Review: Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean

Voidwalker

S.A. MacLean

(Beasts of the Void #1)

Publication Date: August 19, 2025

Paperback, 592 pages, Orbit

Genres: Adult, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Queer

Goodreads

Fionamara is a smuggler. Antal is the reason her people fear the dark.

Fi ferries contraband between worlds, stockpiling funds and stolen magic to keep her village self-sufficient - free from the blood sacrifices humans have paid to Antal's immortal species for centuries.

 

Only legends whispered through the pine forests recall a time when things were different, before one world shattered into many, and the flesh-devouring beasts crept from the cracks between realities, with their sable antlers and slender tails, lethal claws and gleaming fangs. Now, mortal lives are food to pacify their carnivorous overlords, exchanged for feudal protection, and the precious silver energy that fuels everything from transport to weaponry.

 

When Fi gets planted with a stash of smuggled energy, a long-lost flame recruits her for a reckless heist that escalates into a terrorist bombing - and a coup against the reigning immortals, with Fi's home caught in the crossfire.

 

She's always known the dangers of her trade - and of the power she's wielded since childhood, allowing her to see the secret doors between dimensions, to walk the Void itself. But nothing could have prepared her for crossing paths with Antal. For the deal she'll have to make with him, a forced partnership to reclaim his city that begins as a desperate bid for survival, only to grow into something far more dangerous.

 

A revolution.

 

 And a temptation - for how sweet the monster's fangs might feel.

 

From the author of the instant Sunday Times-bestselling The Phoenix Keeper comes an era-defining new fantasy universe where spicy romantasy meets the Cosmere, unmissable for fans of the world-building scale of Sarah J. Maas and the world-shifting stakes of Rebecca Yarros.

 

Voidwalker will be your next romantasy obsession, a deliciously feral story that started with just two words: "bite me".

My Review

I haven't ever really read a book like this, so I'm going to throw some comparison titles out there and hope I'm not too far off base. I think, if you're a fan of Stacey McEwan's Glacian trilogy or Ice Planet Barbarians, you might enjoy S.A. MacLean's Voidwalker. Both of those other titles have wintry settings with love interests of a different species. Voidwalker is definitely darker, though, in that the male main character, an antler-and-tail-having monster with big sharp teeth, has to eat humans to survive. It's a bit of a twisted sci-fi-esque romantasy.

I'm not usually squeamish, but it was weird to me how the female main character could be intimate with a creature that eats people and has eaten people alive. In the wise words of Edward Cullen, it's like a lion falling in love with a lamb and vice versa. And unlike Twilight, it was sort of uncomfortable to think about. I thought the storyline would have a male monster character that didn't follow his fellow creature's diet, not that he just did it more politely. It was strange, especially with one specific scene at the end that, unfortunately, automatically dropped my rating and enjoyment. It was just a bit icky when that scene happened. Too icky for me. I was able to have fun with the story up until that point.

Because of the daeyeri creatures' diet, I'm not sure if Voidwalker should be recommended for seasoned monster romance vets or if it's something wannabe monster-romance readers would enjoy. The spicy times were pretty tame based on some other monstrous books I've read, but the mind games I had while thinking about the male main character eating people just made me believe the story isn't for the newbies.

 With this being a romantasy story, there are, of course, two main characters in Voidwalker. Fi is a smuggler who can walk in the Void, which is basically like portal jumping between different lands, and Antal is the daeyeri monster with powers that are a tad confusing. I liked both of them, but Antal is useless for like 80% of the story. How did he ever survive by himself? And although I did like the characters overall, I don't think I ever connected with them enough to fall in love. They were simply entertaining.

Now, as for the descriptions of the world and magic, they were a bit dry at first. At times, they took me out of the story. However, when there were dialogue and action scenes, I was invested. It's when the action slowed down that I found my mind wondering to other things. The plot itself was fun. I was able to read it fairly quickly, despite Voidwalker being a chunk of a book. Having to partner up with a monster to take down an even more monstrous monster is typically a good time. The two main characters were kind of disasters together too, which made the story entertaining. Honestly, if it wasn't for the diet, this would have been a good read.

All in all, I think this one was too weird for me. I'm not a big monster-romance girlie, so it makes sense. I don't dislike the genre, I'm just particular about the monster romance I choose to consume (pun intended). I thought this one would be a bit more palatable, though, since it's traditionally published. But, the eating people thing didn't work for me. It's a very beautiful cover, though, and maybe I'll want to pick up book two once I've had more time to digest the story.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: Rise of the Mages by Scott Drakeford

Rise of the Mages

Scott Drakeford

(Unnamed trilogy #1)
Publication Date: February 8, 2022

Hardcover, 400 pages, Tor

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads

Scott Drakeford's epic fantasy debut, Rise of the Mages combines gripping, personal vengeance with compelling characters for an action packed first book in a trilogy.

