a 5 star read, but since this is the author’s debut I think a few kinks are to be expected. The Godstone really surprised me because I didn’t really expect much from this book, but I got amazing characters and a really fascinating world. I can’t wait to read the next installment and I am definitely going to be watching Violette Malan.
Check out Susy’s review of The Godstone here!
Devouring Books 