Spellmaker is the second book in the Spellbreaker duology by Charlie N Holmberg, continuing directly on from the events of the first book. Set in England in 1895, a series of unsolved magician murders and thefts of their opus' (the books they turn into when they die) has presented serious complications for Elsie as she is exposed as an unregistered Spellbreaker. As Elsie starts to uncover the riddle, it appears that the villain's purpose is to find a strong spell which would change society as it is known. Oh, and she wants to turn Elsie to the dark side and become partners in crime. Elsie must find murderer before more magicians are murdered and society is irreparably altered.

Elsie Camden continues to be an incredibly strong and courageous protagonist, however she has begun to open herself up to the people around her, allowing herself to be vulnerable as required. This has been a huge character development which I thought was executed extremely well, as it demonstrates that people can still be strong whilst accepting help from their loved ones.

The book was fast paced, with lots of reveals and I honestly was unsure how the story would play out in the end. Would Elsie find the murderer in time? Would all our favourites survive until the end? Would they fail and the world change completely? So many questions that I had throughout the book which were all answered, with no loose ends by the end of the story.

Thankyou to NetGalley for approving me to read this book. I have not only discovered a duology that I will be recommending in the future, but also a new to me author that I will be looking into their other series.

Wow! Loved this follow up to Spell breaker so much. It took a turn I wasn't expecting and had me completely hooked.

I was very surprised by this book and did not expect the focus to shift so much to love. I read Spellmaker within a week of re-reading Spellbreaker to ensure I was caught up and fresh on all the details before diving in. I do love a fake-dating (or in this case marriage) trope and Holmberg did it well. I loved watching Elsie's progression and her confidence grow. The world-building remained wonderful and I was really pulled into the world, the politics, and the magic. All in all, this was a satisfying follow-up to Spellbreaker. It wasn't quite what I expected, but I enjoy being surprised by sequels, and this didn't disappoint.

I've come back to this a second time and still found it a bit stilted and all over the place, a large part of the first half of the story about wedding planning that I honestly didn't feel contributed much to the actual arc of the duology

I love this series! Charlie N. Holmberg has slowly become a favorite author of mine due to her unique writing style and beautiful prose. Her fantasy series stand out. In Spellmaker, the story picks up just where Spellbreaker left off. This duology is mysterious and a clean romance.

I'm never sure how much I will enjoy a follow up novel but this one was well executed and I enjoyed it. I also thought the plot twist was well done.

Thank you netgalley and publisher!

Was unaware this was the second part in a series.

Rating based on average response by other readers as I have not read the first book and felt a bit lost.

Spellmaker
I have read Holmberg’s work before and enjoyed it. She’s a native of Utah where I live, and her Paper Magician series had some really unique magic systems set in an enjoyable historical setting. And the Spellmaker duology isn’t much different, although I enjoyed it quite a bit more.

This sequel picks up almost immediately after the end of Spellbreaker. The murderer responsible for the deaths of several magicians and the thefts of their opus spells is still at large. And Elsie and Bacchus’s relationship deepens as they try to hunt down the culprit together.

The pacing felt really comfortable in this story. There were spikes of excitement, but also enough downtime for us to get to know our cast of characters better. I could have used some more development of side characters, and more to fill out the main romance, but on the whole I was pretty satisfied. The character who would have benefitted the most from more time was the antagonist. When you present a villain with understandable if shallow motivations, I need more of how they got to that point. She is very much of the “ends justified the means” school of thought, but I wanted more. I needed more and deeper examinations of why Elsie wouldn’t join her, especially because she actually stopped to consider joining before brushing it off.

I think that the thing that bugged me the most was the ending. I totally get not having everything tied up in a bow at the end of a story, but if you are advertising something as a closing to a duology, you really shouldn’t pull on a thread in the last five percent of the book and leave it completely unresolved.

Magic, puzzles, murder.....yes, yes, yes. This book was excellent and I can't wait to read more by Charlie N. Holmberg. I loved the first book in this series and the end to the duology was excellent.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This book was confusing to me. I can’t really figure out why but I DNFed about two thirds in.

This duet caught my attention for the plot and while I don't like to read historical books, I really didn't have much trouble with these. The story focuses on Elsie Camden, a young servant who has powers that she cannot talk about since she could go to prison and for being a woman. In this world, generally, the upper-class are the ones with powers, these are divided into "Spellmakers"; people who cast spells based on certain conditions such as rational, temporary, and physical spells, each one has specific characteristics that are very well explained.

