Thanks for the opportunity to review this book. Unfortunately I could tell from the first few pages that the tone and writing style were not for me so I won’t be reading further - I don’t want to knock down a book that feels as though it could be perfect for other readers but just not to my tastes,

Beautiful portrayal of found family, deep friendships, courage in dark times and how we all make a difference even though we may have mental or physical hinderances.

The description of depression/anxiety/mental health disorders is exquisite and felt very familiar to me.

Absolutely loved this story and will read whatever else this author puts out.

“Fear does the strangest things to you. It hunts and haunts every person differently…”

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!

One thing I have to say, is the format for the ARC could have been better, a PDF where I have to zoom in on every single page and the words "advance readers copy" on every single page really made it hard to read (or a photo of the page in every chapter if exported to kindle) but I digress.

I couldn't get into this book, as much as I tried I had to DNF. This book could have benefited from a glossary or a small chapter of a lead-up to understand all the terms and the world. I read a lot of fantasy and I am no stranger to different magic systems but all the terms were just thrown around like I already should know what's happening and who to root for.

The world-building was almost nonexistent, I didn't know how to picture the school, the hospital, everyone's homes and even the people. The dialogue felt very much like "he said this she said that" I had almost no facial expression, they could have been texting or writing letters and it would be the same interaction.

I didn't understand character motivations at times and I just didn't know what direction this story would take me, there was no showing, just telling AND still the telling is questionable.

I think it's an interesting concept and I would have loved more exploration of the world, I think the book could have benefited from being a bit longer and more flushed out, and I would have loved a map too (It just seemed that the characters decided to go somewhere and then they simply *were* there).

Was super excited for this title and loved the premise so much! 3.5 rounded up. Loved how this book went so hard against How Things Always Go - nothing went like I assumed it would, and I massively appreciate that. But I didn't really *enjoy* it? Objectively well-written, and I'll pounce on a sequel or anything else Nakamura writes, but it didn't sweep me off my feet.

<u> Cursebreakers </u>begins as our professor protagonist, Adrien Desfourneaux encounters Gennady, a young, angry solider lurking outside of his lecture hall. Gennady, a member of the Vigil, the military/police force, is patrolling the halls of the Pharmakeia (magical educational institute) after several members of the Vigil wind up mysteriously comatose.

Things unfold quickly from there, as Adrien and Gennady, enemies-to-frenemies, team up to discover a conspiracy that includes powerful members of both their respective institutions.

Adrien, our hero, is utterly charming, with a wry, distinct narrative voice. Our hero is in his forties, has made some serious mistakes in his professional career, and struggles with bipolar disorder, which leaves his friends sure that the conspiracy is all a part of a bipolar episode. We’re in the same place that Adrien is; we know that Adrien is a unreliable narrator, even as we know that he really is trying to uncover why members of the Vigil and the Pharmakeia keep falling victim to a strange new curse. It's a neat narrative trick that grows the sympathetic relationship between reader and narrator quickly.

Adrien and Gennady are both well-realized characters and their interactions are one of the joys of the book. The Vigil is composed of indoctrinated former child soldiers and it’s painful to see Gennady wrestle with the betrayal of its higher-order members.

I think the weakest aspect of this story is a tendency to show, not tell. It occurs early on with some info dumping, which I felt fairly forgiving of, given that this is a standalone fantasy that’s less than 300 pages.

Other areas that felt lacking to me included Adrien’s relationships and backstory. Such as, Adrien has a “Keeper”, someone who helps him manage his finances and mental and physical health when he’s having a bipolar episode. His Keeper is also the fellow professor he’s been desperately in love with for many years. Casmir, Adrien’s unrequited love interest, is one of the weaker characters. I never have a sense for why Adrien loves him, beyond the fact that Casmir is handsome and Adrien feels beholden to Casmir for caring for him despite his battles with what he calls his demon even as he fears (correctly) that his struggles make him ultimately unlovable to Casmir (obviously a reflection on Casmir, not Adrien). But why Casmir in the first place?

I felt similarly about Adrien’s friend, Malise. We know a little bit about her: she’s a doctor, she and Adrien completed their medical training together, she "prefers women", she suffers from depression, she cares for Adrien. Only the last thing is portrayed on page, though, and even, read as surface level to me.

I’d like to understand more about Adrien’s past beyond the fact that he was a healer whose experimental treatment damaged his patients (leaving them comatose much like the new victims appearing) and altered his career. We read a few interesting allusions to his parents, but don’t have much detail on his background other than that. Why did he grow up in a military section of his city, for example?

That said, everyone is queer, the mental health rep is amazing, and the world building is strong despite the info dumping in the early chapters, so really hope this finds a wide audience!

