Synopsis
Beyond the veil, the spirit realm connects all living things together. The ocean to the sky. The rain to the ground. The air, and the trees.
But there is a darkness bleeding through the veil, tearing spiritlife out by the roots, leaving a lifeless void in its wake. The seasons have stopped turning, life withers where it should flourish, and vicious raiders prowl the lands.
And in the heart of the darkness, a mad, broken god crouches, playing puppet master with the human race.
Fae is a gifted healer, and the only human in the elven tree-city of Arolynos. Brought to Arolynos as a young orphan, she remembers nothing of her life beforehand, but she has felt the eyes of the spirits her whole life. Never before have they deigned to speak to her.
Until the day the trees scream.
The spirits are dying, and the world is dying with them.
Gifted with a seed of power by the spirits themselves, Fae is the only one who can save them.
She alone must venture into the darkness.
To defeat a broken god.
Before the natural order collapses completely.
Review
This book was such a delight from start to finish. Spiritchild is a great read for those looking for something akin to classic fantasy tales; good vs evil, a mismatched group on a daring quest to bring light into the darkness that’s creeping into the world all too quickly.
It follows the story of Fae, a gifted healer who has been raised in the Elven forest of Arloynos. The spirit realm that connects the world they live in is slowly dying and nobody knows why, but it is affecting all the races across the world; dwarves, humans, elves, dragons and more.
The tone of this book and the easy flowing writing style were things I loved from the very beginning. It was just so relaxing and fun to read. That’s not to say that its a ‘rainbows and butterflies’ story all the time, far from it. There is plenty of drama, intrigue and a rollercoaster of emotions. But it’s all built up at the perfect pace and in a way that just comes to life effortlessly. Every time I sat down to read it was just so cosy and beautiful. I found myself really immersed in the setting of the story, and it just gave me that comfort read vibe all the way through.
The characters are are very likeable. It has multiple POV’s and the switch between them all is very easy to follow, and they round the story out very well. The author really captured each character’s own voice really well and balanced the story with character building moments perfectly. My favourite characters were Fae, Bek and Hal in particular.
The pace was not fast but I never really felt like it was too slow either. The world building was delivered really well too. There is one section where events from long ago, as in ‘myths and legends’ type long ago, come into the present day plot, and the way these bits were delivered in the narrative was perfectly done. Often I find this type of exposition can get messy or go into info dump territory, but this never happens here. The world is built up slowly but in a really immersive way. It doesn’t get as detailed as some other books can be in this regard, but the magic, atmosphere and imagery are all captured so well. I could picture everything so clearly in my mind.
I do feel there were some side characters who I would have liked to know more info about, and having more backstory on them would have made them stand out more for me. I didn’t dislike them, but I just wanted more. There were also one or two story beats that I felt left me wanting a bit more in terms of the feelings they got from me as I read them. There were a few moments that hit me so, so hard and had me feeling all of the emotions. And one or two others that perhaps were slightly more predictable or could have some room to grow. All in all though, these are minor improvements in an otherwise wonderful read.
The ending of the book was great and it’s definitely left open for lots of interesting things to come in book two, which I will be reading for sure.
This book will definitely be up there with my comfort reads, and I would recommend this to anyone who loves classic fantasy, quests, good vs evil, beautifully realised settings and character relationships that you definitely grow to love.
I’d like to thank the author for gifting me a copy of this book. Book two is ready and waiting for me to start it soon.
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