I found it hard at times to follow the story and found it very hard to engage with it. The battles scenes were very interesting. But I don’t believe this was in the range of books I like to read

I very much wanted to love this story, but it is not for me. It’s too disjointed, and it has an astounding amount of largely incongruent things smashed together. You’ve got elves, gnomes, druids, sorcerers, and…werewolves? Throw in some pirates, jinn and eerily Harry Potter-ish incantations for good measure. I know, let’s add “mindf**k” and “ugly-a**” in there, too, just to thoroughly jar you out of the fantastical world.

I loathe leaving negative reviews, but I have to be honest here. I did love the seed of magic growing into a mark of a tree of the left forearms of druids, with leaves fading if magic is used…that’s fascinating and totally unique. I hope that I will be in the minority with my opinion, and that others will love the book. I do think there’s a good tale in here somewhere, but as is, it’s trying to do too much and needs some…well…pruning.

I received an eARC from NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing (thank you), and I am leaving this review voluntarily.