Emrael Ire wants nothing more than to test to be a weapons master. His final exam will be a bloody insurrection, staged by corrupt nobles and priests, that enslaves his brother.

With the aid of his War Master tutor, herself an undercover mage, Emrael discovers his own latent and powerful talents.

To rescue his brother, Emrael must embrace not only his abilities as a warrior but also his place as last of the ancient Mage Kings—for the Fallen God has returned. And he is hungry.

All the better.

My Review

I'm just going to straight up say that if you like fight scenes in fantasy stories, then this is the book for you. The action never stops. It also has a similar vibe to The Name of the Wind, especially in the beginning, as well as more old school fantasy series, such as Goodkind's Sword of Truth or even Paolini's Inheritance Cycle. Rise of the Mages, like those titles, is the story of a boy with mysterious gifts fighting against evil while trying not to let the power consume him.

In Rise of the Mages, we're following Emrael, who is training to become a weapons master but keeps falling short. However, when his city gets attacked during his final exam, all he wants to do is save his brother. Even if that means unlocking something that was hidden inside him. Something that could get him killed. 

While I do think this book is perfect for readers who are nostalgic for that classic fantasy style, it did take a bit of time to get used to the dialogue. Some of the paragraphs were a little more formal than you'd expect, with long, what I like to call "mini-speeches" given by the main character or the side characters. It's not bad, it just takes a while to get used to.

Also, Emrael starts off as a rather average student. He's not the best fighter, but he's not the worst. And he has to work for his place in his school. However, he gets to be the leader of his ragtag group of friends very quickly for some reason. I guess because his mentor didn't ever step up and other people blindly decided to follow the young man who has never led anything in his life? It was a little odd, but nothing that overly detracted from the plot. Now, something that did detract from the plot was the violence. While I am not averse to violence in my fantasy stories, this one just Would. Not. Stop. At one point it was chapter after chapter of characters getting stabbed, burned alive, impaled, thrown into walls, etc. Only for our heroes to also be punched, kicked, stabbed, etc. Over and over and over again. Thank goodness the protagonists had a magical healing method or otherwise... Yikes.

Because of the constant insertion of fight scenes and the protagonist's anti-hero methods, I couldn't rate Rise of the Mages as high as I'd hoped. It's not a bad story by any means, I just think that if some of those fight scenes had turned into world-building scenes or character-driven scenes instead of slashing and hacking, a better story could have been made. I'm more of a character-driven-story kind of reader, so it's totally a personal preference. I will say that despite my negative reaction towards the end of the book (after getting bogged down in battle after battle), I was still intrigued with how the events were unfolding. I don't think I'll read the sequel to this one, but I may pick up Drakeford's future books. I think he has potential, and this debut will definitely appeal to a lot of swords and sorcery readers.

*Note: I received a NetGalley ARC of this book to review from the publisher. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: Their Fractured Light by Kaufman & Spooner

Their Fractured Light

Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

(Starbound #3)

Publication Date: December 1, 2015

Hardcover, 428 pages, Disney-Hyperion

Genres: YA, Sci-Fi

B&N | Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

A year ago, Flynn Cormac and Jubilee Chase made the now infamous Avon Broadcast, calling on the galaxy to witness for their planet, and protect them from destruction. Some say Flynn’s a madman, others whisper about conspiracies. Nobody knows the truth. A year before that, Tarver Merendsen and Lilac LaRoux were rescued from a terrible shipwreck—now, they live a public life in front of the cameras, and a secret life away from the world’s gaze.

Now, in the center of the universe on the planet of Corinth, all four are about to collide with two new players, who will bring the fight against LaRoux Industries to a head. Gideon Marchant is an eighteen-year-old computer hacker—a whiz kid and an urban warrior. He’ll climb, abseil and worm his way past the best security measures to pull off onsite hacks that others don’t dare touch.

Sofia Quinn has a killer smile, and by the time you’re done noticing it, she’s got you offering up your wallet, your car, and anything else she desires. She holds LaRoux Industries responsible for the mysterious death of her father and is out for revenge at any cost.

