This book drew me in from the very beginning. I enjoyed the world building, the characters were awesomely diverse and well developed. The science was interesting and the world building and magic were awesome, but the characters, the characters kept me reading, they kept my attention. I wanted to know how it ended and yet I didn't want it to end! I can't wait for the next book.

*Thank you to Netgalley for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

<strong>CW’s: Violence, Abuse, Death, Suicide, Drug/Alcohol Abuse, Intergenerational Trauma/Genocide*</strong>

<strong>Representation</strong> 🌷 <u>Jewish Bisexual Biracial MC, Gay PoC Love Interest, Trauma</u>

<strong>** for a more <a href="http://victorialeewrites.com/2018/09/18/the-fever-king-content-warnings" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">detailed, longer list</a> see the website of the author!!!</strong>

<i>Thank you to Skyscape and Netgalley for providing me with a digital Arc in exchange for an honest Review! All quotes featured are from the Arc and therefore subject to changes.</i>

<b>“That was the whole point. Governments didn’t have to listen to the people until the people made it hurt not to listen.”</b>

✅ <b>I was a big fan of the ‘magic system’</b>. The heart of the worldbuilding are the Witchings, powerful humans that have been infected with a virus that kills almost everyone else. The survivors are left with new powers because they have successfully build antibodies and therefore survived, even though no one has been able to use them to find a cure yet. I love that the witchings and their abilities were connected to science and knowledge, as this is not always the case when it comes to a magic system. They basically have one ‘presenting’ power that they got after surviving the virus and it is connected to knowledge. You need to know about what you do (math, physics etc.) when you use an ability to pull it off. The first, instinctive power is related to what you knew the most of before getting infected. E.g. for Noam it was computers/hacking, which explains why he is a technopath. I found that to be very interesting, especially as learning more about physics etc. can enable you to learn more powers (even though maybe with some restraints compared to presenting powers)! I like that <b>logical system and it really stood out to me as unique, as these abilities need knowledge to function</b>, meaning that you have to work for them. I also liked learning about how witchings are regarded and especially their dark history, where some were used as lab rats to test them out and find out a cure. Even now there are ‘anti-witching’ states that see them as unnatural and dangerous.

✅ <b>I did like the entire setting</b>. The virus that I mentioned before has been a part of a huge catastrophe and I like that we have magic in a bad context: it literally kills most people it comes in contact with because normal humans bodies cannot contain it and therefore mass outbreaks are feared by society. There was also a huge war (including nuclear warfare( that bombed the majority of the United States, meaning that new ‘kingdoms’/states were formed like Carolina (our setting and pro witching), Texas (notoriously anti-witching) and Atlantia (pretty destroyed and subject to massive virus outbreaks) that are in conflict with one another. I also liked that at least the rest of the world was mentioned (something that doesn’t always happen), like Britain, who does not like witchings. I also<b> liked the discussion of immigration</b> that was brought up via Noam, whose parents were illegal immigrants from Atlantia, due to the horrible situation there. Of course Noam also shows us what a difficult situations immigrants are in, how easily they become scapegoats for the virus and how many that are sent back to Atlantia only to die there.

⛔ Still there are some things that<b> I definitely need answers for</b>, because I feel like we don’t completely know how the entire catastrophe took place, as we only get glimpses. I was also confused because it seems like we are in an alternate timeline, where witching have been around in the 1960s too instead of just having been there in the future. That part of the history was a bit vague.

✅ <b>I did think that all the main characters were complex and well-developed</b>. <b>Noam is our protagonist</b> and he is very different from the witchings that he later joins after getting his powers. I liked that we got to explore his outsider status and how being an immigrant and therefore not as privileged as his classmates impacted him. He often discusses wanting to make a difference for his people who are unfairly treated and then blamed whenever something goes wrong. I liked his dedication to his community and how he tried to use his position to make a change. Noam really struggles with feeling like he is powerless and insignificant, so he sets out to do absolutely everything to achieve something better. I liked that we see how doing the right thing can also backfire if you are too narrow-minded and not willing to see beyond your cause. I would say that makes Noam more of an anti-hero in the book. My <b>favorite character however was Dara</b>, who is withdrawn, mysterious and the popular, powerful boy in the group. My favorite type of character really. I liked that he had complexity and wasn’t just the arrogant boy who has everything, but hides a lot more that he has to deal with and cannot tell everyone. I felt really bad for him, as he did have a tough life and a lot of vulnerabilities, that he tries to hide behind sarcasm and closing off. Then we have <b>Lehrer who made an interesting character</b>. He is shown as the mentor type, powerful, a revolutionary and tortured for being a witching in the past. He is an interesting character, that I never fully trusted, as he is good at keeping his emotions in check. It was interesting to see how each of the three characters coped with trauma and their past.

