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.

Stacking the Shelves: The Doomscrolling Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Life has been meh and woo at the same time. The world we live in is awful, and I've been doomscrolling too much, but the new Taylor Swift album mania has made things a bit happier. Because of both things, I haven't been reading as much. I'm hoping a weekend of TLC will help that. And by TLC, I mean just sleeping for like a full day with a bit of cleaning included. Not a lot of cleaning, just enough to make relaxing feel less guilt-inducing. I need some relaxation more than a clean house right now. Lol.

For books I received this week, I have something I shouldn't have got, but I did it anyway. It's the UK ARC of What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller. I did a trade with someone in the UK, but I had to pay for shipping, and it was just too expensive. I need to stop doing stuff like that. And thankfully, I have slowed down. I canceled some recent preorders, so I feel like that makes up for this by a very small amount. 

 

 

Up next, I have two B&N preorders. The first is Bespelled by Laura Thalassa, which came in surprisingly early. I don't think it was supposed to ship until the end of the month. I also didn't get book one yet, so it's kind of weird to get book two early. The other book I received was Heartless Sky by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti, the seventh book in the Zodiac Academy series in the new foiled editions.

 

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Stacking the Shelves: The June FairyLoot Romantasy Edition (Finally!)

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

I've been a bit MIA from the blog lately, so if you don't see me commenting as much, apologies. I'll be back soon, hopefully. Life is just... life. Nothing bad is happening, I just feel like I need a two-week nap, ya know? Other than that, everything is fine. Work is picking up, which isn't great, but it's good for job security. Ha ha. It does mean more stress, though, unfortunately. But, on to the books because that's what everyone is here for.

For books I got this week, I have more than I thought I would. My Arcane set of the Bridge Kingdom series arrived. It's very pretty. I also have way too many sets of these books. I need to decide which ones I actually want to keep because three is a lot. I think I'll make a decision once I actually read the last two duologies in the six-book series. That will likely be closer to when the last book releases, I think, especially since I'd like to reread the first two books before diving into the rest of them. 

 

 

Up next, I have something I should have received a month ago. That is my June FairyLoot Romantasy book, Rose in Chains by Julie Soto. My copy just never shipped for some reason, and getting ahold of FairyLoot these days is a nightmare. It takes like an entire two weeks for them to respond. But, after a crazy amount of back-and-forth, I finally got my book.

 

Here, I have a mix of books I got from various places. The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk by Carissa Broadbent was a Barnes & Noble preorder. I still haven't read the first few books in this series, but I do plan to binge it one day. I also got Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood from my sister. She didn't want her copy any more, so she gave it to me. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs was a random book I picked up from the used bookstore. I used trade credit, so I didn't even have to buy it. 

 

 

 

Next, I have some PrettyGal Pins/Jemlin cards. This is the Of Flesh & Bone deck for Harper L. Woods' ongoing series. I only read book one, but I enjoyed it a lot, so when PGP announced this deck would be at a convention, I was interested, but I decided to pass as 1) I wasn't going to the convention, and 2) I loathe the fact that they do exclusive convention decks, which means people have to arrange for pickups or miss out entirely. Well, the convention date got closer, and I was having FOMO, so I arranged for someone to pick these up for me, and here they are. 

As for ebooks, I have a decent amount this week. I requested Our Rogue Fates by Sarah Glenn Marsh on NetGalley, and was approved the same day. Right before that, I'd been notified I was approved for We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark. Woo! And from Kindle Unlimited, I downloaded Psycho Beasts, book three in the Cruel Shifterverse, by Jasmine Mas. I also downloaded book two in the series, but I've already read and returned it to KU, so I didn't feel the need to include the cover. Plus, I'm mad at this series, and I just kind of want to forget about it. I will be unhauling my physical copy of book one soon.

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

July Wrap-Up & August TBR

July was a crazy month. I think I did more activities in July than I have the entire year, minus March/April when I was preparing for ApollyCon, dodging tornadoes while being sick, and attending ApollyCon. Most of the July events were family stuff, so nothing crazy. It was just stuff that took up my weekends. I am excited to have a quieter month in August, only for September to be another month of chaos. Hopefully, after that, things calm down for the rest of the year, but the holidays are always insane, so who knows.

In this wrap-up, I’ll list the books I read, the books I reviewed, the books I bought/received, and my TBR for next month. Now, let’s get this bookish party started!