When a LaRoux Industries security breach interrupts Gideon and Sofia’s separate attempts to infiltrate their headquarters, they’re forced to work together to escape. Each of them has their own reason for wanting to take down LaRoux Industries, and neither trusts the other. But working together might be the best chance they have to expose the secrets LRI is so desperate to hide.

My Review

Book one in the series was great. Book two in the series was good. Book three in the series was rather disappointing, for many reasons.

First off, Their Fractured Light was corny. Like ridiculously corny towards the end. One specific quote that made me roll my eyes was “You’re exactly the girl I always knew you were.” Maybe it doesn’t sound as cheesy out of context, but I cringed a little inside.

As for the characters, I actually liked Gideon, but much like Flynn from This Shattered World, his chapters were short. What is with the male character not getting as many pages and depth in this series? Especially since Gideon had some awesome hacker skills that never really got fully utilized. It could’ve been so much better. I was also interested in Sofia’s skillsets, which were also underutilized, though not as much as poor Gideon’s were. Her con artist background could have been really cool to see play out.

The reason a lot of the main characters’ skills and even their personalities weren’t developed enough stemmed from one major problem: Lilac and Tarver. About halfway through, Their Fractured Light turned into a continuation of Lilac and Tarver’s These Broken Stars instead of the development of Gideon and Sofia’s story. While I originally really liked both Lilac and Tarver, I grew tired of them overwhelming and intruding upon this storyline. Flynn and Jubilee didn’t do this during the group team-up, so I actually enjoyed their appearance, thankfully. And, as for the bad guy of the series, I was super upset when he became a joke of himself. I loathe when this happens in SFF books. SFF villains should be as developed as the heroes, or at least give the appearance that they’re somewhat competent.

Besides just spotty character development, the ending itself was simply “meh.” There really weren’t any stakes. I felt absolutely no tension, since it was obvious that all of the characters were going to come out of this in one piece. Additionally, the plot towards the end got somewhat confusing, a running theme for this series when the aliens are involved. I just rarely knew why characters were making the choices they were and how the tech and aliens really worked.

Basically, my thoughts can be summed up with “It could’ve been better,” and “I wanted more from our main characters.”

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Geekerella

Ashley Poston

(Starfield #1)

Publication Date: April 4, 2017

Hardcover, 320 pages, Quirk Books

Genres: YA, Contemporary

B&N | Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic science-fiction series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck and her dad's old costume, Elle's determined to win - unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons - before he was famous. Now they're nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he has ever wanted, but Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake - until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise. But when she disappears at midnight, will he ever be able to find her again?

Part-romance, part-love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.

My Review

If you’re looking for a cute, no-true-substance contemporary read about geeky people being oddly persecuted (despite us living in a geek-accepted day and age), then this book is the one for you. I don’t want to come off as too harsh while reviewing this book, because it had its fun moments, but it was just all around too cliché.

So the story is based off of Cinderella. Danielle is playing the leading lady. Darien Freeman, the actor playing Carmindor in Danielle’s favorite franchise, is the prince. And, of course, there are the evil stepmother and stepsister(s). Why can’t any book make a realistic, three-dimensional stepmom? Without one, Danielle’s entire storyline just felt like a pity party. Danielle also made some strange decisions that had me doubting her realistic-ness as well. (I mean, who takes a dog to a premiere?! Paris Hilton? Really?) There were other more important strange decisions, but the dog one forced me to knock the book down a half star. It was just odd….

Before I get too much into the less impressive qualities of the book, I’ll share the good stuff. Darien, while also whiny, had a very interesting storyline. I found myself enjoying his chapters much more often than Danielle’s. He was an actor on a popular movie set versus Danielle’s cliché situation. So yes, his chapters were better.

The geeky setting of the story was also very cute, but there were too many corny “We’re all in this together” moments. Conventions are not High School Musical. Oh, but the Starfield universe does sound super cool! The author should write books about those characters! (I know she wrote a new sci-fi YA book. I’ll be reading it at some point.)

All in all, maybe this book just wasn’t for me or I read it at the wrong time in my life to truly enjoy it. I was hoping for a Cinderella Fangirl, but I just got a more contemporary Cinderella a la Hillary Duff’s A Cinderella Story. If that’s your thing, check this one out. If not, just reread Fangirl.

*Note: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: The Crown by Kiera Cass

The Crown

Kiera Cass

(The Selection #5)

Publication Date: May 3, 2016

Hardcover, 279 pages, HarperTeen

Genres: YA, Dystopian

Book Depository | Amazon | Goodreads

When Eadlyn became the first princess of Illéa to hold her own Selection, she didn’t think she would fall in love with any of her thirty-five suitors. She spent the first few weeks of the competition counting down the days until she could send them all home. But as events at the palace force Eadlyn even further into the spotlight, she realizes that she might not be content remaining alone.