⛔ <b>Sadly the secondary characters were underdeveloped and therefore fell flat for me.</b> While it’s great that we have 3 strong main characters, it’s always important that the minor characters are strong as well and have their own motivation/goal/conflict. That wasn’t the case here. Among all the characters Ames seemed to be the most developed and I see great potential for her to become a more important character in the second book, but even she could have been more fleshed out. Linda and Bethany had barely any distinct personality and no own goal or motivation, which is why they felt more like props in the story than individual characters. <b>Due to the fact that the three main characters are men, we had no female characters that had any significance to the story. </b>That saddened me, as the only important characters here were men. Ames remains the most important female character, but even she was a minor character. I really want her to become more important in the future.

✅ <b>I did like the romance, it was a great slowburn. </b>Dara and Noam are kind of also enemies to lovers, because they start out not liking the other very much but grow closer together. I thought that they had great chemistry, so all their interactions felt real and were very well-written. I totally bought the romance and I think that them having chemistry is so important, as that is what really gets me invested in a relationship! There was a bit of ‘I cannot tell you x, y or z’ going on, but in the end it kind of made sense that Dara could not tell Noam certain things - I totally understood his actions, so it didn’t frustrate me. What did frustrate me was Noam being a bit naive at times and a pushy when it came to Dara’s personal life.

⛔ <b>I wasn’t a big fan of the ending</b>. One of my least favorite Tropes is when we have finally uncovered something and there has been a big revelation (with so many important things FINALLY cleared up) … only for it to be reversed a second later. Due to spoilers I cannot say more, but if you have read the book you know what I mean. It was very disappointing to me, as this plotline stirs up more drama in the next book when we have to do it all over again, which feels very unnecessary to me. I find<b> tropes like this to be very frustrating</b> in the end, as the big reveal should be satisfying to read about and I feel a bit cheated that it was all undone. This also made the ending a bit confusing and messy. It didn’t turn out how I thought it would and disappointed me.

<strong>“It's all random chance. The universe. Us. An infinite cascade of chaos. A series of impossible accidents is the only reason we even exist.”</strong>

I found this book to be enjoyable. I was hooked by the first chapter. I loved the main character and his love interest. It was an interesting read that had some twists and turns that I enjoyed. I would have liked a little more detail about the workings of the magic system in the book and a little more information about some of the supporting characters, however I still thoroughly enjoyed the book and will look for more books from this author in the future because I really liked the writing style, it was a fast read and easy to read. I would classify this book as a sci-fi, fantasy hybrid and I highly recommend this book if you want a sci fi, magical book with a side of romance, the romance in this story isn't just thrown in there to be in there either, it actually plays a part in this book which I loved.

The Fever King kept me on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t get enough of Noam’s journey to become a witching. This futuristic tale was riveting to me as Noam dealt with the pain of losing those close to him and the determination to use his magic to fight against the military. Ms. Lee’s writing was absolutely mesmerizing and I love that this is the first book in a brand new series. Can’t wait to get my hands on this next installment of this exciting series.

5 stars

THIS BOOK, Y’ALL.

I love it so much? It was tightly written and wonderfully set up and I love the characters and am SO DEAD at the ending.

Whew! I could scream about this book all day, honestly.

In short, if you get anything from this review, it’s that you should READ THE FEVER KING. GO.

The lovable characters + ships.

Honestly, Victoria Lee is a master at creating characters I love and feel intensely attached to.

It’s one thing to write characters that are real or interesting, but it’s a completely other thing to write characters that you fall in love with and can’t get enough of, and they’ve totally made this happen and I LOVE Noam and Dara and everyone else (except you-know-who).

I want them to have a happy ending. I’m actually invested in them and their stories and their happiness, and I think this is one of the greatest things a fiction writer can accomplish, and Lee has done this.

All I want from the sequel, The Electric Heir, is for Noam and Dara and everyone else to happily retire in a beautiful countryside and skip through fields of daisies. Is that too much to ask? *sobs*

The gritty futuristic setting and the creative virus.