Books Read in July

The Jasad Crown: 4.5 stars (my review)

What Fury Brings: 4.5 stars

A Queen This Fierce and Deadly: 3.5 stars

The Foxglove King: 4 stars

Project Hail Mary: 3.5 stars

Smoke and Scar: 3.5 stars

I read six books in July, which is way lower than what I've read in previous months. There are reasons for that, however. The major reason being that family stuff I talked about. I also read two of my favorite books of the year, What Fury Brings by Tricia Levenseller and The Jasad Crown by Sara Hashem, and was in a slight slump after that. And that slump came back towards the end of July as well. Both of these two books were ARC reads, though I acquired What Fury Brings through a trade. Also, note that What Fury Brings is a fairly dark book. It has a lighter tone, but the subject matter isn't for those with significant triggers. Think Captive Prince vibes. I, personally, devoured it in like six hours. I couldn't stop myself. I also managed to finish the Kingdom of Lies series by Stacia Stark when I finally read A Queen This Fierce and Deadly. Now, I need to read the spinoff book. And, to make my sister happy, I read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. It was fun, but there was a lot of math. I did read it in less than 24 hours though. I read The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten as well in order to decide if I wanted to purchase the FairyLoot edition of the third book in the trilogy. (Spoiler alert, I did.) All of these books were physical copies, by the way. I mean, technically I read the Stacia Stark book as a Kindle Unlimited copy, but I own a special edition, so it still counts as getting a physical book off of my TBR. The only true ebook I read was Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox, another KU download. It was fun. I do expect to read the sequel when it comes out soon.

Books Bought/Received in July

I thought July wasn't that bad. Well, it was bad. Very bad. Not for the number of books, but for the dollar amount. I think I have finally put myself on a budget. No more random book orders until I get my TBR down, and I have a strict monthly allowance. Very strict. Obviously, I have a lot of preorders from Barnes & Noble that are coming in, so I probably won't cancel those, but I just can't make any new orders for anything other than books I am super excited about until I get myself under control. I have been selling some books, so that has helped. It's still only put a small dent in the damage, though. Overall, I bought 32 books in July, and I received five books.

The five books I received in July that I didn't pay for in the month consisted of a variety of titles from random places. For preorders, I have Aurora Crate's editions of Dance with a Demon and Inner Demons by Stacia Stark and Bookish Box's edition of Between Fear and Favor by Jess Wisecup. I also used my trade credit to get a copy of Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent for free at my local used bookstore. And the sole ebook that I received this month (that wasn't a KU copy) was To Cage a Wild Bird by Brooke Fast, which is a NetGalley e-ARC.

Now, for what I bought. I only received 24 of the 32 books I purchased. Those included 15 books from B&N: Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose Darling, Looking for Group by Alexis Hall, The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigette Knightley, the Legend trilogy with novella by Marie Lu (not pictured), Avalon High by Meg Cabot (not pictured), Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh, Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer (not pictured), Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Baby Dragon Cafe by Aamna Qureshi and A.T. Qureshi, and The Curse That Binds by Laura Thalassa. From FairyLoot, I also received three books from my subscription boxes: Dance of Lies by Brittney Arena, Arcana Academy by Elise Kova, and The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang. I also ordered two books from Amazon during their Prime sale: The Will of the Many by James Islington and A Kingdom of Flesh and Fire paperback for a dust jacket I have. I've also done a lot of trading in July. Through trades, I got the FairyLoot editions of Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross and an extra copy of A Court of Wings and Ruin to replace my beat up copy. I also ordered The Jasad Crown UK hardback from Blackwells.

 As for the remaining eight books, some of them should be on their way soon and others won't ship out for a while yet. The ones on their way include the Illumicrate edition of The Irresistible Urge and another book I'll talk about later. Others that might take a bit longer include the FBAA Acrylipics 3D edges edition, the Bad Women Books The Knight and the Moth edition, a German special edition of the first Zodiac Academy book, the FairyLoot edition of A Curse Carved in Bone, and the Indigo edition of Hollow.

Currently Obsessed With

The month of July was pretty quiet for new things to watch. The biggest thing I watched this month was the new Superman movie. My family saw it in theaters. I also watched a couple of episodes of Jensen Ackles's new show Countdown on Amazon Prime, but I haven't continued with the rest of the episodes just yet. I've been having a hard time lately getting into cop shows. Other than those, I've been re-watching Home Improvement episodes. Oh, and I don't think I ever mentioned it, but in June, I believe, I watched the '90s film The Rocketeer with my parents. It was fun.

