This book follows Josslyn Drake, the daughter of a politician, who accidentally becomes infected with magic after witnessing a robbery during the Queen's Ball. She must work with the thief, Jerico, in order to remove the magic, which is illegal to possess.

I really wanted to love this one because the plot sounded fascinating. The pacing was good and the side characters were all interesting. However, I wound up DNFing at just under 50% because the dialogue was unbelievably difficult to read. It was cheesy and awkward and it made me dread picking this one up.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!

I enjoyed the premise for this one and while I was excited for it, it really wasn't the book for me. I didn't realize that this story had a mix of modern technology and magic, which never works for me. For whatever reason I am not a fan of Urban fantasy. I also felt like the author didn't really explain how this world would have worked. I also just didn't like the main character. I was expecting a lot of sass from the description but she felt flat to me. I also didn't love the romance. I did enjoy the plot but overall this book was not for me.

Rating: 4⭐️

Thank you to the publisher for sending me an arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Magic, enemies to lovers, forbidden romance, twists. So much happens in this book but somehow it works. When Josslyn Drake ends up as a magic container, she has to ignore everything she grew to fear of magic, and embrace it to help those who she cares for.

I loved the magic system. It’s constructed very well and I think it’s been fleshed out nicely. I felt that the beginning moved a little fast but it levelled out as the book continued on. After the halfway mark I was captives and I didn’t want to put it down.

I really liked the cast of characters and o think Rhodes set the end up nicely for the second and final instalment in this new duology.

I had high hopes for this book, but it ended up just being okay for me. It started out slow, but it did pick up and got better at the end where there was a reveal.
This book has the trope about magic being forbidden. It's about Jossyln Drake and being the daughter of the former Prime Minister while she's at the Queen's Gala she finds herself in the middle of a robbery gone bad and gets infected with dangerous magic. This magic helps her tap into the memories of a evil and infamous warlock and she needs to get the magic removed but the penalty of doing magic is death and seeking help could get her the death penalty. There's no one she can go to for help except a wanted criminal, Jericho who wants the magic in exchange for helping her. She ends up finding a world outside of the rich world she's known with Jericho and she comes to have feelings for Jericho.
Jossyln ends up on an adventure with Jericho and she finds out there's a lot more to the world than she thought and that magic may not be as bad as she was told. There are some shocking twists and a big reveal at the end, which leaves you hanging on a major cliffhanger.
If you like the magic forbidden trope or this kind of story, then go ahead and check it out.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group for letting me read and review this interesting read. All opinions are my own.

Get ready for your next fantasy obsession! New York Times bestselling young adult author, Morgan Rhodes, starts off a new series with a book about a snarky seventeen year old who gets thrust into the world of forbidden magic. The first in a new duology, Echoes and Empires is stunning, enthralling, and will have you on the edge of your seat.

This was my first read of 2022 and what a way to start off the year! This book was so well-paced and developed that I literally hinged this book within 2 days! I loved the world-building in this book and how this fantasy book was set in an empire where modern technology exists, but also magic!

Additionally, I loved the character development! Between Josslyn, Jericho, and all of the other major players in this book, shifting loyalties and secrets run abound that will have you guessing who Joss can really trust. Add in a sprinkling of romance and you have an enthralling YA fantasy book.

Basically, go pick up this fabulous book so we can eagerly wait for the next book together! Trust me, this YA fantasy book should definitely be on your radar this year!

*I received an ARC from Penguin Teen in exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved the main character of this book her attitude was so fun and she was such a fighter. This was very fast-paced and I cannot wait for the second book in the duology.

What a great start to a series! If you’re looking for a fun fantasy that has some romance, drama, adventure, and some crazy plot twists, this is for you!

I love when stories catch me off guard and this one definitely pulled quite a few twists! I started the first few chapters thinking this might turn out to be too predictable, but by the end I had easily missed quite a few large plot twist which made this a much more exciting read!​

The magic of this world is unique but seems to follow a familiar guideline. However, this magical world is definitely interesting and I can’t wait to see more details in following books! The same applies to the characters! They all present quite interesting personalities, but I can’t wait to see their growth and more of their complexities as the plot progresses.​

I gave this read a 4.5/5 stars. The only reason this didn’t reach a full 5 stars was because it felt geared for slightly younger readers (as it should be with a 17 year old protagonist​!) However if you’re a life longer reader of YA, like me, it can feel a little youthful (which is to no fault of its own!)

Thank you so much, NetGalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and Razorbill, for the chance to read and review this book in exchange of an honest review.

In her life, Josslyn Drake has always know the magic was rare, illegal and deadly. When she's caught in a robbery gone wrong and infected by a dangerous piece of magic, that allows her to step into the memories of a warlock, she finds herself in trouble. She needs to get the magic removed, but in Ironport doing magic grants death and asking for help is also really dangerous and she doesn't know who to trust. Exept the criminal Jericho Nox, who offers her a deal: he will help her remove the magic if he can keep it and even though she isn't thrilled about working with a criminal, Josslyn has no other choice. Working closer with him, she will learn and unlearn things she thought she knew about magic, power, right and wrong and how intricated can be beliefs and truths.