I loooove sci-fi and the setting feels very sci-fi to me. It’s not like the 2010 dystopian YA fiction a la Hunger Games, but more gritty and a little apocalyptic (or, more hopeless if not apocalyptic) with more influence from our current world and modern politics.

It’s so rich and immersive and you get sucked into Carolinia (although, we’ll apparently be seeing other areas of this futuristic world in the sequel) and the almost desperate life people have to carve out for themselves and the suffering that is prevalent.

There’s a lot of different issues that Lee tackles, and it can be messy and confusing and not clear cut–exactly like life. A lot of the time in fiction, it feels like these types of worlds are divided into “rebels” and “non rebels,” but Lee writes something more complex than that. They write how different causes and things give those who protest different goals and ideas and it pulls them to decide what is their priority.

This is real. It’s not clean cut and one group is in the wrong and one is in the right. It’s got so many different elements that are part of real-life movements.

The fight for women’s rights? There were so many different divisions, and some activists excluded black women (*cough* Susan B. Anthony), but did it with a purpose (for feminism–this doesn’t mean she was right, though). Others disagreed with her methods.

Black rights? So many different activists who had different views on how to acheive equality throughout American history.

There is no clear set right or wrong way to do something when you’re dealing with a movement, and another one of Lee’s triumphs in this book is how they show the more morally gray and not straightforward elements of a movement that isn’t necessarily prominent in other YA fiction pieces.

And the virus added a little bit of a fantasy element, which I loved reading! Most people who get the virus die, but the few survivors now develop special abilities, and the protagonist Noam is one of them.

The smart take on social issues in a fantasci setting.

I talked about this a little bit in the last section, but even more than a realistic depiction of activism, there’s also a lot of social issues being tackled by Lee, and I think they did a good job in balancing all of these.

From immigration to religion and their links to politics, Lee weaves this into the story without making this a book whose primary focus is these issues. It’s part of life, and that’s real.

Anyone who says that this book is too political should be reminded that the existence of any person who is a minority is inherently political. You can ignore it, but when it comes down to it, political issues give rights and take them away, and it almost never does this with non-minority groups.

Lee makes the social issues in the books prominent and there, yet woven into the story to not make it the focus. Because Noam’s existence is inherently political, and so are many of ours.

THE ENTIRE STORYLINE OMG.

Lee captures your attention right away with a heavy introduction feat. the death of Noam’s father and the virus infecting the area where he lives.

And from there, it only gets more and more tense as Noam joins Level IV and meets new people–some good and some bad–and gets intertwined with this viciously complex plot.

You’re left guessing who is the bad guy, and Lee toys with the reader and their perception of what’s happening, it’s mindblowing.

It’s very tightly plotted–there’s no room for errors or holes in this story or else it will all fall apart, and the climax had me internally screaming and externally tearing up.

It’s good. It’s really good.

And the ending. The ending killed me.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I just–HOW COULD YOU DO THIS.

I have no words.

Everyone needs to read this just so we can all scream about the ending from our houses and vibrate the earth with the sheer force of our shrieks.

Overall . . .

Please read it. Thanks.

(Seriously, I love this so much and I can’t believe I have to wait till NEXT YEAR for book 2 to come out.)

I really enjoyed The Fever King and I am looking forward to see what Victoria has in store for these character next because all I can say is that I want more.

I really liked this book! The story was really interesting and I couldn't put it down! The characters were really unique and likeable. I loved the powers the hero had and how he used them. Kinda have me X-Men vibes. I had so much fun with this! Can't wait for more!

Victoria Lee's <i> The Fever King </i> takes you on an unexpected journey of twists and turns. At the beginning, I thought I knew what kind of shape the plot was taking - I didn't, and that was somewhat refreshing.

The pursuit of justice is difficult. Justice can also be bloody. It's hard to know sometimes if the end justifies the means, or if we've lost ourselves in the process or merely just changed as people. I thought about this a lot for Noam. I didn't want him to lose himself on the path that was set before him, and as the plot progressed kept coming back to a question: does the end justify the means to get there?

<i> The Fever King </i> explores trauma and how people react to it, in their current lives and in an intergenerational sense. I loved this aspect of the book, though it was also emotionally confronting at times. Trauma lingers, it can weave its way through our lives and into the lives of our children and our communities after we are gone. The way that Lee explores different types of trauma was admirable, with such delicacy and understanding of how trauma plays out in the lives of people, and while managing to make that part of a YA novel - was what pushed this book into a 5-star rating for me. You have to understand trauma in order to write trauma, and Lee showed a delicate and important insight to readers that can be lacking in some contemporary YA.

