Enter a world where people are suspicious of magic. A Blest is a creature of magic and has used his magic to hide his family. He is working to bring them back when a dream promises him he can if only he will surrender the Goblet Immortal. It classic internal struggle, and external good versus evil.

The Goblets Immortal is my kind of fantasy. It is a well-paced, character driven novel that immediately pulled me in and wouldn’t let me put it down.

I absolutely love character driven novels. Particularly, character driven, fantasy novels. Far too often, fantasy is bogged down by excessive world building. I think Beth Overmyer did and incredible job balancing world-building with character building, giving us just enough of the world to be drawn in.

Focusing on the characters, made this story really relatable and engaging to read. I love the slow burn romance between Aiden and Slaíne. It’s real, and so amazing to read. There’s still a strong sense of adventure without being overpowered by the love. Again, Beth Overmyer knows how to maintain balance here, which really makes this book stand out.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a character-driven fantasy novel, and this was an easy 5 star read for me. Highly recommended.

*I received a free copy of this book from Random Things Tours in exchange for an honest review on the blog tour. All opinions are my own and unbiased.*

Just shut up already!

First thing to note here – this is the start of a series and ends on a cliffhanger, with no sequel mention as of yet, nor a series for it to be based in. Although, I assume, it will be based around these Goblets Immortal.
[Edit: Just noticed on Amazon that the sequel is due to come out next week and that the series is, indeed, entitled “The Goblets Immortal”]

Now next, to explain my title. Our MC, Aidan, you could pity him in the beginning. He lost his parents in some freak accident, where he is charged and outlawed for making them disappear. Then his only friend in the world turns on him, apparently for money, greed making him want more. But that is where the sympathy stops.

Once Aidan chances upon Slaine, he takes turns in treating her terribly and then regretting his actions, even minor actions, with a lot of his thoughts being riddled with remorse. This, of course, confuses Slaine, who is quite used to abuse, as she can’t make head nor tail of him. Neither can I. I mean, at one point he’s close to going too far, in a strange drugged state, then spends another page full of remorseful thoughts.

Then there’s the magic. We’re led full tilt into all the magical terms, without a single explanation of what they mean until one or two chapters later. It’s just confusing as hell.

The general storyline was OK, with the usual hijinks that come with an adventure fantasy (I don’t even want to call it “epic”), and the “hero” being able to get them out of trouble quite easily. But, I just don’t know. With all the annoying elements of Aidan, I just wanted to step into the book and punch him most of the time. Reading other reviews, it turns out that I wasn’t the only one.

Final rating: ★★★☆☆ – Sort of liked/OK

this book was really interesting I liked the plot and the characters. I really enjoyed reading this book, and hope there is more in this universe.

The cover right off is what catches your attention..#The Goblets Immortal by #Beth Overmyer is a wonderful.well written and action packed fantasy book.The young man Aidan made his family vanish and is on a quest.What follows is just pure delight.This book is for all ages and is a delight.
Thank you,
#Netgalley,#Beth Overmyer And #Flame Tree Press

2 stars, DNF

I think this GIF should preface my review...

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/13hNDbv34oogCc/giphy.gif">

E-ARC received courtesy of Flame Tree Press and <a href="http://randomthingsthroughmyletterbox.blogspot.com/">Anne Cater, Queen of Blog Tours.</a>

When Anne sent this book around to her Random Things associates, I jumped on it. Normally an epic fantasy with such a low page count would give me vibes of "There can't possibly be enough worldbuilding in this book to satisfy me, and the pace is probably way too rushed." Except that almost a year ago, I received an ARC of another epic fantasy with a similar feel and a similar page count (albeit from a different author and different publishing company) that gave me similar vibes to this one, but when I finally got around to reading it, my worries were unfounded and I got plenty of worldbuilding, along with a nicely written plot.

But this one is not the exception to the rule.

<img src="https://media0.giphy.com/media/a44vaZtlo2Qne/giphy.gif">

If you have never read fantasy in your entire life, you might be able to enjoy this book more. But for someone like me, who has grown up with Paolini, Nix, Rowling, Wrede, and Erin Hunter, and has read probably 200 fantasy books in the past fifteen years, this book is nothing to write home about.

<img src="https://media3.giphy.com/media/xT5LMSm8iRrMMNdGWA/giphy.gif">

Getting started into the book was rather difficult because All The Purple Prose And Capital Letters On Everything Because Every Word Is Very Important. And despite Every Single Noun Getting Its Own Adjective, we actually get very little description of where these characters are, what kind of world they inhabit, or what they want, or what they look like, or anything. All we're told is The Blood is Red, The Skin Is Lily-White, And The Hair Is Blond. I need more to ground me before we're suddenly thrown into a chase scene.