Echoes and empires is a fantastic and captivating first book of a new fantasy duology from Morgan Rhodes, with a great main character, the brilliant and snarky Josslyn who finds herself questioning everything she's ever known about herself, her place and the world she lives in, battling beliefs, lies, secrets and truths. In an empire where magic is deadly, Josslyn is captivated in a complex trouble and then in a journey of knowledge about power, right and wrong.
I loved reading this book, I was very captivated by the story and I loved Josslyn as main character and her relationship with Jericho. Mostly I admired and loved her journey into questioning everything she knew, unlearning and learning new things. The story is intriguing, the characterization on point, the worldbuilding fascinating and well written and it's brilliant start for a new series.
I can't wait to know more!

A decent YA fantasy that has some things going for it and is a quick, fairly fun read, but isn't a standout. Echoes and Empires is the start of a new high-drama fantasy series set in a more modern feeling world technologically, but with royalty and magic alongside. Or rather, the royalty is trying to destroy all traces of "evil" magic. We follow a privileged young woman whose life is turned upside down by an encounter with a thief and the magic contained in a box.

This book is trying to do a LOT of things and is clearly setting us up for a twisty series. However, while most of it was competent, nothing was spectacular, probably because it's got so much going on. There were parts of the book that dragged. The characters and tropes feel typical rather than fresh, and most of the plot points were as expected. That said, the ending is very solid and really makes use of all the work the book has done developing characters, revelations, and twists so that we're left in a pretty interesting place for book 2. This has the potential to develop into a very interesting series, even if this installment was a bit lackluster.

Overall, a mixed bag, but a pretty fast and enjoyable read that I think many readers could enjoy. I received an advance copy of this book for review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Do you love strong female protagonists? Magic and adventure? Then you might enjoy Echoes and Empires, a new release that has the perfect mix of fantasy, magic, and just a little bit of romance.

Josslyn Drake lives in a world where magic exists, but is forbidden, and if anyone is suspected of having it, they are executed. So, when Joss is the recipient of some dark magic and just happens to meet a young thief named Jericho who also possesses magic, they both agree it would be in their best interest to team up to find a cure to rid themselves of it.

Of course, having a young, single protagonist leaves room for some flirting, despite the fact that Jericho seems to have no interest in a relationship and at times seems quite annoyed at how out of touch with reality Josslyn is. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a bit of a spark between the two as time goes on and things get dark and even more dangerous.

I’m not a huge fan of books like this, but the synopsis and cover of Echoes and Empires drew me in and I can’t say that I was disappointed. Keep in mind that this is the first book in a duology, so don’t be surprised if the story seems to leave you hanging at the end!

Review of a Digital Advanced Reading Copy from Penguin Young Reader’s Group/Razorbill

This was great- it was fast-paced, had fun magic, and a really unique vibe of dystopia with a steampunk/sci-fi touch. I loved the romance and the twists at the end just kept coming. It was a quick read, but an insanely fun one, and I need the sequel RIGHT NOW!

4.5 ⭐️ Thank you so much to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for providing me an ARC in return for an honest review.
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I loved the storyline and characters. We follow Jossyln Drake, a 17 year old former daughter of the queen's advisor. Her father was murdered a year prior to the tale of the story and the story begins at the same place where he laid in her arms taking his last breath, the Queen's Gala. Things take a turn when a thief attempts to steal an artifact that holds magic only for it to go inside Jossyln. However, in this world magic is evil. Now Jossyln is forced to get help from thief Jericho in order to get her life back to normal.
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The book was so good and I've missed reading YA. It was such a nice read where it was suspenseful and also perfectly paced. The characters were lovable and honestly, I felt like I was reading a book that could very well be a Disney movie, and when it's like that? It's my favorite.
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If you love the bad boy but whitty jerk trope, if we feel for each other things will go south trope, and betrayal and twists... this book is for you.

This was an exciting debut, although a fairly generic YA fantasy, i would still reccomend to fans of the genre. Th epacing lagged in a few areas for me, but not anything to be too upset about.

A sassy and privileged 17yo Josslyn lives with her friend’s family after her father is shot and killed. At a gala, magical art is stolen and Josslyn unknowingly interferes, accidentally releasing the magic onto herself.

She embarks on a journey to rid herself of this evil magic. Magic users are seen as corrupt and are imprisoned or killed. So when Jericho, the thief, promises her the release from the magic, she hesitantly agrees.

Ok, this is not an unusual story line, however, it was done well and was still unique. I’ve read Rhodes other book Fallen Kingdom and felt it had promise, but the writing fell flat. In this book, the writing is done well and I was entertained the entire time. The characters have better development and they’re easier to connect to. Along with an exciting story with great pacing, I was definitely impressed.

I loved Joss questioning what she had been taught BUT ALSO learning the truth for herself. I love a character with sass, growth and questions and Joss has it all. Throw in Jericho who is self-righteous, snarky and kind of a jerk, but for some reason I found him endearing. It’s a slow burn romance with enemies-to-lovers, banter and all sorts of adventure!