Being a fantasy-lover myself, I was quite interested in analysing the magical system used in this book. In some fantasy, the magical system just <i> is </i>, but as personal preference I like knowing the uses, limitations and development of that system so it can be well-grounded within its world. I found the design of the system in <i> The Fever King </i> to be well-rounded and used well within the progression of the plot.

Overall, I enjoyed <i> The Fever King </i> a lot more than I anticipated I would. I did um and err for a while as to whether or not to give this a 4 or 5 star read, but finally settled on 5 stars, due to the delicate nuance, understanding and exploration of multiple themes in this novel.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Noam as there is an outbreak of a magic virus and he survives it. He is now known as a witchling and gets taken under a former king's wing.  He wants to help refugees and gets caught up in politics.The world was very well developed and I want to know a lot more about it. It was very interesting to know about the history of the world and how it got to the point it did I found the writing to be really good and easy to follow. This book reminded me very much of classic dystopian and I very much enjoyed that. As i said the magic system was very unique and not everyone can withstand magic in there body and it was interesting to see how biology was mixed into the world. I liked how small clippings of news story or something integral to the plot was insertedI really liked the main character, Noam. He was very well developed and he was fighting for his people.I also found Dara to be an intriguing character and want to know more about his history and what he went through. I feel like one of the supporting characters could have been more developed because we didn't get to know them enough. I had a suspicion on who the the main villain was but I kept going back and forth on who it was. I have a comparison to another villain in mind but that would give too much away. I don't know why but he gave me those vibes. I really enjoyed this book overall and can't wait to read the next book in the series and what else Victoria puts out. I would recommend this to anyone who loves fantasy and books set in a futuristic settings.4/5

Trust me. Read The Fever King and it will infect your mind like a magical virus, burrowing in and taking root, until you’re walking around accosting everything to try and induct them into your fangirl cult, just so you have more people to yell with about this thrilling, brilliant novel.

I like books that explore the ugly parts of life. I like books that show me the dark underbelly of being human, reveal the worst impulses inside of us. The Fever King is one of those rare books that made me question my own morals, with characters that wormed my way into my heart and fascinated me—and fascinate me still, even after the truth of some of them is revealed. That’s the heart of this novel for me: the characters, who leap to life off the page and contain so many multitudes. You sink right into Noam’s world from page one, the narrative voice vivid and immediate, and if you’re anything like me, soon you’ll be aching to climb into the book and wrap him in some blankets, or else shout at him to keep him out of trouble. Meet Dara, darling Dara, complicated and elusive, standoffish but so lovable. Read this book for the perfect way these two bounce off each other, a push and pull of love and hate, if nothing else.

And then there’s my favourite, but I’ll keep that a secret for now, to keep the mystery.

I’m biased, of course, but ultimately I say if you’ve a morbid curiosity for true crime podcasts, would be down to spend a wine and dine with Hannibal Lecter (any version, but particularly the Fuller TV show), or believe that Magneto is the real hero of the story and Professor X can screw off, this book is for you. For all the rest, wondering how it’s possible to sympathize with the devil, read this book anyways. Trust me, you’ll find out.

First of all, can I just say: COVERLY LOVE! And TITLE LOVE! Honestly, I had massive expectations going into this book, and FEVER KING did not disappoint. This is the sort of book I'll be recommending to people who sneer at YA as a genre of empty clichés; it deals with immigration, illness, corruption, and a waterfall of hard-hitting topics. It's not a light read by any means, but once you get into it, FEVER KING is *addicting* as heck. There's a fantastic mix of science and magic, and I loved the idea of magic as something pathological. The witchings in general were fascinating, I would take a bullet for Dara, and the strength of queer themes was just *gestures wildly* so refreshing. It's also the sort of book that's impossible to give justice to over the space of a review, but trust me: this is a series to look out for.

This book was amazing! It was fast paced and kept you guessing. There characters were well written and relatable. I love that the main character is bisexual since you never see that in fantasy novels and it was a pleasant surprise. The plot was so well thought out and I'll didn't know who to trust until the very end. I highly recommend reading this book!

The Fever King's premise drew me in. Viral outbreaks that lead to magic? That sounded right up my alley. And it was. But this book is also much more than that. There's politics, morally gray characters, an immigration debate, an examination of an "others are dangerous" mentality, and romance.

