Synopsis:
For years Shine has studied magic in secret, buying black-market spellbooks and bribing two-bit warlocks for their scraps of knowledge, but every spell she learns comes at a terrible risk. In a land ravaged by war with the Sorcerer Queen, magic is outlawed, and those caught practicing it are hunted and killed.
When the lessons run out and the witch hunt closes in, Shine seeks out a new mentor: the immortal sorcerer Tatterdemalion, maker of deals and master of demons. The closer she gets to her new tutor, the more she uncovers the mysteries of his past, the source of his power, and his part in the war that changed the world.
But Shine’s rise doesn’t go unnoticed. The Sorcerer Queen has her eyes on Tatterdemalion’s new apprentice, and she will not tolerate a rival to her power.
Review:
I was given this book as a gift after a friend met the author at a convention. Given the size, at first I thought it was a set up for a series and that it would end up being the first part of a story, but it is actually more a very short novella or even just a short story that has been formatted as a book. The formatting itself is odd in that the font size is quite large with a lot of space between words; about two paragraphs fit on a page.
This book was very much a combination of several different tales all mixed into one, with the most obvious being that of the Disney version Beauty and the Beast mixed with the Disney version of Aladdin. The story itself is written in a way that is clearly meant to give the feel of the Grimm Fairy Tales- something that is supposed to be transcendent and I do believe that this book was written in a way that the relevance will continue well past the time this review is published. That being said, it was a cute quick read. The heroine was tenacious and there was growth from both the heroine and our Tatter within the story. There were risks, and complications, and overall it was a good, albeit quick, short, and sweet read.
Star rating: ✯✯✯✯
Amy S. Brown 