Elsie is a "spellbreaker", that is, she's capable of breaking any spell, although it's not very easy and, generally, it's a physical effort for her. For this reason, a secret group known as "The Cowls" constantly contacts her and sends her on missions to undo evil spells. Due to various situations, she realizes that they are using her and they really are the bad guys in the story.

With this, the story focuses on discovering who is behind them and stopping them, with the help of their friends and Bacchus, a sorcerer who keeps a secret and to whom Elsie ends up owing her life. Their relationship was nice but slow, I liked their dynamics and the trust they had in each other.

However, I feel that the story focused too much on their relationship and, therefore, the villain felt very cartoonish and childish, at the same time the beginning seemed very slow and the information was somewhat confusing at first, I liked the mystery and the characters were very entertaining.

In general, I found it to be a very good story, the characters are interesting and the world is very well developed.

My thanks to the author Charlie N. Holmberg, 47North, and NetGalley for the opportunity to get this ARC for an unbiased review.

I was honored to have read this book in the series! I enjoyed the first one and was pleasantly surprised with how much I loved this one too. I didn’t really have any doubts that I would, but I’m glad it glided right past my expectations. Thank you for letting me read this one, NetGalley :)

It was really fun to jump back into the Spellbreaker world with this second book. It took me a little bit to connect with the story and characters of the first book but once I did, I really enjoyed the world building. It had been a while since I read the first book so it took me a few pages to jump back in and remember everything from the first book.

I have to say I really enjoyed this one a lot more than I thought I would. And I really loved the further development of Elsie and Bacchas' relationship. From the get go I was smiling with their interactions! So much fun. The magic and the mystery they were searching answers for just added so much to this book.

If you enjoy books with magic, I recommend this one!

Content: Clean. Some magical elements and some moments of mild peril.

I received a copy from the publisher, 47North, via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

Oh I'm REALLY enjoyed this duology!
I loved the writing, the world, the settings, the mystery, the characters, pretty much everything about it!
The whole feeling of it was so charming!

Firstly, I haven’t read book 1, Spellbreaker, at the time of reading and reviewing this sequel (a flaw which I intend to rectify soon!), but I can therefore assure you that doing so isn’t necessary to understand and enjoy this instalment of the duology.

Elizabeth Peters’ Peabody books are one of my favourite series of all time, and I definitely got something of an Emerson/Peabody vibe from the chemistry between main character Elsie and her love interest, Bacchus. In fact, all of the characters (well, the ones on Elsie’s side, anyway) are both endearing and engaging, and often amusing as well.

The worldbuilding in terms of the magic systems and the societal mores built around them are fascinating and well-constructed – easy to understand for a newbie, and yet with layers and complexity to uncover as the plot unfolds.

And said plot is packed with action, mystery, romance and magic in fairly equal measures. The whole read just flew by and left me desperate for more of Elsie, Bacchus, Ogden and Emmeline, and the rest! I want to know what happens next with Elsie’s family history, her romance and friendships, her future as a spellbreaker. I want more of her solving magical crimes with her intrepid comrades. I want spin-offs featuring minor characters, so that I can explore other aspects of magic use and how it all works in the world.

In short, I will definitely be going back to read the first book, and fully intend to purchase and read everything else this author has written too!

Charlie delivers a delightful conclusion to this duology that leaves you wanting more of this universe and characters. It continues to amaze me that she can dream up so many wonderful characters and settings and bring them to life for our enjoyment. I've been a fan since her first novel was published and devour her work with great enjoyment.

Spellbreaker Elsie Camden is back in the sequel to Charlie N. Holmberg's duology. Picking up where "Spellbreaker" left off, Elsie is determined to find the culprit behind the opus thefts without revealing her own secret abilities. When she refuses to assist in the crimes she is turned in to the authorities for illegal spellbreaking. Now she must work to clear her name with the assistance of Bacchus and Ogden and bring down the person who is taking lives and stealing spells. "Spellmaker"/"Spellbreaker" are such fun reads. I'm not usually drawn to the fantasy genre and I can honestly say I really enjoyed both of these books. Fingers crossed that Holmberg decides to bring another book to life and continue on with Elsie's magical journey. I, for one, would love to see more of her story. If you haven't yet given these books a try add them to your TBR list. Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a huge Charlie N Holmberg fan and this book was no exception to her great story telling. I can honestly say that the book started out a little weak for me and I was worried I'd give up. I'm glad I stuck with it. I really enjoyed the story and the characters. I did however only give this book 3 stars as it did start out very slow and I had a hard time really getting into it until later into the book. I still would suggest this book to friends.