Thank you to NetGalley and Red Hen Press for the ARC.

i’ve had major trouble getting into this books and i’m not sure what the problem was. the concept for this book made me crave it but whenever i went to read it i couldn’t read more than 2-3 pages. i am very disappointed in myself for not being able to give this book the review it deserves as i’ve been so excited to read it.

i think part of the problem for me was the netgalley app interface. i had a problem getting this book on my kindle app therefore opted for the netgalley app but reading on there was very uncomfortable since the font is quite small and i had to zoom in and zoom out to read. it definitely didn’t help my experience.

the main character (from the 50 pages i’ve read) is very mysterious and captivating and the way he was talking about events from years ago made me interested to find out (which i sadly couldn’t). the writing style wasn’t my usual as it is very literary (english is not my first language) however i loved it, it the made book more dark and whimsical to me.

i would love to give this book another try in the future but perhaps in a physical form rather than through the netgalley app.

I feel that Adrien is misunderstood by people. I think he is pushed intp the situation and not in a safe way. It puts him and others in harms way because of the conspiracy that those involved are thinking its ok for a sacrifice and that would be Adrien and they dont care. I feel sorry for Adrien he is alone he just wants someone to understand him and all he wants to fo is what is right. I think the way he is written is so sweet and such a good person. I recommend to read this. My first time reading this author and i would love to read more involving Adrien and this world of dark academia magic and the main character has bipolar disorder. Just gives you all the feels.
Thank you Net Galley for this opportunity.

I liked this! I'm not in any position to judge so idk how accurate the Adrian's depiction of bipolar disorder is, but I thought his perspective was very interesting! For all that the he talks about not being able to control himself, he seems rather self-aware to me, although he doesn't always make the best decisions, which, same.

I didn't care for Gennady at first, but I liked reading how he and Adrian's dynamic changed throughout this book. Also, despite whatever's going on with him, I love that he's trying to become better.
I also liked Adrian's friendship with Malise, which I thought was very sweet and genuine.
However, I didn't like Adrian's relationship with Casmir, not because it's badly written or whatever, it just made me sad. Adrian deserves so much better than whatever "care" Casmir gives him.

I found the setting to be rather interesting, and I'm sad we didn't get to explore it more. For starters, what's the system of governance? What's the education system like for regular people? What jobs do magicians have other than teaching? It's mentioned that the country is ruled by two empresses, and the citizens venerate them like gods, but this is only mentioned once. How much control do they have over law-making and does this mean this country is a monarchy and how much power do they share between them?? etc etc.
But these questions are really not important to the plot at all, its just stuff I'm curious about.

Honestly I found this world very interesting and a very promising debut from this author.
Long-story short I liked this
overal rating 4/5 stars

Many years ago, magician Adrien was an aspiring healer at the Chirurgeonate medical complex in Astrum. Unfortunately, he ended up doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. In other words, he was using his magic to heal patients’ minds, but ended up turning them into mere husks of humans. He and all the other magicians were tried for the heinous crime of witchcraft–or the use of magic to harm people. Although Adrien was acquitted, his reputation has suffered from it and he has since removed himself entirely from the practice of healing. Instead, he serves as a professor at the Pharmakeia school where he helps train new magicians to use their powers for good. But lately, Adrien notices two strange things. First, there has been an influx of patients presenting to the Chirurgeonate with the same symptoms Adrien saw in his own patients. Second, the Vigil, Astrum’s military body widely known to hate magicians on principle, has taken up residence in the Pharmakeia.

Gennady Richter is a young Vigil lieutenant. Like all Vigil, Gennady’s only real human connections are to the fellow soldiers in his unit. Too bad no one in Gennady’s unit seems to like the taciturn young man much, up to and including his commanding officer who is, all things considered, the closest thing Gennady ever had to a father. Perhaps Gennady never expected kindness. Certainly, the most he ever hoped for, the most he ever got, was resigned tolerance.

Adrien reacts to Gennady’s cold aloofness like all the others. That is until both Gennady and Adrien realize that those new patients in the Chirurgeonate are not merely ill, they’re cursed. Together, they begin to follow the rumor and uncover an unthinkable plot: Vigil and magicians cooperating in a symbiotic relationship for the sake of power. Both men grudgingly learn to set aside their differences to help the cursed and stop the power mongering. However, danger mounts on all sides. The corruption in both of their worlds runs farther, faster, and deeper than either of them can imagine. They will have to rely on tenuous connections and untested trust if they hope to survive the ordeal.