August TBR

I've been slowly but surely chipping away at my very long TBR. The first major thing to get off my TBR is Voidwalker by S.A. MacLean. I need to review it before it's release date this month. I'm about 75% done as of the time I'm writing this post. I'm also about 60% done with Of Sky & Embers by Claire Butler (ebook). I think I've been reading this book since fall of last year. I just put it down and kept forgetting to pick it back up. I have a library Libby book, Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer, that I need to start ASAP, and I would like to get to Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport (NetGalley copy). Other than those, I have some other books I'd like to read that aren't major priorities. Those include Salt in the Wound by Sierra Simone, The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz, The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan E. O'Keefe, Rain of Shadows and Endings by Melissa K. Roehrich, The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten, Silver Elite by Dani Francis, Rebel Witch by Kristen Ciccarelli, and Lightlark by Alex Aster. I've also recently made a TBR jar. It's full of both reading prompts and specific books that have been on my TBR for a long time. I pulled from it a couple of weeks ago, and the prompt was "a first book re-read to finish a series," which basically means rereading book one in a series I haven't read the sequels of yet. I decided to go with A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske for this one. I'd really love to finish out this trilogy before the end of the year.

***

Okay, well, that's the month of July, plus some August sneak peeks, all wrapped up into one post. Do you have a wrap-up post for last month? If so, share in the comments!

Stacking the Shelves: The July Illumicrate Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

Life has been a mess lately. I mean, it's not terrible, by any means, but it seems like there's just one thing happening after another that keeps me from finishing up the tasks I really want/need to. For example, I bought some new Ikea Billy bookcases last weekend, picked them up, and spent all of Monday evening building them. Then, the one I really wanted ended up having weird gray spots on it. I didn't notice it until after I'd spent a good 45 minutes putting it together. Sigh. I'm getting a replacement, but now I have to decide what to do with the ugly bookcase (I'll probably toss it, just in case the spots are something nefarious), and it sets me back another month for shelf organization while I wait for my replacement to ship out. It's just not a good time.

As for books I got this week, I have some nice ones. Two of my FairyLoot monthly subs arrived, the Adult and the YA boxes. And yes, it's my first YA sub book since fall 2023, I believe...? It might have even been 2022. Should I have renewed my sub when I got the email saying I was off the waitlist? Nope. Did I anyway? Yep. I don't know how long I'll keep it, as I have mixed feelings on their YA picks and too many books to read as it is. But, I am excited about The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang. Do I love their edition, though? Eh. I wanted more color. That's why I returned my regular edition once I learned I got on the YA sub. But, the naked book is very pretty. I also got Arcana Academy by Elise Kova in the adult sub. I've already read and reviewed this one. I think it's one of my favorite editions in the 2025 FairyLoot boxes. It's gorgeous. This is the type of style I want for my special editions. 

 

 

Up next, I have three random books from three different places. The Ruthless Vows FairyLoot edition is from that trade I mentioned last week, and the Wrath of the Dragons by Olivia Rose Darling was a preorder from Barnes & Noble. I also stopped by my local used bookstore to take in some books for trade credit, and, while I was there, I got the trad published hardcover of Serpent & the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent. I have all of the other books in the short, trad versions, so it was time to get the first book in the smaller size too. I might actually get rid of my indie copies one day, since they don't match the size of the spinoff sequels.

 

Lastly, I have the Illumicrate July box, which featured The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley. Now, this cover was actually the reason I decided to subscribe to Illumicrate. I saw a leak of this design months ago and thought it was gorgeous. I haven't read the book yet, so I have no idea if it's accurate to the story, but the artwork is awesome. Now, I am highly disappointed that Illumicrate decided to go with the ugly acetate cover. I do not like it at all. I want matte covers. Or, if it has to be glossy, let it be a regular glossy. The acetate design makes beautiful books look like cheap library copies. I hate it soooooo much. Special editions should look fancy, not cheap. Sigh. We'll see how I feel once I read the book and get used to the design.

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: Silvercloak by L.K. Steven

Silvercloak

L.K. Steven

(Silvercloak Saga #1)

Publication Date: July 29, 2025

Hardcover, 464 pages, Del Rey

Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer

Goodreads

In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed. . . . 

 

Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron Killoran’s parents, destroying her idyllic childhood. Hell-bent on revenge, she lies her way into Silvercloak Academy—the training ground for her city’s elite order of detectives—with a single goal: to bring the Bloodmoons to justice.

