Although the story was a really great idea the execution of the story just didn't work out. I felt that this one fell short of what I was hoping for and it needs a lot of work. I think that if this gets reworked and rereleased that I would totally try it out again.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ecopy of The Other Side of Magic!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book although I felt that there were some parts of the story that was lacking, it was a decent story.

The plot for me was just basic and I would've loved to read more about the magic system because it was unlike anything I've read.

The characters were decent but I felt like the only character I cared about was Evandro. I didn't care much about the two main characters as I felt somewhat disconnected from them.
The romance in the book was cute but there wasn't much chemistry between the love interests.

Overall it was a decent read with an average plot and storyline. I didn't find anything really special that stood out to me other than the magic system which was kind of barely explored but it was still fascinating.

This was an interesting read though none of the characters were particularly engaging, it felt as if they were all ticking the necessary boxes but that's it. The plot was easy to read and the magic system was more interesting but I do think the different plot threads could have been expanded upon more

The Other Side of Magic has an interesting premise and an intriguing magic system (finite magic!), however, the world-building felt a bit crude, which would be completely fine for me, I don't really care if the world-building is bad or confusing or non-existent if the characters are enough to keep me interested, which, unfortunately, wasn't the case.
We have an extensive list of characters (most are introduced right at the beginning, which felt a bit rushed), and none of them managed to woo me (but maybe it's a case of "it's not you, it's me", who knows?).
I like sheltered characters who leave their cages and are a bit out of touch with the real world, so I thought Gaiane would be endearing, but she was just childish. Leo was my favorite, but she was not enough to balance how much Gaiane annoyed me.

I really wanted to like this book but for some reason I just couldn’t get into it. I actually gave up this is the only DNF book of the year for me. I dont know if my expectations were to high but I really wanted to like this. It has so much promise, a fun setting and unique worlds building but I found Princess Gainane to be kind of annoying.

I was really excited to read this story. It has a very interesting premise and the synopsis had me hooked. I loved the idea of a magic system where people had a finite source of their power and then it ran out - except for the one and only Princess Gaiane. This is such a brilliant idea for a magic system and something I wish had been a bigger feature in the plot as a whole.

Especially when you throw in the second protagonist, Leo, who wasn't born with magic. There's so much you could do with this dynamic and I was so excited to see where it would lead.

Unfortunately for me, it just all fell rather flat.

The first 10% of the book (I read it on my Kindle so I'm not sure how many pages that would be...) was a lot. I didn't outright dislike it, but there were so many characters and different narratives thrown at the reader, it was too much to take in at once. I wish we'd had a bit more time to get to know the characters before all the action went down.

We then skip forward 8 years, which is fine but felt slightly jarring for me. Here is where the plot really starts with Gaiane escaping from her tower (prison) where she has spent her entire life up until this point. Now, I love a good escape story. I love reading about characters who find their way out of something and have the chance to explore and learn about themselves and the world around them. But Gaiane was just not great.

She was possibly my least favourite part of this book. In fact, I think if her character had been changed then this book would have been a lot more enjoyable. As it is, after 18 years trapped in a tower, she then spends her first day in the outside world complaining non-stop about petty inconveniences - her dress gets wet and it's SO hard to wash satin and she touches and slug and it's slimy. I know we need to see her character to develop but did she have to be so whiny at the start?

One character I did quite like was Leo, the blacksmith. She had an interesting backstory, strong motivations for her actions and was overall a pretty well-rounded character. The only downside was a lot of her dialogue sounded as though it was said by someone much younger than she was meant to be (she was 18 for the main chunk of the book and I felt as though I was reading about a 13 year old). It was a shame because I thought her character was good other than that.

The writing wasn't awful. There was a bit of over-explaining and the dialogue in general felt very forced and contained quite a lot of info-dumping. But I think some of the descriptions were really nice and I had no trouble picturing the characters or settings. Plus, I think the magic was set up rather seamlessly which can be a difficult thing to do.