Cursebreakers is a high fantasy-like thriller set far in the future, while still retaining a timelessly antique feel. It takes place primarily at the school where Adrien teaches, with detours to the Vigil home base, Adrien’s home, and a handful of other locales. The world is richly described and author Nakamura fully commits to creating an immersive experience. This works really well creating a lush environment for the characters, and pleasing visual motifs. Most of the time, I loved how new terms were used to describe familiar concepts. For example, the word “ambric” seems to refer to an Edison-style lightbulb. There were times, however, where this commitment got in the way of the storytelling a little bit. For example, Oktidy. I spent the first several pages thinking this was a place to go, only to realize it was a day of the week. Imagine my surprise when I finally realized the accompanying preposition was actually “on Oktidy” rather than “in Oktidy.” I spent a few pages confused about if the MCs were going some PLACE or going some TIME.

For the romance fans, I must point out that this story is not a romance. There is a super strong unrequited love trope between Adrien and his best friend. I initially held out hope that these two would somehow come together romantically. That hope stayed with me throughout most of the book, but how enthusiastic I was about it changed as the nature of Adrien and his friend’s connection developed on page and with the introduction of Gennady.

Adrien and Gennady are like oil and water; they can make a fantastic combination while still being unable to completely mix. When Adrien’s unrequited feelings for his best friend were still a fresh plot point, Gennady came on the scene and gave me a flare of hope that perhaps these two would become lovers. After a good long while of their oil and water dynamic, I started to realize they had more of an age gap kind of friendship with a kind of grumpy/sunshine mixed in. Even with romance off the table, I still really enjoyed watching the relationship between these two take shape and grow.

At its core, this book feels like a thriller more than anything else. I thought it was interesting to have Adrien as our narrator. He was diagnosed as an akratic twenty years ago (note: I’m not sure what the equivalent is in modern English, but there are explicit mentions of his behaving manic and depressive, but also of having delusions or hallucinations) and that played so painfully well into his closest friends assuming Adrien’s insistence that the Vigil and the magicians were pairing-up for evil were the ravings of a delusional akratic. The vicarious frustration and the resignation he ultimately displays at this point in the story was superb. Similarly, Adrien struggles to come to terms with the way his mind works— especially when it feels like his own mind is taken over by what he calls the daimon, which is something like a sinister alter ego. Throughout the course of the book, Adrien feels like he is always at risk of losing himself to this internal daimon and that if that were to happen, he would be well and truly lost. This aspect of the story creates a little bit of a growth arc for our main character, and resolves with a happy for now kind of ending.

Overall, Cursebreakers was a very engrossing read. The story is immersive and the first person narration creates a very consistent, complex picture for readers to enjoy. There are times when the story feels a little slow because of all the different moving pieces and some unfamiliar names for unexpected things (days of the week, taxis, etc.). Nevertheless, with the personal drama in Adrien‘s life, and the moral questions raised by the crime of witchcraft versus the order of the world itself potentially realigning keep the story interesting. If you like complex stories, detailed plots, and strong queer characters that exist for something other than coupling up, I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy in this book.

I ended up DNFing this book, the pacing was just not for me. The concept is great, and the magical system was interesting. I loved that the MC was not a teen or young adult, it was an actual grown adult. I somewhat cared for the MC, and it was interesting that he had the magical equivalent of of BPD, but I just could not get past the first half of the book. Not for me, but I would still recommend this book to others. Maybe I'll pick it up again in the future.

A complex dark academic story narrated by the main character Adrien, a queer man struggling with this world's equivalent of bipolar disorder. The storytelling is archaic, scientific and clinical at times which did it make it difficult for me to get into this book at first. It's also definitely a story I will need to revisit because I feel there's so much more to the story than my brain was able to comprehend the first time reading.

3.5 stars!

I really enjoyed this! I thought it was a super fun dark academia fantasy! I loved the characters and how the main focus was on Desfourneaux and him living with his mental illness and trying to cope with it and learn to live better with it. He wasn't perfect and I loved that, I really felt for him and noticed similarities between myself and him.

Gennady and Lady were my faves too, they're both such sweeties and I really hope Gennady continues to grow and become better. I wish we had more of Desourneaux and Gennady, I want to see them both grow and become healthy and happy people.

This story was so immersive and I couldn't put it down at times because I needed to know what happened next! It was just so fun and intriguing, but I do with it was a bit longer to truly explore the depths of what was going on.

If you are in for anything dark academia, you will definitely want to give this book a try!
The characters are complex but with the story you can follow along the different aspects of their personalities and the reasons for their actions. Adrien Desforneaux is our charming protagonist through which all the story is told, as an academic he describes the scenes with some big words that I don’t often see in New Adult books but it helped set the atmosphere for the type of character he was, as he gets tangled with a conspiracy his world shifts and so his perspective and overall attitude also has some fluctuations that make sense with the issues he’s facing.
The book contains portrayals of mental health issues which in my opinion were worked with respect and accuracy.

I’m interested in seeing more of the author and maybe rereading the book once it comes out officially

This was cool! LGBT*, academic background, good writing.
The side characters, and also the antagonist, would have needed a bit more filling in, though, as would the world building.