I really enjoyed Spellmaker, even more so than I enjoyed Spellbreaker, and this series solidified for me that I absolutely must read everything by Charlie Holmberg. I’ve finished two series from her now and loved them both, and since she has written almost twenty books, I have lots more on my to-read list that I’m eagerly anticipating.

This book picks up right where the first one left off, so there will be minor spoilers here for how Spellbreaker ended. (Also, don’t read the synopsis for this book if you don’t want to be spoiled. It reveals a lot of plot points that happen later in the story that truly shocked me since I didn’t read the synopsis before I read the book.)

Elsie now knows who’s behind the mysterious magician murders and opus thefts, but she can’t publicly reveal how she knows this information without also revealing that she’s an unregistered spellbreaker, which is highly illegal. She must stop the murderer and thief without incriminating herself along the way, but the criminal has other plans: persuade Elsie to join her instead. With Bacchus by her side, Elsie goes on quite an unexpected adventure in this exciting fast-paced romantic historical fantasy.

I love that this series does not feel too historical even though it’s set in London in 1895. The Victorian England setting here does not play a huge role, which is something I loved since I don’t really care for historical fiction, but I know some other readers will dislike this aspect if they love that time period. Spellmaker was focused on character development and plot development, and the setting really only shows itself in the mannerisms and dress of the characters.

The Spellbreaker duology has a slow-burn but very swoon-worthy romance. I absolutely loved Bacchus and Elsie together. They didn’t even kiss in the first book but the build-up was tense and watching how their relationship played out in the sequel had me giddy with excitement. It’s completely worth the wait for these two, and one of my favorite romance tropes is involved also!

There were a lot of threads woven together to create this novel. I was worried with so many plot points and questions posed along the way that some pieces would get buried beneath others, but Holmberg does a good job of tying up all the loose ends by the end of the series. One of the worst offenses an author can make, in my opinion, is to leave clues through a book or series that lead nowhere, creating subplots that peter off and posing questions that ultimately go unanswered and leave the reader feeling unfulfilled. It is so frustrating and disappointing. (I’m still mad at Brent Weeks for doing this to us in The Burning White…) So while I was worried this book was headed in that direction, rest assured that all threads and subplots wrap up satisfactorily to create a very satisfying conclusion.

However, even though the ending nicely wrapped up all the plotlines and didn’t leave any questions unanswered, I still really want a third book, set like five years in the future or something. We could see Elsie and Bacchus splitting their time between London and Barbados, maybe with a baby, and we could get to see Elsie publicly embrace her full spellbreaking abilities and maybe solve another crime or two. Charlie Holmberg could easily give us another book, add more canonical details of Elsie’s life in the future, but I doubt this will ever happen. I just loved this series so much, and I love Elsie and Bacchus together so much, that I just want to read as much as possible about them.

I highly recommend the Spellbreaker duology for those interested in cozy mysteries, historical fantasy, unique magic systems, clean romance, fast-paced plots, and well-written storylines.

Somehow I missed the first book in this new duology by Charlie N. Holmberg, which is really too bad because this book shows much more promise as a series - in line with Homberg's successful Paper Magician series.

There are two kinds of wizards in the world - those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like Elsie Camden who are born with the power to break those spells. Elsie has kept her spellbreaker ability a secret, meaning she is unlicensed, which could land her in some trouble.

Currently (in 1895) magicians are being murdered and the crimes are unsolved. For someone with Elsie's talents, it isn't too difficult to find the culprit, but to do so she'd have to reveal herself as an unregistered spellbreaker. The assassin in question tries to get Elsie to join him in pursuit of his more nefarious plans (and he's a charmer, making this a more difficult decision than it should be) and the also charming good wizard, Bacchus Kelsey, offers to help Elsie navigate the path to good and righteousness despite her not being registered. But he has one condition ... they must be married in order to provide a believable cover story.

This book is absolutely delightful and charming. Holmberg's greatest strength as a writer is in creating loveable characters - people who bring out the best in one another and who we, the readers, want to see succeed. Fortunately, Holmberg is also an extremely talented storyteller, weaving a plot that makes sense and appropriately utilizes the characters and their talents (this seems like a no-brainer, but one might be surprised at how often these things don't happen).

Spellmaker maybe focuses a lot on the romance aspects for Elsie, but there's enough of the magic and spells to appeal on that level. I don't mind the romance when it's handled well, and Holmberg does handle it well.

I will definitely be buying the first book.

Looking for a good book? Spellmaker is a captivating fantasy romance by Charlie N. Holmberg - one of the best in the business at writing in the genre.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.