<img src="https://media.giphy.com/media/jO8USBtGh0ARa/giphy.gif">

And even when the chase is over and our main character (Aidan) has a few minutes to breathe, we still don't get any setting details or descriptions of any sort, making this read like Every Other Pseudo-European Fantasy Novel Ever. Which is not helped by the existence of a character named Reek.

<img src="https://i.imgur.com/UQfflJY.gif">

No, not that Reek. This "Reek" is a female elf, and while she is technically antagonistic to our main character, you still have to consider that in Game of Thrones, "Reek" was an insulting nickname given to a sociopath character by an even more sociopath character, whereas here... her parents would have to have <i>given</i> her that name. Her PARENTS.

But I'm not here to nitpick the little things, but rather discuss the larger issues that made me turn away. That would be The Main Character Is A Special Snowflake Who Doesn't Have to Ever Work Hard and All Important Plot Information Is Handed To Him Because Reasons.

Aidan is at the house of a friend who betrays him to the authorities? Oh, but look at that, how convenient; he escaped rather neatly without much effort at all! And just when he's found a nice forest clearing to spend the night, here come bounty hunters, and he just happens to be an outlaw! Oh, but look at that--the leader of the bounty hunters knew Aidan's parents and has an important MacGuffin that he just gives Aidan without any fight! He tells Aidan that he needs to seek out the four elves who know how to help him, so we expect that the next stage of his journey he will need to spend time seeking out these elves... oh, look! He happened upon them by chance in the very next scene! And though his escape from the elves was actually rather interesting to read, once he gets away safely, the mage he's been seeking (Meraude) just appears in a dream and tells him everything he needs to know so he doesn't need to seek her anymore!

<img src="https://media.tenor.com/images/9041eeb5a9f494ec8de5e5b164aebe99/tenor.gif">

But even with all this, I still felt like I could keep reading a while longer. I had high hopes for the second half, that it would totally make up for the first half. Or maybe it would just continue to be average the whole way through and I'd end up giving it three stars--my version of "Eh, it's good, but not something I'd want to reread." Until we met Slaine, who is, admittedly, an interesting concept for a character--a girl the reader assumes is human who has some sort of curse upon her who is decidedly unhelpful to Aidan's needs, except when it benefits her (eg. finding food and water, etc.) "Finally!" I thought. "Aidan's getting some opposition to his wants!"

<img src="https://corinnejet.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/brilliant.gif">

Except then we hit the biggest roadblock to me being able to get into this story, and that is...

<img src="https://corinnejet.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/recycle.jpg">

CONSENT. It's called CONSENT!!

Aidan is treating Slaine (described as a "girl" despite being a 22-year-old woman) as an object rather than a person. He takes her away from the four elves who treat her like a slave, thinking to himself that "I'm stealing from the elves," rather than "How horrible that this girl had to live like that for so long, she deserves to have dignity and respect and I'm going to see to it that she gets it." When she walks away from him during an argument, he <i>grabs her</i> and <i>manhandles her against her will.</i>

<img src="https://corinnejet.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/3earpm.gif">

Then he notices an injury on her shoulder that's beginning to fester. He decides that "Oh, I'm a big strong man, I am going to tend to this girl's wound!" without asking her permission first. Then, when she <i>blatantly refuses</i> his help, he <i>pushes her against his horse</i> and <i>restrains her in order to clean her wound.</i>

I also recently became aware that several chapters after this point, Aidan essentially rapes Slaine while they're still in this forest setting, and I'm not really wanting to read that chapter, thank you very much. So I DNFed.

<img src="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/34/09/14/340914b960e07e2af77b280ba3fd3b81.gif">

TL;DR: Absent worldbuilding and character development, plot convenience, and an overall objectification of women characters by the main male protagonist, who he will later rape, made me walk away without regret.

I liked this book well enough. There were just no explanations of things. You get thrown the story after it had already started, like being late to the movies. There is no real explanation of what happened to his parents and what the goblets are for. It was fast paced enough to get through it. I didn't like the relationship between Aidien and Slaine. It almost seems abusive the way he starts forcing himself on her. It's not explained at all why he feels the compulsion to have sex with her. I was dreading where that was headed but it is left unresolved at the end. I also didn't like the way he talked to her.

