TL;DR Review: Magic, mayhem, action, and monsters. Dark fantasy with surprising humor and a whole lot of fun.
Synopsis:
Amid the king’s death, magic storms rage, spreading fear against the mages.
Killien will stop at nothing until he finds his sister, Fate. Her magic is both feared and hunted by mages, soldiers, assassins and the new king alike. His sister has a power like no other—chaotic and destructive, it makes her a danger to everyone around her. If she were to fall into the wrong hands—such as the tyrannical mage Killien believes may have kidnapped her—Fate could be turned into a devastating weapon.
With her magic growing ever stronger, magic storms rage across Vendragon, destroying towns and villages. Fear of magic is spreading, and a war is brewing. Killien must find Fate before she kills or is killed, spurring a nationwide bloodshed.
The only way to find her is to follow the destructive trail of her uncontrolled magic and into the eye of the storm.
Full Review:
Battleborn Mage is back, and instead of going for more epic stakes—bigger magic, bigger monsters—it narrows down the focus of the story onto the characters we’re most interested in: Killian (aka Killer, the gladiator turned mage badass) and his hunt for his infant sister, Fate.
Fate’s magic is ripping the world apart, triggering lightning storms, hurricanes, and other natural disasters that are destroying villages and towns and spreading a magical “plague” across the world. The people who kidnapped her are endangering the entire world, but Killien is really in it for some good old-fashioned bloody vengeance for shattering the family he only just got back after escaping from the gladiator pits.
Along the way, he and his younger brother stumble across a woman calling herself Jade, who wakes up in a monster-riddled forest with no memory of her past and fatal wounds that she somehow continues to survive long after others would have succumbed.
Something about her (and no, it’s not that!) compels Killien to help her, and soon he realizes that she may hold the key to finding and saving his infant sister.
Throne of Blood brings more bloody action, more mystery and intrigue, and more fun characters—both new and old—into Killien’s world. The story is written with Angel Haze’s very unique sense of (hilariously dirty) humor that makes it a great deal of fun and adds some levity to even the darker moments (of which there are many).
The mystery of who Jade really is gets slowly teased throughout the story, and by the end, we’ve gotten some interesting insights into this woman who has drawn Killien’s attention and convinced him she’s worth diverting from his quest for his baby sister (even temporarily, just long enough to help her heal up).
And, of course, the B-story scenes of Prince Burne (now King Burne after he murders his brother) and Queen Angelique continue to paint a darker picture around Killien’s story. The mystery of the “Dragon’s Maw” and what exactly is intended for the magic being taught in secret—a secret that must be protected, even if it means killing those who discover it—tease us with the promise of bigger dangers to come.
While it feels a bit like a “side quest” sometimes, Throne of Blood ends with a satisfying conclusion that makes it clear we’re back on the right path, and ready to find out what comes next for the gladiator-mage and his newfound family.
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