Fantasy Fiction – nigeladamsbookworm

A couple of years ago I was looking for a new genre and was getting a lot of reviews on my timelines about Fantasy Fiction, and mainly Academy Fantasy fiction.

Having read a few of these over the last few years I found that they fall into two camps for me. Either really good, or really awful.

Unbound falls firmly in the first category, and not only that it sits right at the top.

One of the reviews I’ve seen stated that it deserves to be read a much as Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing, I couldn’t agree more.

Nessa Thorne enters the Confluence Academy as a volunteer, and volunteers are seen as the lowest of the low.

The Academy trains people to fight for the Empire against the Red Kingdom.

Students are placed into one of four affinities depending on their mystical skills. Fire, Earth, Water, and Air.

The problem for Nessa is that she is Unbound, she has no particular affinity, but she can call on all four.

This makes her very dangerous, the problem is, is that she is totally naive to the fact her skills are sought after by all of the powerful people in the academy. It also means that those that can’t have her as a weapon need her dead.

Nessa pretends to be a water bound, but her close friends soon realise she is more than a water channeller. Unlikely alliances and friendships are formed.

A close bond with a Fire has everybody talking. His affinities want her dead but not as much as some of her own affinity do.

But who, or what is the driving force.

As with all the books I’ve read in this genre nobody is what they first seem to be.

It’s a mystery in itself as to who is really a friend and ally, and who are really deadly enemies.

And just like many other books in the genre there’s a nasty twist at the end, leaving a nice cliff hanger for the second book in the series, Unveiled.

But as much as this book follows a familiar format, and as much as I wasn’t surprised by the twists at the end, the journey to get to the last paragraph was a great read.

Yes the characters will be familiar, yes the story follows the usual template, but the fact that I enjoyed it so much speaks volumes for the quality of the story telling.

Pages: 576. Publisher: Mountain Leopard Press. Audiobook length: 22 hours 3 minutes. Narrator: Rachel Leblang

My occasional foray into other genres has taken me back to the latest reading fad that seems to have struck over the last few years.

And it’s becoming somewhat of a guilty secret. I’m certainly not the target readership, either by age or gender, but I do enjoy these books.

The thing that initially peeked my interest in this series was that the first book is set in New Orleans. It’s one of my favourite cities, and as a place to set a book, in whatever era, it has loads to give.

Secondly the gumph on Amazon suggested an element of New Orleans occult, another subject that has pricked my interest over the years.

So I decided to read Phantasma, an I enjoyed it that much I was straight into Enchantra. Here’s my thoughts

Phantasma is a really good story, When Tess Grimm dies suddenly her gift as a necromancer passes to her eldest daughter Ophelia.

It’s not long before Ophelia finds out mother was hiding other secrets and that her, and her sister Genevieve are about to lose their home.

One thing leads to another an Ophelia finds herself inside a mansion that manifests into the city to hold a deadly competition.

Tasks based on the nine circles of he’ll are played out on a daily basis. The reward for wining is high but once in the competition there are only three ways out, forfeiting, dying, or win the whole thing.

Ophelia forms an unlikely alliance with a Demon who is also to escape eternally being held in the tournament.

Things get very spicy between the two, this is definitely not a book for younger teens, and the will they won’t they is more about, will they fall in love, more than will they get it on, which they definitely do.

The Second Book Enchantra has Ophelia’s sister as the main character.

Following on a few months after the end of Phantasma Genevieve is in Italy looking to unlock more of her mother’s secrets.

Disappointingly the story gets very familiar very quickly. A deadly game of hide and seek in a mystic mansion, a will they won’t they relationship with a Demon and a fair bit of spice.

The story in the two books is so similar it made me think did the author have two settings for the same story and just went ahead and wrote both versions.

It’s a shame really because the first book showed a lot of promise