I was so drawn in by the beautiful colors of this cover, and I am always down to try out a new LGBTQ focused fantasy.

And I wanted to like this. It's got a lot of good bones to it. The world feels expansive, And the magic system is interesting, although not nearly as explored as I wanted.

The pacing felt really off to me. Everything was so slow to begin with, and then it was traveling, info dump, traveling, info dump. With tiny bursts of action, I lost interest a couple times.

And while the characters all had very different life experiences and personalities, they all talked in very similar fashions, When there were large chunks of dialogue with no dialogue tags, I quickly lost track of who was speaking and needed to go back to review.

All in all, this had strong possibilities, but it needed a couple more edits.

Thanks to NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group for the arc.

It was ok. The main character wasn’t too compelling or relatable which took away from the story for me. The plot was interesting enough but nothing groundbreaking.

Thank you for approving me for this title! However, I unfortunately was unable to download/read this book prior to it being archived on Netgalley. I hope to read and review this book on my own soon, and hope to read other books from this author and publisher. Thanks again!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review!

Wow, what a magic system! I don't think I've read anything like it, which definitely makes up for some of the issues I had with the pacing of the story and some under-developed characters.

Overall, I'd say read this book just to experience such an intricate and interesting magic system. I'd say this is definitely more suitable for a younger YA audience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a unique book. I really love interesting magic systems, and this was very different from anything I’ve read lately. The premise of having a finite amount of magic in you before you’re empty is something I’ve never came across before. It makes it sad that you can use it all up if you are not careful. The beginning of the book starts off very intense; at the end of a war fought between two kingdoms. That chapter really caught my attention. The worldbuilding was laid out but felt very plain. I was hoping for a lush 16th century Italy to be explored. The characters were alright, the MC, a Princess; was awfully immature and naive, which I could sum it up to how she was raised but man, the constant crying annoyed me. The other characters you meet along the way are good, not spectacular; they all needed a bit more fleshing out and development to really grab ahold of you.

Overall, it was a good book. A nice story but wasn’t executed in the greatest way.

**Thank you Netgalley and publisher for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I really enjoyed the world building of this book, I also loved the magic system as well. However the characters felt a little flat for me and was hard for me to develop empathy for them.

This was a great debut novel, I really enjoyed going through the storyline and going through this world with magic. The characters were great and I enjoyed getting to know them.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC!

It’s a tough one to rate for me. While I love reading more LGBTQ+ themed books, this was a bit of a letdown. We get an intricate and unique magic system and interesting world building, but I think the execution could be polished a bit more. For a debut novel, though, the author has a lot of potential especially with her ideas. It’s the storytelling aspect that should be worked on.

The idea was interestig but it felt a bit monotonous after some time. The world building, though! It was magical!

In a world reminiscent of 16th century Italy, magic is a common occurrence. Everyone in the realms of Epidalio and Zafiria is gifted with it at birth, but with every spell cast, their power wanes. br>
Gaiane Asares is the result of an accurate selection by her mother, the queen of Zafiria. She’s infinitely powerful—a weapon of mass destruction kept isolated in a tower and used against her will to conquer Epidalio.

Meanwhile, in Epidalio, Leo was born with no magic at all—a rarity. She lost her home and family when Zafiria attacked, and her resentment toward the invaders still burns.

Gaiane manages to escape her gilded cage and crosses paths with Leo, but when war threatens the land again, their loyalty will be put to the test.

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As a debut book, this book is pretty decent. The cover is stunning and there are a lots of diverse characters within the book. The main plot is good but it feel flat for me.

The diverse cast and unique plot were an absolute enjoyment, as was the pacing and development. The cover is an added plus too!

Two young women’s lives intersect in an unexpected way. Gaiane Asares is a princess with an abundance of magical power, Leo is from a small village and has very little magic. When Gaiane runs away from her mother who has trapped her and used her for her power, shockwaves are felt through the kingdom as The Royal Knights look for the princess. Leo’s village is destroyed and she decides she must find the princess in order to collect the reward on her safe return and rebuild her life.

There were elements of this book I liked. The idea of the plot and the beginning of the magic system the story developed were interesting. However, I found the book as a whole to be underdeveloped. I really liked the character Leo, but I found the other characters weren’t described in enough detail for me to really empathize with them. I also wish the world and magic system would have been more of a focus.

I had a fun time reading The Other Side of Magic! I liked the fact that the pace of the book started off quickly and didn't take long for exciting developments to transpire. I did find that at about the halfway mark, the pace of the plot did start to significantly slow down - this didn't detract from the story, but I do prefer a quicker, steadier pace throughout. I absolutely loved the setting and I think the author did an amazing job at world-building. It was really immersive and had so many magical locations. I think that all the concepts for a great story are there but I needed more conflict and character development. Everything seemed too easy for the protagonist.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book was incredibly riveting from start to finish. I was completely absorbed from the beginning by the story and the world building. Cannot wait to read more from this author, I’m sure they have so much more in store.

I could not finish this book. I tried to, but it felt like a waste of time I do not have. (I stopped reading after chapter 10 - so I read approximately half of the book)

I had trouble getting into the story. I did not understand what's going on. I loved the concept of the story and the magic but the idea alone doesn't make a book good. The Princess was extremely annoying and even though I can imagine she gets better later on in the book, having to read sentences like this are the reason I could not finish this book:

"It hurts... Oh, why? Why me? I'm a princess! I deserve better!" she said with a pitch if hysteria and (more) tears to her voice"

She's supposed to be this all powerful and intelligent girl, but she just seems like an annoying girl who has a singular brain cell and no personality.

At first I thought this might be a Rapunzel retelling which would have been really cool. And it does have certain elements like the princess in the tower and the mother. She also at one point says: "Mother knows best" when referring to her so I'm sure the author meant it to be at least a reference to Rapunzel.

The Princess was only conceived as a weapon and hid in a tower. She helped her mother win a war and kill a lot of people. This is apparently the reason she decided to flee, but we never see any real trauma. It is said that she feels bad but it's never really shown.
Also I think it's strange that on one hand she is so completely distant from the real world because her mother never wanted her to get out, but at the same time she had an amazing education and was told everything about geography and the real life?

The only time I could really empathize with someone was when Leo said the following to the princess: "And here we go again. Shut up, I beg you. Shut. Up." That was me every time I read a scene with Gaiane.

Another thing I didn't like where the many POVs. I usually don't mind multiple POVs, if they are done well (like in Six of Crows for example) but in this book it just made me loose interest in the story. I didn't care about the characters and I didn't really understand the story. The motives are weak and the word building as well. It felt like

As much as I wanted to like this book after reading the blurb, I didn't. I don't want to give it any stars because I didn't finish it, but I have to in order to send the review so I chose 3 so it's average

Definitely intriguing magical elements but really hoped the author would have filled the readers thirst for more details and explanations.

I love interesting magic systems, and this book didn't disappoint in that regard. The premise of having a finite amount of magic in your body before you're empty is really interesting, and something I've never come across before.

The characters of the book are well written, and even though I had some issues with the pacing (it jumps a bit weirdly, without explaining these jumps enough for the reader), it didn't make me like the book any less. It's action packed and a very fun read. To be recommended!

Such a great premise and idea for this story, but the execution just wasn't there. It fell completely short of what was expected and leaves the reader yearning for more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Although the premise was really good, the execution of the story did not serve it justice. I felt that this one fell short of what I was hoping for and deserves more than this poorly edited story.