This book's strength definitely lies with its characters, especially Adrien as the narrator. He's a mess, but in a way that made me deeply care about him and his actions. His point of view carried the plot swiftly while also giving enough space to the world building and backstories. His relationships were particularly something I enjoyed about the story and that made it more interesting. I also liked how Adrien's mental health was explored and how it affected not just his relationships, but the whole story as well.
Some elements of the world building felt a little bit underexplained, but not in the way that it would take away from the enjoyment of the book.

What you're getting:
Person with Bpd rep
Casual queerness
Found family
Extremely beautiful platonic love
40+ yrs old mc
Older mc who kinda adopts and takes care of a younger troubled youth
What being taken and influenced by the military from a young age does to people
Magic healing

What you're not getting:
Gennady because he's MY baby. Thank you.

Tw: minor self harm, addiction, opioid, relapse, minor domestic (?) Abuse, a lot of self deprecating, violence.

So reading this book was an experience in the beginning as soon as I noticed the bpd which I didn't know abt I was skittish because I don't have it so I had to be extra careful. Medically and theoretically it was right but I wasn't sure about how it was portrayed and how well the character was written but I did find a review by someone who has it that confirms it was well done.

The characters were great. I loved adriens friendship with malise they were so sweet and loving and protective of each other it almost drove me into a pit of wallowing. These two would do anything for each other including k wording ppl. I wish we got to know her more but alas i know enough to decide that she's my wife. She's such a sweetheart but also so strong and confident and just perfect.

And then you add gennady to the equation and omygod. I am not kidding when I say I love him. So much. He's the one who we get see military influence, through. He joined the vigil at a young age because he had no other choice and when adrien met him as a 20 something yrs old man his teacher instinct spiked. The friendship (if u can call it that in the beginning) was so rocky but so realistic. Gennady has been through much and adrien sees that and he also sees the potential in gennady. He knows that he can help him be better. And in turn gennadys attachment to adrien that becomes more apparent as you go and his protectiveness over adrien is just so beautiful.

When I tell you there were times where I was smiling so fricken wide at their interactions I'm not joking.

If I try hard enough I can tell you all about how this books shows how incompetent governments and officials are and how it screams acab and frick the education system although one of the mcs is a professor and the other is a vigil, we'll be here for too long. I want to just focus on the friendships and the characters even tho neither the magic nor the politics were lacking because that's what got me attached to the book. But the writing was a bit choppy at times which I'm assuming is the fault of having read an arc.

I highly recommend.

This is objectively a good book, there was really nothing wrong with it. I just found that it wasn't to my personal taste at all.

This is a book that seemed to be just my taste but when I was actually reading it, I only found disinterest. It was hard finishing this book because the majority of it didn't have my full attention, it couldn't because I just really did not care for the plot at all. Which was confusing because I did enjoy the writing, I felt and saw what was being described clearly in my mind. So I would absolutely pick up another book by Madeleine Nakamura in the near future because I see the potential but with Cursebreakers, it didn't really give me the excitement I wanted.

But I can't deny that Adrien was a great main character, there is something deeply sad about him that captivated me. It was a ride reading his point of view, his interactions and his relationships with all the people he came across. He is such a well-written character that I feel bad not getting into this book as much as I hoped I would.

Thanks to NetGalley and Red Hen Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Cursebreakers has an interesting premise and is a promising debut novel from Madeleine Nakamura. Adrien Desfourneaux is a professor at the local magic school who is riddled with guilt from past mistakes and stumbles his way upon a conspiracy among his colleagues. Adrien also struggles with a magic equivalent of bipolar disorder which causes his friends to disbelieve him when he tries to share what he has discovered.

Overall- I enjoyed the novel and its unique point of view of magic school stories. I think it very much feels like a debut novel- the first few chapters all feel like info dumps and yet there is a lot of the world and the magic system that still feels unfinished. Plot wise - the conspiracy that Adrien discovers is about the Vigil (cops) trying to obtain magic to further their power. This makes sense- what doesn't make sense is that other magicians are helping them out with this. It never quite clicked why other magicians wanted to help make cops more powerful. This gap in the plot made me go "okay but why" for a lot of the story.

Other thoughts:
-Liked Adrien's friendship with Malise and wanted her warm character to play more of a part
-Wished the side characters like Malise, Gennady, and Casmir to be more fleshed out.
-Could not figure out at all why Adrien was in love with Casmir- he was mean and treated Adrien like an annoyance even when they were supposed to be friends. But this also could have been because the character was not completely built out.

Overall 3/5 stars. A solid debut story!

The book was an easy read in many places but it got sluggish in many others. After the 54% mark I felt a desire to just get done with it though I did not want to DNF it. Pacing is an issue. I think that it just didn't work for me, though I would recommend it to fantasy fans.