Book Tour: The Goblets Immortal by Beth Overmyer

Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis

In a land where magic is feared, a rare magical kind exists: the Blest, products of the Goblet’s Immortal. Aiden is one of the blest, and he is on the run. Whispers of a new fear take shape in Meraude, a mage who hates all magic-kind. When she appears in Aiden’s dreams offering a bargain for the return his family, he needs to make the most difficult decision: find the Goblets and turn them over to Meraude, potentially dooming anyone who possesses magic to have his family back; or fight the evil mage and potentially never see his family again.

Review

I found The Goblets Immortal to be a very unique and fun read. Aiden (the main character) is very likeable in a sort of gullable, gentle giant kind of way. This may feel like a random comparison, but he actually reminded me a lot of Dunk from A Knight of the Seven Kindgoms as gets pushed and pulled in many different directions, meets other people and beings, and visits land where the customs and traditions are unfamiliar to him.

If Aiden is Dunk, then Slaine is his Egg: a traveling companion who he unwillingly picks up along the way – though, in the end Slaine and Aiden’s relationship ends up in a different place than Dunk and Egg. Aiden and Slaine were both fun characters to follow, and the author did a nice job of making their story relevant to the reader.

The magic-hating trope was very relevant, here, but I did not mind that so much. I think mostly this is because of Aiden’s lack of knowledge concerning his own powers. He can control things based on the metal inside them, but there are limits. He does not seem to really understand much of it and just takes things as they come. When someone tells him he is “Blest” and asks him how his powers have come to be, he cannot answer. He believes it has something to do with his mom when she was pregant, but he is not sure. I like the layer this adds to the story because he is trying to hunt down the Goblets Immortal, which supposedly can make someone all powerful, but Aiden is unsure of the consequences of that and is getting conflicting information. This information is relevant to his powers as well, but his ignorance leads him to any different situations that he and Slaine have to try to extricate themselves from… but often they are not sure how or why.

I do think there are parts of the story that could have been developed more, starting with the setting. This is an interesting world the author has built, and I think the book would have benefitted from richer descriptions of the history and landscape. The ending left something to long for, as well.

Overall, this was a really good read, and I can say I have never read anything like it. Finding original can sometimes be a difficult task, but Beth Overmyer hit the nail on the head with The Goblets Immortal. I recommend it for all fans of fantasy books.