I had a lot of fun reading this book! In this book we follow Joss' perspective. At first I wasn't a huge fan of her but I liked seeing how she slowly developed into a more compassionate and understanding person. I also thought that the pacing of the book as a whole was well done. We had a good balance between action scenes, and scenes that developed the plot and characters. Speaking of characters I enjoyed them all! My favourite would have to be Jericho. I really liked learning about his past and him as a person. However, I would have liked to get to know some of the side characters a bit more since I found them intriguing. The plot itself was exciting with an overall fun premise, and the ending left me excited for the next book. Many questions I had were answered but I also have so many more new ones I can't wait to have answered.

I'm looking forward to reading more books by Morgan Rhodes! I'm always excited to read books by Canadian authors!

1/5 stars

The concept sounded really interesting, but the execution just... wasn’t it.

I was excited to read about the character, she seemed like a spoiled, close-minded brat that had a lot of room for growth. But as the book progressed, she stayed pretty much close-minded and bratty and spoiled throughout the entire book and the only way she started to open up , was because of a single girl in the prison who, she basically says is the nicest person ever and that’s the only way she managed to humanize the people who could do magic. The only way. I personally didn’t see a lot of growth with the character considering that this entire storyline hinged on her going through this change.

I felt like it was hard to conceptualize the magic system, I couldn’t see the gives and takes and see how it worked. The world-building also felt too grand and large and it was hard to visualize how the world was supposed to look and function. I felt like I was just being shown scenes but everything else around them was just a blank canvas rather than them moving from spot to spot and seeing the world.

The romance also lacked chemistry and just felt forced and somehow... random despite there being so many hints and build up to the relationship? Like I can’t see why the two characters are interested in one another outside for maybe a physical attraction.

Felt like the book just needed to be better fleshed and planned out for it to feel cohesive.

Thank you @penguinteen for the e-ARC of Echoes and Empires. This was such a fantastic first book.
I loved the magic and how it worked in this world.

Joss’ journey of discovering the truth about magic was really great and I’m excited to see where she goes from here. I wanted to knock some sense into Joss early on in the book, but she had some great character growth and I am excited to see what she does next.

The enemies-to-forced allies-to-more was awesome. I loved Jericho and Joss. They had the best banter and their relationship was so fun to watch.

There were a few twists and turns I didn’t see coming, but I loved it. Now I need book two


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This story follows 17-year old Josslyn Drake who must work with thief, Jericho Nox to cure herself of the forbidden magic she accidentally acquires. This book was very readable and nicely paced. However, it was so predictable. Every reveal and twist in the book was so obvious that I ended up not enjoying it. I wanted to love this book because I read Rhodes' previous fantasy series and loved it. Unfortunately, this was just not it.

Echoes and Empires is a brand new fantasy series from Morgan Rhodes. It has a unique world and magic system that feels like a mixture of urban fantasy-magical realism and your favorite epic fantasy tropes. There are warlocks and witches with different types of magic in a world where magic is outlawed.

I am going, to be honest, and say that I did not like Josslyn very much for about the first half of the book. She starts off so spoiled, entitled, and immature at the beginning of the story. Her snarkiness came off the wrong way and she often sounded like a brat. That being said, I loved Josslyn in the second half of the book. She goes from being an unlikeable character to a character you start rooting for. I truly appreciate the character growth that she experiences as she realizes that her entire life has been sheltered and basically controlled. I am so excited to see more of her character development in the next book.

Jericho Nox is a male character that everyone loves. He's dark, broody, tattooed, and a great fighter. I do wish we had seen more character development from him because he was a bit of a flat character in the book. Yes, he's fierce but I am hoping we see more depth from his character in the sequel. I did enjoy his backstory and can't wait to learn even more.

Echoes and Empires is fast-paced and readers will quickly lose themselves in this story. It is full of twists and turns and just when you think you can trust a character, secrets and betrayals are revealed. Overall, it is a good start to a new fantasy series.

Overall rating 3.5/5 stars.

Forbidden, mysterious, and alluring, magic is outlawed throughout the Empire. Those in possession of or practicing magic at any cost are threats to the sovereign herself. But when Joss Drake, daughter of the former prime minister and beloved acquaintance to the queen, finds herself caught in a robbery where an unknown piece of magic is unleashed and calls to her, she discovers magic might not be as villainous as she was taught to believe.

This was a fast-paced, adventurous read full of intrigue, suspense, and mystery. I loved how the plot progressed and the different shocking twists and turns it took, unveiling truths within memory magic. I also loved how our two main characters grew from despising each other to secretly admiring the other through endearing quips and banter.

Overall, I wished there was more time spent on introducing and developing the story and the intricate world instead of having the plot take off instantly. While the tone and delivery of the characters were a little young for me, I did enjoy the mysterious elements of the novel. It was a new, modern take on magic and mayhem, and it was really cool! I can’t wait to see what’s in store for our characters next!

*Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.*

3.25/5