3.5 stars

The Goblets Immortal is fairly unusual for a fantasy novel in that it's quite a short book. This means that there isn't a great deal of world building here but consequently, the action begins almost immediately.
The book opens to find Aiden making a deal with an old friend and it's clear from the start that he isn't an ordinary man but has unique magical abilities. Having read quite a few fantasy novels, I enjoyed discovering powers I've not come across before - Aiden can Summon or Dismiss objects with his mind, meaning he has a handy store of items available to him in what he calls his Nothingness. He is also able to sense the Pull of people which allows him to recognise when somebody is close by - an useful asset for a fugitive to have. It's this Pull which alerts him to the danger he soon finds himself in and he makes his escape, although not before he learns that must seeks out a woman called Meraude and unite the Immortal. Aiden is obviously burdened by a terrible sense of guilt regarding his family and it's this often drives his actions in this character-led novel.
I think because it's not an especially long book, there are a few incidences where fortunate (or otherwise) coincidences help to move the plot along; it's not something which bothered me and I appreciated the steady pace of the writing throughout. There is a feeling of constant movement to the story as he finds himself on a quest despite not having full knowledge of all the facts.
Alongside the action scenes there are also several moments of a more practical nature, something I really enjoyed because how often in books are characters allowed regular toilet stops?! Although magic obviously has an important part to play in the proceedings, I liked the ordinariness of the characters - they need to break for rests and food and aren't just able to keep travelling miles without it seeming to effect them.
Aiden is joined by a young woman, Slaine and the relationship between the pair is the most interesting - and challenging - part of the novel for me. There is a imbalance of power between the two and there are a few uncomfortable scenes where I felt Aiden acted inappropriately. I do realise that 21st Century expectations regarding consent don't necessarily fit in with a different, imaginary world and so it was never enough to stop me wanting to read more but it did mean there were times where I didn't particularly like him. That said, I also wonder whether his uncomfortable behavior is included to indicate that he is a man who was raised without a proper guiding hand and his awkwardness around people in general is a consequence of that.
Slaine is a fantastic character and I loved that despite her lowly position in the world and the curse that she bears which prohibits her from gaining her freedom. she is still able to be a strong, resourceful and opinionated woman. As the book progresses, more is learned about who she is and it's something I look forward to be explored further in any subsequent novels.
Discovering more their past and their abilities is an ongoing subject throughout the story and I thought that ensuring the characters are often unaware of the facts and so having to learn alongside the readers worked well. Aiden doesn't even realise that he is a Blest straightaway or the origin of his gifts. Although I'm sure that there is still much to come, what we learn here is absolutely intriguing and I am looking forward to further surprising revelations for Aiden and Slaine in the future.
The Goblets Immortal is a solid start to a new fantasy series and is interesting and engaging throughout. The cliffhanger ending may not be to everybody's tastes but it has ensured that I will definitely be reading the next book to see what lies in store for Aiden!

Rating: 7.5/10

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.

This is a tale of magic and fantasy. Aiden has a talent for making things disappear and reappear, including himself. When a friend betrays him he uses this to escape. He meets a gang of Roma, who try to poison him but in recompense he is given a goblet. He then is drawn to four Elves, who want the goblet in exchange for their ‘slave’, Slàine.

But, he decides to leave taking Slàine with him and he ends up having to throw the goblet to the Elves to escape.

Aiden begins to have dreams where an evil mate, Meraude wants him to recover all of the Goblets Immortal and she will return his family to him. Can this mage be trusted?

There’s a fight with Goblins, capture by Nymphs and a mage in his dreams, all of which want the goblets…

I feel this will become an epic fantasy and this is just the beginning. With great, likeable characters in Aiden and Slàine and fantastic world building I’m totally hooked and can’t wait for the next book.

Thank you to The Publishers and NetGalley for a free eARC of the book. This is my honest, unbiased review.

In a world where magic is a thing to be feared, Aidan Ingledark is one of those rare individuals known as the Blest, with the power to summon or dispel objects at will. On the run from the authorities he inadvertently finds himself getting wrapped up in a quest to locate and retrieve the mystical Goblets Immortal for the mage Meraude, who in return has promised to help Aidan locate the family he believes he himself dispelled years before. Joining him on his quest is Slaine, a cursed slave girl who seems to have a few secrets of her own.

On the surface this is an intriguing and enthralling story. It doesn’t waste any time getting into the action, and barely lets up the pace from start to finish. The protagonists are thrown from one encounter to the next with hardly any time to recover as they face off against murderous Roma, conniving elves, malicious goblins, cruel nymphs, organised bandits and a seer who may or may not be working for one of the villains. Unfortunately, it’s this haphazard, frenetic approach to the storytelling that ultimately lets this novel down, which is a bit of a shame to be honest.