While The Fever King was good, I would have enjoyed it more if the world-building were stronger. For me, world-building is key in fantasy and I just didn't have a clear enough picture of this world. Although the plot was a bit slow sometimes, I was interested enough in Noam's journey to keep reading. I did like the characters and ultimately found myself cheering for the romance. It was a relatively quick read and I'm intrigued to see where the author takes the plot in the sequel.

One note - I'd highly recommend checking out the content warnings on Lee's website before starting this one.

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Firstly this book was a complete cover draw, it's amazing and utterly eye catching, and when I discovered whilst reading it was a dystopian too that completely sealed it that this would be a book for me. Whilst the Magic virus is never fully explained, it's certainly an interesting take on an apocalyptic scenario and it's refreshing to have the result of an outbreak not end in zombies. The result of surviving Magic? Witchings, people with magical capabilities from healing to telepathy, or in the case of our protagonist Noam, an ability to control technology.  Through going in blind I also didn't realise that this book had such a intense LGBTQIA theme, this went hand in hand with the story perfectly and in a plot that clearly places diversity high on it's agenda, the acceptance of and high proportion of Witching's who are queer feels like a much needed social comment.

There really is a ton going on and the story has a very fast paced feel (which was I was shocked when the characters towards the end said it had been a year) it's easy to miss something important and I found myself rechecking a few times to make sure I was on track. But that's the thing with The Fever King, it keeps you on an edge very much with Noam who is often battling and becoming embroiled in something far bigger as his desire to reach his lofty goal reaches fever pitch. As the story progressed and I understood, I felt that this was a pretty genius piece of story weaving and really raised the story up.

The magic and urban fantasy elements for me then sadly took a back step as The Fever King becomes an ode to the political - challenging preconceptions on refugees, social class, and balancing humanity and human rights atrocities. It's tough to read at times and hard not to reflect on current affairs. Whilst I did like this aspect as it was unexpected and very well considered, I did find myself often wishing the story told us more about the magic and Noam's interactions with others like him. There are helpful snippets of background dotted throughout though which at first seem abstract but really help to drive the story forward as the purpose of what we're being told becomes clearer. I know this is the first part of a duology and with latter revelations in the story I'm hopeful that more will become clear in the conclusion.

Whilst I did enjoy The Fever King I found that it was perhaps a little too politics heavy and for that it's a 4* for me.

The magic was fun - I loved the way it was manipulated once Noam had it. I had a slight geek out about the way he used the moving charges to create telekinesis. There is only one scene that I would actually call science-y magic, because after that he (largely) just uses it. This is probably in part to make the book faster paced (do we really want half a page about the science in the middle of an action scene) and also because it shows how easy the magic is coming.

I had a hard time deciding the star rating of this book because, while I enjoyed it, the 'twists' seemed so inevitable and glaringly obvious from the get go. This meant that I spent the entire book wondering why Noam couldn't figure it out. Some of his decisions, thanks to this were frustrating. I knew he was playing into X's hand, and wanted to shake his blind trust out of him.

A good twist shouldn't come out of the blue, but rather should be foreshadowed throughout the story. This does means that sometimes a twist is expected, but I don't expect to predict a betrayal (that is supposed to have emotional weight) from the first time I meet the character. The reason was because it was such a cliche twist - a certain type of character who seems to only ever betray in YA books these days.

This meant that, by the time of the big reveal, I was a little switched off because I knew it was coming and just didn't care so much about Noam finally finding out. This meant I found the section after the reveal really confusing. I'm just not sure what happened in the penultimate chapter, or why Noam just... sat there.

In all, a fun read, but the obviousness of the twists sucked the suspense from it.

I was excited to read this book and couldn’t wait to get started. Once I started, I wasn’t sure where the narrative was going. I found the first few chapters a little confusing but then settled into the rhythm of the tale. I really liked the main character, Noam and felt that his story as a 1st generation refugee in a broken USA came across really well. This story came with adventure, magic, political machinations and a light touch of romance. I would definitely read the next one in the series.

First I just want to mention that this book has themes of sexual assault and if that's something you don't want to read, you should definitely stay away from it.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!

I had a month of reading good books, but non of them really managed to touch me in any way and I had issues reading long passages at a time, then The Fever King came around and at first I didn't know what to think, but then I read like 80% of it in one day. No matter what I did, I just kept going back to reading and I didn't want to stop.

