Review: Devious Prey by Scott Reintgen

Devious Prey by Scott Reintgen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was an interesting concept, a smuggler and a mage both happen to be onboard an airship when it crash lands on a deserted island during a storm.  The smuggler happens to have some very dangerous cargo onboard that escapes after the crash.  The mage is being escorted to be tried for crimes he claims he didn't commit with his magic bound, but he might be the survivor's only hope to get off the island and back to safety.

I didn't really understand why Pearl and her Aunt were smuggling the dragoness in the first place.  I'm not quite sure if that was ever explained.  I really liked the concept of the dragoness.  She was a unique being with unique abilities.  Unfortunately her whole purpose seemed to be to prey on the humans and get defeated.  I was hoping her character would be more involved in the plot and explored more.  I have so many questions about her kind that didn't get answered and why she was there.  I thought the magic system was interesting as well, where mages have to find an anchor to use their magic and sacrifice that thing each time they use their power.  I liked that the author tapped into that "there is a cost for using" magic concept.  

As for the characters, the book mainly focuses on Marken the mage and Pearl the smuggler.  Though there are many other side characters throughout they mainly fade into the background and Pearl and Marken work together to figure out how to get off the island or get back to civilization.  There are other twists, turns, and reveals as the story progresses but most of the other characters weren't relevant to the story.  Pearl's character gets a bit darker and colder in the second half of the book.

Overall this was a fun YA fantasy.  Reintgen is a favorite author, and while this isn't a favorite he has written some of my favorite books in the YA and middle grade ranges.

View all my reviews

Review: Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ARC and an ALC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a unique YA fantasy that follows a priestess who guides the dead back to their loved ones for their last rites.  Kang Siying's most recent client is an important one with a generous commission that her family desperately needs.  She must travel to the most recent site where the two warring territories solders have fought to find the missing prince, reanimate his remains, and return them to the king's palace to receive her payment.  When she performs her rituals, things go awry, and the prince doesn't just reanimate, he returns to life but with weakened qi.  Siying must find a way to restore his qi, or Prince Ren will truly perish.  In their travels Siying must balance her duty to her family and her contract, while also educating Ren on all of the things he doesn't know about life outside of the palace.  As they complete more tasks and meet more people as Ren restores his qi, he realizes that there is much he doesn't know about his father the king and his beloved brother.  He has much to learn about politics and the unrest in their land.

I really enjoyed the narration, and it worked well as Siying and Ren went on their adventures.  There was a lot of emotion going on between the two as they get to know each other and as she bites her tongue about how people live and barely survive and the illness that plagues her family.  She often scolds Ren about his place in the royal family and his naivety about what is truly happening.  His cluelessness and carefree attitude was a nice balance to her more serious demeanor.  While there is a bit of a slow burn romance element, it is very clean and sweet.  The spirit element  would be more disturbing for young readers than the romance, but even that isn't very gory.  I thought the pacing was good and the lore and magic had a purpose and explanation.

This was a very well done debut and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

View all my reviews