Another book downloaded through Libby – I’m not sure what drew me to the book other than the mention of magic and the fact that it sounded a bit different to recent fantasy books I’ve read.

The premise of the book sounded great, two young enchanters who would have to fight against each other to become the Imperial Enchanter – working closely by the king’s side. The losing enchanter will die.

Sounds like it could be dramatic. But I don’t think it quite lived up to the idea I had in my head. Very quickly in the book you discover that there’s a love triangle which did become annoying, although towards the end, it becomes obvious why the love triangle was necessary and it made for a pretty surprising ending, one that I would never have guessed.

My e-reading app broke halfway through reading this book, so I had a gap of almost 2 weeks where I couldn’t read anything, which I think put a dampener on my enjoyment, as once I got back on again, I devoured the book within a couple of days, but when compared to other books in this genre, it just missed the mark slightly.

I did love the unusual setting for the book, I’ve not read a fantasy book set in Russia before (I don’t think), and it made for a nice change – the scenes were so beautifully described that I did feel like I could have been there!

The book ended on such a shocking cliffhanger that I definitely want to read the second one now, I just have to wait for it to become available to borrow from my library!