Wednesday, May 18, 2022

2022 book 84

 Jane Glatt's Unguilded

I had the impression this was a cozy sort of fantasy based on the description, and while parts of it had that vibe, it was a little darker than that. It’s the story of a teen girl in a country ruled by powerful guilds; her birth mother is a mage and they’ve been waiting to see if the girl would develop magic. When it seems like she hasn’t, her birth mother helps her run away so she won’t be forced to breed future potential mages (there are a lot of references to rape/sexual abuse and some rape threats—sooooo not cozy). I will tell you that her birth mother only helps her for selfish reasons and is a horrible person. Anyway, the girl now has to make her own way in the world, finding friends and a new home and figuring out that actually, she can /see/ magic. Great characters here, the romance was fairly abrupt but I was on board by the end, good action. I did wish the back half was fleshed out a little bit more, but I still enjoyed this and am off to start the sequel. A-/B+.

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