This is the type of LGBT+ dystopian that I always wanted ti read, but could never find. I enjoyed the humour, the world building and the characters, especially Dara, he's my new fave. Dara's and Noam's romance is such a nice slow burn. It does kinda start out with enemy to lovers, but they do become friends in between, so it was something I really enjoy.

This story has quite some twists and turns and while I did see all of them except one minor one coming, I was still always into it. The magic in this is terrifying and intriguing and I so wanna know more about this world and its history. Can't wait for the sequel!

I received this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I would give this book 4.5 stars. I decided to round it up at 5 because…well…it needs a higher rating. Because it's that good.

First of all, the themes. Immigrants, viruses, genocide, corrupt system, corrupt people, heavy politics…The Fever King has it all. It's so messed up and complicated, but so interesting to read about.

The world and the magic system are also really interesting. The fact that magic is presented as a disease and how witchings have their presenting power really close to their personality and set of natural skills, but they can also learn new abilities by understanding the science behind the magic. It's like SF is mixed with Dystopian and essence of Fantasy, creating this complex, full of colors and tasty cake.

The characters are honestly so precious. I had a hard time getting into Noam's character at the beginning – because I had no idea what the heck he was saying – but once he became a witching and went to train – I was sold. I love stories where we learn with the main character about their power when he/she goes through school/training.

And Noam is such a nice main character. He's ambitious and doesn't know when to give up and always has the greater good in mind. I really liked him.

Dara - he's my cinnamon roll. I loved him from the moment he made Noam put his bag on Lehrer chair. And his presenting power…I should've seen that coming, but I didn't.

Lehrer – hands down, one of the best villains I ever read.

I love how the characters of this book act like teens. Teens that act and feel like adults are so common right now, so it was refreshing to read characters that feel their age.

The romance was honestly so cute. Their chemistry is on point and just…aaa. And all the representation! Just…yes! This is good!

I can't really think of any flaws besides that fact that the pacing was a little bit off at some points, but the book was still such a complex, deep and enjoyable journey.

I think The Fever King is in top three best books I've read this year.

I can't wait for the sequel!!!

This book was incredible! In this book magic is depicted as a fever, with a extremely high mortality rate, that leaves those that survive it with magical abilities. The characters were incredibly complex and it was full of twists I couldn't see coming. I would highly recommend this book.

Wow, so, first things first: refrigerators are heavy as hell. Just so you know. (If you follow me on Twitter you’d know that our fridge broke the other day and yesterday I got to not only carry one up the front stairs, but carry one down! I’m so strong and tired!)

ANYWAYS, in between this misadventure with fridges and working at my cool new job, I’ve been checking out a cool new book: THE FEVER KING by Victoria Lee!

So urban fantasy. We can all dig a good urban fantasy, right? Especially if it’s compelling, and gives us something new – fantasy as a genre sometimes comforts us with minor twists on repeating tropes, but sometimes we want something that’s gonna make us double-take, right? Like, when you go look at ice-cream, hand itching to grab that chocolate you’re used to, and you spy one of those crazy Ben and Jerry’s flavors.

That’s what Victoria gives us in THE FEVER KING. Instead of magic as this all-encompassing force acting as a gift, it’s something to be feared; it’s a disease that can’t be vaccinated, and has a 90% mortality rate that leaves the anyone who lives through it amazing powers and survivor’s guilt. Not something you find in your average urban fantasy, right?

Of course, THE FEVER KING can hardly be called average. Noam, our protagonist, is compelling, compassionate, and easy to root for. His rival-turned-love interested Dara similarly gets presented to us with as little info as possible to drive that mystery factor up. The writing is excellently executed, and makes this book perfect for anyone ready for a new take on the “kid new to special power gets trained to use it among other likewise-endowed kids” trope.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few things that I’d change or tweak. A few things that I find a little icky. Lehrer, our protagonist’s mentor throughout the book, comes across creepy and manipulative even before the major plot twist that reveals his motives. The queer romance has a rocky start that I can’t help but find sort of dubious.

But that just makes this book not a book for me. Not every book is! Just because I didn’t chase the pages of this book down doesn’t mean it’s bad. There are other people who loved this book, and that means that this book was for them. And that’s a-okay.

But overall, it was def worth the read, and I recommend it for anyone who’s ready for a new take on magic as a whole.