Thank you NetGalley and Helyna L. CLove for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Imbued is the first foray into fantasy for Helyna L. Clove and what a start it is. Our main character, Calla, has worked as a servant to the Hennan family (an influential family in the Kamphua Dominion) for the majority of her life and can't remember much of it from before she ended up there at Kiriong. All she does know is she has magic -- powerful and dangerous magic -- that, if discovered, would put her in grave danger. She's spent her life being afraid of and hiding it by preventing anyone from getting close enough, but her magic and the terrible nightmares and memories that come from her past continue to push to be acknowledged.

The Hennan's eldest son, Gray, is a mage who was allowed to live due to his family's place in society and has been used against his own kind by being turned into a mage hunter. He makes a reluctant return to his family home to fulfill his duty as heir, making a marriage alliance to provide security against a war that's been brewing for some time. Almost immediately he notices Calla and her magic, but rather than turn her in as she fears, he seeks her out and offers to help her better understand it. Though Calla is slow to trust him and his motives, she agrees. As Calla practices with Gray and her memories become clearer, she finds that she isn't quite as indispensable as she once believed.

The story doesn't play into the idea that there are good guys and bad guys and nothing in between. Our protagonists are real people faced with difficult decisions that don't only impact themselves but the ones around them. How they approach them is certainly fascinating. While they're both stuck by their respective circumstances, Calla acts out of self-preservation and Gray out of a desire to serve the many, even if at the expense of the few. Neither approach is necessarily right or wrong, but I find Gray seemed a little more understanding of the difficulties Calla faced than the other way around. Her hyper-vigilance causes her to act/lash out at those around her, assuming negative intentions of everyone. I was glad that Marigo pointed out how Calla had failed to recognize those around her who did care for her back at Kiriong.

One thing I wish had been different, though, was Calla's level of agency. It seemed as though the events of the story just <i>happened</i> to her rather than her making decisions or doing things that impacted the plot and moved things forward. It made it more difficult for me to really feel engaged with the story, but it's possible that the idea of an unwilling protagonist isn't necessarily for me. Hopefully that will change as the series progresses and Calla comes more into her power and herself.

Calla, I love Calla lilies. They are beautiful.

My apologies, I digress.


Our Calla don’t really remember much from before she came out of the forest years ago. Now, she is keeping her head down to not be noticed.

She has powers. Magical powers are a no-no, and it does not help when Prince Grey comes back to the city after hunting others with magic. She can not be discovered!

I feel that this book, in its own beauty, has taken the proper number of pages and time needed to let everything simmer. Calla needed time to learn how to control her powers, trust her new partner in crime, and for feelings to develop.

I would not say that the book is slow, nor does it feel so. It just seemed that way the first time I read what I wrote. There are things going on in the kingdom along the way that are oh so intriguing.

As time goes on, we get to learn more about her past as we progress towards the day comes that she has to run for her life, and this gentle reader learned what Imbued actually means. Intriguing, indeed.

I am still not over how this book ended. I am just saying it. I think I heard the doctor's orders: I need book two STAT!. 😄💙

For me, the book is closer to 4,5 :)

Imbued by Helyna L. Clove is an original fantasy novel, the first in a planned duology, that takes the reader to a world where magic is so tightly controlled as to be effectively banned. It tells the story of Calla, a young servant woman who is hiding the secret of her magical abilities while also trying to cope with a form of amnesia that means she has no real memories of her childhood, except of course for the nightmares that regularly disturb her sleep. The last thing she needs is the return of Gray, the estranged heir of the family she works for. As a mage hunter he is bound to uncover her secret and destroy her life. When instead he offers to help her learn to control and use her powers she is reluctant at first, but finds herself increasingly drawn to him. It turns out that Gray has secrets of his own, and may in fact be the key to uncovering the mystery of Calla's past.
There were many things I liked about this book, chief among them the beautifully lush and vividly descriptive writing. I also love a book where the main character's past is a mystery, and I think this is a theme that is well developed over the course of the book. The reader is dropped into an original world with a complex history and magic system and I will admit that I struggled with the book at first, there were so many concepts and pieces of lore, culture and history in the first couple of chapters that if it were not for my liking for Calla as a character and my curiosity about her past I might have given up, which would have been a shame, as once the story got going I was captivated. if the reader is willing to go with the flow and give the author time to set things up the reward is there but I fear that some readers will lack that patience. I liked the magic system which seemed to be almost parasitic in some ways as using magic requires so much energy that it risks injuring the user. It worked well with the idea that magic is so dangerous that it cannot be used freely. As I said earlier the writing is very descriptive and I loved the world the author imagined with its purple soil and rich cultural history. It was clear that she put a lot of thought into the setting for her story. This is definitely a book for readers who like a slow burn and prefer a more character driven story, much of the book focuses on Calla, both in terms of her trying to understand her past and also her developing relationship with Gray. The story definitely has a darker side which is explored in Calla's nightmares, which of course relate to her mysterious past and feature confinement, captivity, pain and torture. There are several secondary characters that added a nice extra dimension to the story most notably Calla's friend Marigo and the mysterious Aesh. The last third or so of the book is more dramatic and fast paced and I loved seeing how the author was able to bring together the mystery of Calla's past and the drama unfolding in the current timeline. The ending left me curious as to where the author intends to take the story and keen to read more of her work.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Imbued is a beautifully written book that touches on some darker topics (abuse, trauma, human captivity). The world is amazing, the characters are relatable, and the plot and pace of the book are all very well written.

A young woman working as a servant on the royal estate where they could kill her for having magic. I liked the high-stakes and the danger of being found out. The magic was interesting. My only critique is I wish we got to the magic a bit sooner, but overall I would recommend giving this book a read.