There are some really nice moments in the story. The character of Slaine is remarkably well presented; a strong, intelligent, smart-mouthed female character who doesn’t let the limitations of her curse hold her back from taking action when needed. Likewise, Aidan’s inability to let go of his guilt over what happened to his family gives the character an interesting hook. Even despite his flaws, and he has many, you still find yourself rooting for him when things start to go sideways. Even some of the minor characters have their moments, such as the four elven witches who are deliciously disturbing. But alas, there are also moments that don’t quite work so well.

There’s a lot of coincidental happenstance going on in this story. From the random encounter with a Roma elder who just happened to know Aidan’s family and just happens to have one of the magical Goblets, to randomly bumping into the mysterious elven witches a few miles further down the road, to the fact that the elves’ slave girl just happens to know all about the Goblets. A lot of things seem to happen merely for the sake of happening, without any real explanation or effort on the part of the protagonists, and then there things that just don’t make any logical sense, like the town that is raided nightly by a group of ‘wraiths’. What makes this last one even more confounding is the fact that when Aidan and Slaine go to help fight off the wraiths on the second night, the villagers turn against them and end up chasing them out of town without so much as a rudimentary explanation.

This could have been such a wonderful novel. With a bit more detail in the world building and a bit more pacing between the various hazards and encounters, with less reliance on happenstance and more focus on the protagonists’ individual agency, this could have easily been a four-star read. Unfortunately, it only just manages to scrape in with three, though I am still going to keep an eye out for book two.

An engagingly-written and very compelling fantasy which impelled from Page One. Emotionally touching with rapid-fire sword-and-sorcery action, THE GOBLETS IMMORTAL focuses on Aidan, a magic-possesser in a land where its existence is forbidden, and a new player, Meraude, a mage who is anti-magic. I anticipate more from author Beth Overmyer.

Even if the story is well crafted I didn't like the style of writing and the story wasn't enough to keep my attention.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

When I started reading The Goblets Immortal it, unfortunately, I immediately felt that this will be a story that needed a little bit more work and beta reading. For the best part of it, it was an okay just a simple fantasy story, but towards the end, the repetition drove me crazy. In my opinion, this is a book that targets readers that don't usually read fantasy. The story is very basic: the chosen one, a magic artefact (or more that one for this story) and the bad guy that is looking for the magic artefact.

Things I liked:

-Slaine is a nice character. Despite the fact that she is bound by her curse and can't move freely she is a strong, intelligent and witty.
I- appreciate the time and effort the author put on making some of her character talking with an accent, including Slaine who is with us throughout the story.
-The writing and the story were very simple which makes it approachable for non-fantasy readers.
-There was a nice passage where Aidan has a sort of PTSD episode and I thought it was a nice touch and a nice way to give us some inside of his past.

Things I didn't like

-The overall story is a weird mix between rushing the story too much and just moving very slowly. In the first couple of chapter Aidan has escaped an ambush, stumble upon some Roma and stayed with them and the leaves and find the four elves he was looking for. And then for the next 4-6 chapters, it's just him and Slaine waking in the forest, making camp, eating and sleeping.
-Speaking of the beginning of the story. The beginning of the story everything is soooo convenient. Aiden gets ambushed and escapes just to stumble upon a group of Roma where conveniently their chief new his parent and conveniently he had stolen a goblet from them tells him to find the elves. Then Aidan leaves the Roma and us he is travelling he conveniently stumble upon the elves. Really?
-Aidan, our main character, doesn't really have a distinct personality. We get constantly conflicting personality trades. He is supposed to be hot-headed what we see that only when the plot needs it. He keeps telling us how he doesn't trust anyone but yet he stays with random people. A good example is when they Aidan and Slaine are captive and Aidan just walks around finds some liquid and thinks "I'm thirsty let's drink it even if I don't know what it is".
-Speaking of this scene... After Aidan drinks that liquid he gets dunk? drugged? and almost rape Slaine. What? My issue is not so much with rape or attempted rape if it actually serves a purpose to the story somehow. But her it didn't serve any other purpose than to tell us that Aidan is stupid for drinking things he doesn't know and a a** for trying to force himself on Slaine. Maybe this was a way for the author to tell us that he is into Slaine but really I didn't like it at all.
-Now for the part that drove me crazy. The story heavily relies on visions, flashbacks and dreams to both advances the plots and tell us about Aidan's backstory. Throughout the entire story, Aidan falls asleep and had a vision/dream around 6 or 7 times!!! Come on there are better ways than making your main character fall asleep to advance the story. And those are only the times that he actually has a vision/dream. I can't even start to count how many time a paragraph start with the "The next morning Aidan woke up". At 70% of the book, I lost my interest and that was one of the main reason.