Overall, this book just wasn't for me. It's such a shame because I was really looking forward to it but I think maybe younger readers would enjoy this.

I enjoyed this book, mostly because of the unique magic system! Unfortunately the characters were a little underdeveloped, making them less compelling than I would have liked.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I thought it had an interesting plot and magic system. There were some parts that I didn’t like but there were also others I really enjoyed. The moment I started the book, I was intrigued. The first chapter was an amazing way to hook readers. I wanted to keep reading as soon as I started. The romance was cute and I think it is worth a read.

I didn’t really love any of the characters. Gaiane annoyed me most of the time. She was very naive and kind of spoiled. I do think she had pretty good character development through the book. Ampelio was okay but I also found him annoying a lot. I did like Leo. I think she was an interesting character. I also really liked Evandro. He is probably my favorite character. My biggest problem character wise is that they all seemed a lot younger than they actually are, especially Gaiane and Leo. When I realized they were actually older, I didn’t feel like it fit.

I thought the magic system was interesting. However, I wish there had been more details about it and how it worked. I was hoping to get more details about it. I feel like a little more world building overall could have done the story good. The pacing also seemed a bit off at times. There were parts that were a little slow and then others seemed really rushed. I also would have liked for some plot points to be elaborated on further.

I did enjoy the book overall. I thought it was a nice story, and I liked reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley and The Parliament House for this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts in this review are my honest opinions.

I love YA Fantasy, especially with cool magical systems. The magic did not disappoint and I especially loved how magical limits were set - the more you use, the less power you have, but after the beginning we rarely got to see a lot of the magic.

I didn’t really like the characters and it was hard to form connections with them, especially Gaiane who made it really hard to feel any empathy towards her. The pacing is really quick in the beginning and the end but really slow in the middle.

While I didn’t exactly enjoy the whole book, I didn’t hate it either.

The premise of this book sounded so fascinating. The magic system had me intrigued and the story of a princess designed as a weapon who escapes and turns on her captors, who also happen to be her parents, seemed really cool. But I did NOT like this book. It actually put me in somewhat of a reading slump because I dreaded having to read more of it. I hate DNFing books, but the only reason I finished this one is I wanted to give feedback via NetGalley to help improve my percentage there. If I had gotten this book from anywhere else, I would not have finished it.

As mentioned earlier, the idea for the story is a really good one, and the first chapter was gripping and set the stage well for a good novel. I did like the magic system, and the author described the use of the magic really well. However, one of the main problems with the book was the limited prevalence of magic throughout and a lack of depth regarding how magic functioned in this world. I really wanted more info about it and to see it used more often throughout the book. The story also took a quick downhill turn after the first chapter. The plot was rather predictable and not very interesting. Perhaps the most frustrating part for me is that even after reading I still don't know why they created the super-powerful princess other than the nebulous need for more power and domination, which fell flat to me as a rationale.

The characters were also pretty flat, and some of them were so bad they made me want to quit reading. The princess, in particular, was annoying and whiny throughout the book. She was entitled and cried at the drop of a hat, which I wasn't expecting since she was supposedly the most powerful person in the kingdom and a captive her entire life. Her character became marginally less awful as the book progressed but not much. I found the relationship between her and the other girl, Leo, to be rushed and not very believable. I love queer representation in books, but I like it to be done well. That being said, I did like the diversity in queer representation in this book; I just wish their relationship had been more believable. My favorite character in this book was Evandro. He was the most well-rounded and exhibited the most character development. I enjoyed his redemption story from fallen knight to hero, and his budding relationship with the fun Ampelio was also a highlight.

The story really had an opportunity to explore some very powerful themes, especially grief, the aftermath of trauma, and taking back power after being manipulated and abused. However, none of this was covered very well, with the exception of Evandro's part of the story.

The worst thing about this book was the writing. It was choppy and clunky. The ARC I received is also the worst-edited copy of a book I have read in my life. It seemed like there were grammar or spelling errors in almost every other sentence. These problems made the book very difficult to read and repeatedly pulled me out of the story to try to figure out what the author was trying to say. I hope the final version of the book received several more rounds of edits beyond the copy I received because it desperately needed it.

