Rishi’s mother was the mistress of the King, and she was also a secret sorceress. Now, the King’s guard and mage hunters are hunting for all 7 of her children. They are all older than the actual crown prince from the King’s wife, and the King wants to make sure than his legitimate heir takes the throne. Rishi has managed to lay low for years, but now a mage hunter named Kestral has found him. When Kestral discovers Rishi’s magic, Rishi has to find his siblings to ask for help. But, nothing can ever go perfectly, and Reshi soon finds himself caught between a dangerous family and a dangerously alluring mage hunter.
I read this entire book in one day and immediately started the second book as soon as I received it! I absolutely loved Reshi the more I read this novel. He had an interesting and unique backstory, but this is hidden for the majority of the novel, so I won’t tell it here. I also was intrigued once he met his siblings. They didn’t grow up together, but they all have one thing in common. They are all so stubborn! It was bittersweet to see how alike they were, yet the years of separation made it so that they didn’t completely trust one another.
This was one of the most in-depth fantasy worlds that I have read in a long time. There were magical creatures of all sorts, power-ranked mages, royalty, history of the land, military of the kingdom, and commoners with their own individual stories. Within these categories there are many detailed story portions. For example, the mages are all different based on when they were born. The secondborn would have more powers than the fourthborn. This entire system is a nice touch that I haven’t seen in a while in fantasy literature!
Reshi and Kestral lie don’t fit into any one particular group, but they travel so much that they interact with all the different groups and learn the secrets of each. I loved all the characters that they met along their journey.
I don’t think that there was a single thing that I disliked about this book! The pacing was perfect and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the whole reading. The setting draws you in and won’t let you go. There were no grammar or formatting errors that drew me out of reading the story. And the action scenes are intense! You are definitely in for a treat when you start this book.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a new fantasy series with a fantastic setting, excellent pacing, and LGBT+ characters.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 6 out of 5 books.
