ARC Review |The Ninth Sorceress by Bonnie Wynne

 

Title: The Ninth Sorceress

By: Bonnie Wynne

Series: The Price of Magic

Pages: 486

Publication: February 13th, 2020

By: Talem Press

Genre: YA | Fantasy | Magic

Buy it: Amazon

 

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In the blackest dungeon of the Clockwork City, a prisoner lies bound in silver shackles. Who is she? And why are the wizards so afraid of her?

Seventeen-year-old Gwyn has no family and no past. Apprenticed to a half-mad herbalist, she travels the snow-blasted High Country, hawking potions in a peddler’s wagon. Her guardian hides her from the world like a dark secret, and she knows better than to push for answers.

But when she discovers she is hunted by the goddess Beheret, Gwyn is drawn into a deep and ancient tale: of chained gods and lost magic, of truths long buried and the rising of a war she never could have imagined.

Wizards and their magic-sniffing hounds pursue her – as does a stranger in a smiling mask, who calls her by an unfamiliar name…

But what really terrify her are the dangerous gifts she’s spent her life suppressing. Now, Gwyn must step out of the shadows and take charge of her destiny – even if the price is her own soul.

The Ninth Sorceress is the breathtaking first instalment of The Price of Magic, a sweeping fantasy saga full of rich storytelling and tangible magic.

| Goodreads |

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I want to thank Talem Press for kindly providing me with a copy in exchange for a review & as you know, my thoughts are 100% mine

WOW, I’m so surprised by this book! I really feel happy for having decided to read it. It’s a super entertaining fantasy with so many plot twists that keeps you hooked from minute one. I really like and appreciate the details that the author has put in this book in such a unique way and make it stand out from the rest. It has a solid beginning, well-created characters and a captivating plot that’s becoming more and more twisted. Maybe it has some details and situations that I ‘d have changed or I’d have liked to have happened differently, but it’s a super personal opinion, from my point of view, and I’ll tell you more about it.

It all begins in a dark cell inside the Mechanical City where they have imprisoned a young woman who will be the one who tells us this story, a story that follows Gwyn, a 17-year-old girl who lives in a traveling house with her caregiver through the Kingdom selling positions. She doesn’t know much about her past or where she comes from, she only knows Acepis, the person who took her out from the streets and took care of her all her life. But one day everything changes for her when she discovers that she’s wanted by the goddess Beheret and is there when she is introduced to a world she doesn’t know, of chained gods and dark magic. With fearsome wizards and fierce hounds behind her, Gwyn must learn to survive while she meets a group of people who are willing to protect her. And while discovering her true identity, she must also take charge of a heavy destiny.

I had a huge nostalgia feeling with this book because reminds me a lot to old fantasy books, especially Harry Potter & City of Bones, you know when the “chosen one” must learn to use his powers and there’s a lot of his life that they ignore and are almost thrown into a world full of dangers, and all this made it super fun. It has a super solid beginning, and one of my favorite things is that, in fact, the story as such is told by someone who you don’t know who he is and then gradually reveals himself. I think that detail gives a whole new atmosphere to the book, super interesting, mysterious and intriguing as well. I also like that the Wizards are like the “villains” of the story, not their totality, but the majority of them are a threat to our main character and that’s something quite original for me. There are also shapeshifters, which I adore, it’s always a good addition, I find it fascinating it’s a type of magic that I enjoy seeing and also handles hundreds of possibilities for the plot. And then we also have many ranks within the magic itself, but I think it’s worth highlighting the necromancy since I think it’s one of the most interesting and dark branches to explore, and that topic is touched a lot in the book.

I think that, at the beginning, it was very atmospheric and very beautiful, the places where the plot takes place are really nice, but I think while the development of the world progress it’s super confusing for me, I like the map and I know that it’s very thought out, it just didn’t resonate much with me. There are too many mentions of places that you don’t know during the story or where you never go or just go through a place and has a super complicated name and at that moment I found myself lost, even so, I know and I feel that this could be something amazing, so if you like world buildings, this could be a very interesting one to visit, although complex.

I like the writing style a lot, it’s always a breath of fresh air when a writer gives you a plot that shows that it’s complex but at the same time, it’s well explained and easy to read despite being a very complete fantasy in all the senses. I would very much like to read more by the author in the future.

I think that one of the negative points, or at least not resonated with me, was almost towards the ending when more things begin to be revealed about the origins of the magic as such and the birth of the gods. On the one hand, I think the idea is great, I personally love when there are gods in books, but this time I felt that it was a lot of information for a single book and more when it’s the beginning of a series. It’s difficult to keep all that information while many things are happening with many characters, at times it feels recharged and can make you feel overwhelmed, you know?. I loved the idea, though, that’s not the problem, but in a book that has a plot with so many twists and so many stories, I think it might have been more prudent to go slower and not throw all the information in the first book.

I liked the characters, especially Acepis, that although it has little protagonist, I usually love this type of character who are caregivers and masters who sacrifice themselves for others, I think it’s very noble and I admire that. I like Gwyn, I think her decisions are decisions that I would make myself, I feel that she’s easy to love and is a reasonable and quite mature person for her age, especially for all the super complicated situations that must happen, find out who she is, her relatives and the danger, is a lot for a young girl and she knew how to handle it quite well. With mistakes and everything, she’s a good main character that promises a lot of growth. There are many characters so I’ll try to talk about the main ones: We have Faolan, he’s like a necromancer master and at the beginning, I didn’t like him very much, I was distrustful of him all the time, but in the end, I think he’s a good character since he contributes a lot to the plot. Lucian‘s great and I enjoyed his relationship with Gwyn because although you know that there could be something happening there, never feels forced and is such a kind relationship of respect that I liked a lot, for now, I can say that it’s a beautiful friendship. Idris is a super mysterious character that will surely have thousands of secrets yet to know, I don’t want to talk much about him because I think the fun thing is to find out who he is and what his role in the story is. Ygriel‘s participation was super confusing at first, he appears in dreams and gives a lot of mystery to the plot and expectations of knowing who he is and what he will do, is very well created, although I think he needed more development as a character. In general, I think everyone is solid and everyone can grow in the following books, without a doubt.

So, it’s a great story, it’s about discovering who you are and what your role in life is, it’s also about family and that it will always be the one we choose for us and those who support us. There’s a lot of magic going on, gods with incredible powers and a highly political side of a fairly tyrant city. I think it’s a great adventure and that it’s very worth discovering more about it while you read, it’s full of twists and never stops bringing new things to the spotlight, so without a doubt, is an author that will surprise you in the future. I highly recommend it if you like the “chosen one” plot, if you like to explore different types of magic, blood magic, black magic and so on, if you like political intrigue and especially if you want to discover many hidden secrets behind a dangerous and crazy family lineage

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4/5

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