Overall, this book was not an enjoyable experience. The unique magic system, diverse queer rep, and Evandro are the only things that keep it from being a one star book for me. Therefore, I rate it 2 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and The Parliament House to give me this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about a girl that was born to be the most powerful weapon of the whole empire and another one that was born without any power, which is really rare. When the war becomes to threaten the empire again, both will get together and their loyalty will be questioned.

Unfortunately this book didn’t work for me as I expected it would. This is mostly because of the main character. She is supposed to have a power that gave her the power to see all damage that the war made for the population, feel all their pain (emotional and physical pain), know everything about the empire. But when she runs away, all she cares is about her expensive dress and thinks none of her responsibilities will have consequences. Although she was all knowledge of the war, when she runs from her abusive mother, she thinks a noble will take care of her because she is a princess.

For me, this is actually a pretty childish behavior for someone who should know everything.

I’ll give this book two stars because the idea is actually pretty good, but the way it was executed wasn’t great.

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't stellar but I'd read it again. The characters were relatable enough and the world building kept me interested.

This book was, overall, pretty good. I enjoyed the magic system and the setting.

The pacing was a little off for me - Leo, who hates the princess and blames her for her mother's death will all of a sudden be best friends with her a couple of chapters later. This happened a couple of times where characters who despise each other are friends after 1 or 2 chapters. I think this is just because the book is on the shorter side and is standalone - the author had to fit a lot into a short amount of space. Had this not felt so rushed - I would have really liked the character growth

I'm not sure if this is because I received an e-copy from Netgalley but, there were a lot of grammatical errors in this book - I"m assuming the finished copy will be more polished?

I found it very hard to get into this book in the beginning but that was only in the first 50 pages. After that I really enjoyed this read. I especially liked the characters, they were all so interesting!

Fun read with interesting plot and cool characters but fell short on storytelling, had potential. More detailed review to come.

This book is a YA fantasy with an interesting magic system and a diverse cast of characters. I just didn't connect with them. I found that there wasn’t much character development or great relationship building and the ending was a little rushed.

The Other Side of Magic by Ester Manzini sounded like it had a lot of potential. In fact, it started off alright and had me quite intrigued. However, after about the 10% mark it began to go downhill. The writing style and pacing began to suffer as it seems very much to need another round or two of edits. I know the novel is supposed to be YA, but it was difficult to tell that from the voices of the characters. At times they sound like the teens they're supposed to be, but then again the same characters make a great case for actually being ten year olds. Let's just say that inconsistency made it just a little tricky to follow who was speaking at any given time.

Honestly, I do not know why so many people disliked this book so much. I really enjoyed it. Yes, it wasn't polished, there were few grammar and style mistakes left behind. I just hope it was given for a final edit before being published!
So now lets talk about the story within the book. Guess I found another book that had a different view on magic. I really enjoyed the whole crystal thingy, which would eventually run out with power. And there she was, the princess, with unlimited power source! The beginning was hard to read, I must admit. One young girl saw her mother killed by soldiers on their horses and the second was behind winning the war and killing the royal family and their people.
There are four main stories in one book. The story of a princess who escaped her tower and sought freedom. Of a fallen knight who lost everything and hid for eight years. A young blacksmith, who did everything she could to help her father. And the final battle between two royalties.
I do agree that the writing was not the best. Over explanation and just chunks of text was hard for my eyes but I still managed to read it quite quickly because I really needed to ease my anticipation is the queen alive, did she survive the fall of her castle?
Gaiane, the princess? Omg.. There was so much crying it struck a nerve at one point. I do get it that she was hidden for eighteen years in her tower, safe from the reality but c'mon girl. You need to get your sh*t together! Her only answer for most of the book was to cry her eyes out. She did regain her balance at the end, when she stood against her family and killed them all.
But Leo! I loved her character! She was such a strong female in this book, giving up everything just to safe her father, her little village. I would get along with a person with the same personality as Leo's. Even though she was shorter as others, she never stood down her grown and was the first in line to defend and help those she loved.
And there is the love between the princess and her capture. I had a feeling from the beginning that it might happen and I guess I was right? But what happened after?! A quick spoiler, princess couldn't use her magic while being near Leo. So what happened after Gaiane became a queen? Did she not use her magic at all? Are Leo is still her girlfriend? I need answers!
I don't want to bore you with my thoughts on this piece much longer but all I can say don't be too harsh. The book is an easy read, despite the chunks of plain text. There is a story in there and it is a good one! Yes, it needs some polish but it is there.

