Welcome to Darmid, where magic is a sin, fairy tales are contraband, and the people live in fear of the Sorcerers on the other side of the mountains.
Rowan Greenwood has everything she’s supposed to want from life—a good family, a bright future, and a proposal from a handsome and wealthy magic hunter. She knows she should be content with what she has. If only she could banish the idea that there’s more to life than marriage and children, or let go of the fascination with magic she’s been forced to suppress since childhood. – Goodreads
First off: I judged this gorgeous book by it’s gorgeous cover. Look at that! With a cover like that, it has to be great, right?
Wrong. You would think I’d have learned that the outside doesn’t always match the inside after high school. This book wasn’t bad…but it wasn’t great, either. Kind of like generic brand “Oreos”. It tastes similar but doesn’t quite hit the mark.
Basically Rowan saves an eagle (which is really her country’s most fearsome enemy, Aren, the brother of the king of a neighboring country). He can shapeshift. She accidentally heals him, and he realizes she has power. Badabing-badaboom, his brother, Severn, shows up and makes Aren help him kidnap her. Only, Aren can’t help but be captivated by her…so he smuggles her off of a ship and they run away.
I was so annoyed with these two. I desperately wished Ruby the dragon would have eaten them.
Rowan is your typical delusional, innocent, sweet girl—she isn’t accustomed to journeys or boys or magic. Remember, magic is illegal where she’s from.
Aren is a raging psychopath. He uses mind control to completely mess people up, kills ruthlessly, and doesn’t feel remorse about it.
So naturally, they fall in love.
I guess he isn’t technically holding her hostage, but it still felt an awful lot like Stockholm Syndrome to me.
The worldbuilding was great—it was broken up and sprinkled throughout the story. New places and magical folk were mixed in slowly, which kept things fresh and new and not dumped at once. It was also very complex. I appreciated this.
Overall, it wasn’t bad—in fact, I can see a lot of people really enjoying this book. It just wasn’t doing it for me. I rated it a 3/5 on Goodreads.
lifebetweenreads.com 