Eadlyn still isn’t sure she’ll find the fairytale ending her parents did twenty years ago. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and soon Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more impossible—and more important—than she ever imagined.

My Review

So once again the America Singer gang is back to do… whatever it is the royalty in Illéa actually do. Which seems like a whole lot of nada. And, as most people can probably relate to, The Selection series was not my favorite and it had some major problems, but it was entertaining in its own way. The Heir and The Crown, though, have absolutely no value to the world Cass has built. Let me tell you why I think so.

First, let’s talk about the characters. Absolutely none of them seem real. The boys are two-dimensional, Eadlyn is two-dimensional, and her siblings are two-dimensional. It’s just absurd how fake they all were. While The Selection trilogy had some character development and seemingly realistic male and female characters, it seems like Cass put no effort whatsoever in creating characters for this duology that had their own thoughts and feelings. All of the boys constantly kissed Eadlyn’s butt and none of them were really that different from the next boy in line.

 I feel like my character rant could go on forever, so I’m just going to move on to the plot. My major issue with the plot does not revolve around Eadlyn stepping up to help her father, King Maxon, after everything that happened in The Heir. What does bother me is the fact that her father agreed to a certain spoilery arrangement, just because it would make his life easier. No real father would have done that to his child. No real king would have done that to an unprepared princess.

My second major issue plot-wise was who Eadlyn chose. This, like with the father-daughter dilemma, does not revolve around Eadlyn’s actual choice. It revolves around the fact that I was unemotionally invested in the boys that by the time I got halfway through the book, I realized I didn’t care who she chose. That should never happen in a good book. I should always care who the main character ends up with. Always.

Now, you might wonder why, if I claim to have this much ill-will towards this book, that I am giving it 2.5 stars instead of 1. Well, that’s a sort-of simple answer: the ending managed to redeem a few qualities. Eadlyn did manage to step up, and the way her family situation worked out did kind of fix itself into a way I was comfortable with. I still didn’t believe it could happen, but the way it was explained later on in the book felt a little more realistic. Also, a wee bit more character development happened towards the end, but it was nowhere near what I really wanted.

All in all, I’m sure, if you read and enjoyed the books in The Selection series, you’re probably going to read this one in order to finish the entire series. However, if you want to keep things where they left off in The One and are unsure about continuing, just don’t bother picking this book up. It won’t add very much to your overall experience, especially considering both books are ridiculously short and it seems like Cass had no investment in the story. It actually seems like the publisher pushed her to write the spin-off books more than Cass was actually willing to write them, and that’s just sad.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself. This in no way affected my opinion/review.

Review: Spellcaster by Claudia Gray

Spellcaster

Claudia Gray

(Spellcaster #1)

Publication Date: March 5, 2015

Hardcover, 389 pages, HarperTeen

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed - and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future … until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed.

Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his family’s terrible curse, and to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives of everyone around them. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s new novel is sure to draw fans of the Hex Hall and Caster Chronicles series, and fans of the hit CW TV show The Secret Circle.

My Review

Witches are making a comeback lately, but Spellcaster isn’t really a great addition to this comeback. I hate saying this because Claudia Gray’s Evernight series and her standalone book Fateful, were some of my favorite reads when I first started really getting into paranormal young adult literature, but this one just fell really flat for me.

Nadia is moving to a new town with her dad and little brother in tow because her mom wants nothing to do with their family anymore. Ouch. Now, Nadia has to teach herself the secret art of witchcraft, as well as figure out why in the world this Mateo boy keeps showing up. It doesn’t help that something fishy is going on in her new town, something that Nadia might not be prepared to handle.

Okay, so this book was boring. Ugh. That’s such a terrible word for such a good author, but it was boring. It took me more than one hundred pages to get into it, and even then, it was tough-reading. I just kept trying to push through because I was hoping Gray’s normal awesomeness would come out somewhere. However, it never really did.

Nadia is a one-dimensional character. She didn’t have a lot of reaction to things and her character arc was very stereotypical. Some of this could have been helped by writing the story in first person from Nadia’s viewpoint, instead of doing third-person point of view from everybody’s viewpoints. I think the third-person also left very little surprises to be revealed later on in the story.

Mateo and all of the other characters were just as blah. I didn’t form a connection with any of them. I did think that some of the family moments were rather touching, though. I wish more scenes could have revolved around Nadia and her family’s problems, instead of revolving around an undeveloped romance and a typical plot.