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I received “The Other Side of Magic” by Ester Manzini from the publisher as an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was really excited to read this book since I greatly enjoy YA Fantasy books and the book had a great premise and promised a brilliant magic system, but while I enjoyed some parts of it, others parts did not work as well for me.

Reading the first few pages, I was hooked and I was not disappointed by the magic. The introduction of Gaiane was really fun and enjoyable and it was able to paint this vivid picture in my mind of what her magic was able to do – the beauty on one hand, and, on the other, the destruction. Not only was I intrigued by this magic and the magic system which has a clear limit (the more magic you use, the less power you have), but I wanted to see more of that magic and the consequences. I think part of the reason why I was disappointed in the book was the fact that I loved the magic aspect so much that when it was gone and magic didn’t really show up again, I was left disappointed because I kept waiting for it to resurface, but it didn’t. I felt like this made the promise of the book fall flat and was ultimately unrealized.

However, it’s important to note that while the author does a pretty good job with the ability to create these vivid images with her writing without doing too much (you could easily see the world and the characters in your mind’s eye), there were a lot of things that made this hard for me to keep reading. The biggest problem was probably the fact that I found many characters to be frustrating and annoying, especially Gaiane who complained a lot and ultimately made me unsympathetic to her ordeal. This meant that I was not invested in the characters of this novel and didn't feel agency or a connection to them when things happened (good or bad). They also felt younger than they actually were. I imaged them to be more around their early teens – maybe thirteen or fifteen? – looking at their dialogue and interactions, but in fact they were eighteen. I think the bickering back and forth just felt ultimately unrealistic for girls of their given ages and didn't feel quite appropriate for them. Also with the characters, there wasn’t much character development or great relationship building, even between the two main females who were to fall in love – Leo and Gaiane. With this lacking, you unfortunately didn’t see character growth. This meant that from some scenes to others, it felt like changes were happening within a character for no reason and could also regress for no apparent reason which was confusing and really took me out of the story.

Ultimately, I didn’t hate the story and finished it, but it wasn’t at all what I expected going into it so I gave it 2/5 stars.

I wanted so badly to love this book!

The premise is right up my alley - a setting reminiscent of sixteenth century Italy, a princess born with too much power, and a commoner born with none at all. A lost knight. A fresh, interesting magic system. It actually reminded me a lot of Zoe Reed's Breaking Legacies, which I love, so I was ready to be obsessed again.

Unfortunately, for me, the book fell flat. It was weighed down by heavy, clunky dialogue and extensive explanations. We are privy to every thought the characters have, at length, the minutiae of their internal struggles displayed for all and sundry. The final climax of the book happens too fast. Even the enemies-to-lovers goodness that I would usually excuse a great deal for was rushed and unrealistic. Some of the characters, who could have been rich storytelling instruments, were instead almost cartoonish caricatures.

It's a real shame, because I absolutely believe that if some different editorial choices had been made, I would be devouring this book as a duology, or even a trilogy. The storyline is grand and has so much potential to be a fantasy epic, but unfortunately, there are too many elements against it. That said, I would be interested to see what Ester Manzini does in the future, because the plot of The Other Side of Magic is engaging and interesting, and I always welcome more LGBT+ rep in fantasy spaces!