If you’re a huge fan of witches, you might like this book, just because some of the witchy aspects of the world are really cool, but don’t go looking for a Trial by Fire or even Beautiful Creatures type of read.

All in all, I’m disappointed with this one. I love Claudia Gray and I just don’t know what happened here. I don’t think I’ll be reading book two—at least not anytime in the near future.

*Note: I purchased a copy of this book for myself.

Review: Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland

Vengeance Bound

Justina Ireland

Publication Date: November 2012

Hardcover, 320pages, Simon & Schuster

Genres: YA, Paranormal

Barnes & Noble | Amazon | Goodreads

The Goddess Test meets Dexter in an edgy, compelling debut about one teen’s quest for revenge… no matter how far it takes her.

Cory Graff is not alone in her head. Bound to a deal of desperation made when she was a child, Cory’s mind houses the Furies—the hawk and the serpent—lingering always, waiting for her to satisfy their bloodlust. After escaping the asylum where she was trapped for years, Cory knows how to keep the Furies quiet. By day, she lives a normal life, but by night, she tracks down targets the Furies send her way. And she brings down Justice upon them.

Cory’s perfected her system of survival, but when she meets a mysterious boy named Niko at her new school, she can’t figure out how she feels about him. For the first time, the Furies are quiet in her head around a guy. But does this mean that Cory’s finally found someone who she can trust, or are there greater factors at work? As Cory’s mind becomes a battlefield, with the Furies fighting for control, Cory will have to put everything on the line to hold on to what she’s worked so hard to build.

My Review

Escape from an insane asylum run by a madman. Check. Travel around the U.S. to evade detection from the system. Check. Meet a cute boy. Check. Make questionable friends. Check. Have homicidal Greek revenge deities telling you to kill evil men? Check. Check. And check. Cory Graff, aka Amelie, is forced to judge the sins of men, and to carry out their sentence she uses three Furies’ power. But Cory doesn’t really want them inside her head anymore. That’s where this story starts off, with Cory trying to fit in at a new school, make friends, and keep the voices in her head content.

The plot of the story is unoriginal, but the way the story is pitched, as “The Goddess Test meets Dexter,” made me want to pick it up. While I have never seen Dexter, I have read The Goddess Test, a young adult paranormal book about the Greek gods, and I loved it! It had a fun premise, an interesting love interest, and a great background. Vengeance Bound lacks all of that. I can’t find myself connecting with the main character at all. Perhaps it is because Cory was keeping secrets from not only her school friends, but the readers of the book as well. You are not able to learn why she even has these loco Furies in her head until the last third of the book! And Ireland never mentions if there are other gods and/or goddesses out there.

Since the background of the book isn’t built up, I imagine the world Cory lives in to resemble some sort of magical realistic Earth—with the Furies being the only magical element in the world. And because the world isn’t really built up, the plot falls flat too. Throughout the story you’re waiting for something to happen and for some answers to come into play, and waiting, and waiting… Until finally they do, and it’s uneventful.

Perhaps I’m just not in the mood for this dark, paranormal thriller, or perhaps its dark, paranormal thriller-ness needs a little more in order to meet expectations.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from Book Review Board of Missouri. This in no way altered my opinion/review.

Review: Pawn by Aimee Carter

Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion #1) by 

Aimee Carter

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed, and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

My Review:

 I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I really enjoyed Aimee's Goddess Test series, but I kind of just felt like this book was a hot mess. 

The first few lines of the story really drew me in. I loved the concept behind the ranking system and the privileges that came with the certain ranks. But, while I loved the idea, the storyline itself just didn't deliver. Everything happens soooo fast and everything's just conveniently handed to the characters. There's no real struggle, whether for weapons, or simply getting from place to place, it all just poofs into existence. 

The characters of the story were interesting. Kitty was an odd individual who I couldn't find myself relating to at all. She was going to chose prostitution over working in a sewer. It was way too weird for me.  Also, she seemed to accept her body changes with hardly any issues. Sure, there were a few references to her being uncomfortable, but nothing astronomical. Plus, she starts to trust people really fast. 

I never got a real sense of danger from the story. Whenever Kitty would be in a bad situation I was just kind of like, "meh." Although this book didn't have the depth of most other dystopian novels, it was a fast read (only 293 pages). So, if you're looking for a book that doesn't get you so invested in the story, and that you can just chill with, Pawn is it for you.

*Note: I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley. This in no way altered my opinion/review.