 

But when Saff’s deception is exposed, rather than being cast out, she’s given a rare opportunity: to go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.

 

Descending into a world where pleasure and pain are the most powerful currencies, Saff must commit some truly heinous deeds to keep her cover—and her life. Not only are there rival gangs and sinister smuggling rings to contend with, but there’s also her growing feelings for the kingpin’s tortured son, with his vicious pet fallowwolf, his dark past, and the curious prophecy foretelling his death at Saffron’s hand.

 

With each day testing her loyalties further, Saff finds her web of lies becoming harder to spin. And when one false step could destroy everything and everyone she’s ever loved . . . the detective who’s dedicated her life to vengeance just might die for it.

My Review

If you're an adult who is missing the magic of the Wizarding World and wants a darker story that gives Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic vibes, then L.K. Steven's Silvercloak is 100% the next book you should pick up. It has wands, a unique power system, time travel, mafia, detectives, queer-normative relationships, and fancy cloaks to immerse you in a new fantasy sensation.

I am going to be totally honest, it took me a while to really start enjoying this book. Not because the worldbuilding isn't awesome or the characters aren't entertaining. It was simply due to the narration style. It was a third-person point of view, but something about it was a bit... dry. It took me a good chunk of the book to really connect with all of the cool elements of the story just because I wasn't feeling the writing choices. However, once I did start to connect, I was hooked. I'd tell myself to take a break, but the next thing I know, I've managed to read two more chapters. It's an easy story to get absorbed in once you become familiar with that drier tone. That's definitely where the Six of Crows and A Darker Shade of Magic comparisons come in too, in addition to the mafia and magic elements, of course. Both of those titles have a third-person limited POV that feels a tad slower and heavier than popular stories like the Crescent City or Shatter Me books. I think both of those series would compare well for their magic systems and characters, however.

The main character of Silvercloak, Saffron Killoran, is a recently-promoted detective trying to avenge her parents' death by going undercover in a mafia organization called the Bloodmoons. Now, Saffron isn't particularly unique in terms of her personality, she's witty and competent like most female main characters (exceptions will be discussed soon), but she is immune to spells in a world where spells and potions are used for pretty much everything, from healing to pleasure to flying to time travel. I enjoyed Saffron as a character, but there were some instances where she made some very odd and dumb mistakes, like when she went to visit her superior officer twice while beginning her undercover work. I'm also surprised her superior was dumb enough to arrange it. And of course, there's the love interest, the mafia prince, Levan Celadon. He has a pet wolf, a crazy amount of power, and a tragic backstory. Everything you need in a good fantasy romance plotline. He gives off major Kaz Brekker, Kell Maresh, and Aaron Warner vibes.

As for the plot, Saffron's journey to get her vengeance is addicting. You want to know what happens next. You simply have to make it through the first third of the book to really get to that point, unfortunately. But, there's a lot of action, betrayal, and intrigue throughout the story. Honestly, if the narration style had been revamped, this could have easily been a five-star read, especially with the worldbuilding. I enjoyed learning about the ways the spells were used to enhance everyday life, and how pleasure/pain could be used to increase power, though I think that element could have been a bit grittier. There was also a small plot hole in that time travel spells were removed from wands, but somehow killing curses weren't. It was a head-scratcher. There is a whole history of time-traveling mages and dragons that has me ready for book two, though. But the thing I'm most looking forward to is Saffron and Levan's relationship. Things took a crazy turn at the end of book one, so the sequel is going to be insane.

All in all, I am truly happy I kept going with this book, even though it seemed like the beginning was going to make it a quick DNF. Do I think Silvercloak is for everyone? Not at all. If you're not a lover of fantasy first, then this definitely isn't for you. It's also for readers who can stick with those slower tomes, understanding that the end of the book will reveal all the good stuff. But, if you're a reader who likes the hard work to be worth it, Silvercloak should immediately be added to your TBR. I promise, it'll be a rewarding investment.

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

Stacking the Shelves: The Expensive Trades Edition

 "Stacking the Shelves" is a weekly haul meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews and Reading Reality. It allows book buyers to share their accumulation of books with the online book-loving community.

This week has been a bit crazy. Not quite as much as last week, but there were a few things happening that aren't normal routine activities for me. One thing I've started on is pulling out all my bookshelves to dust and vacuum behind them. I'm currently doing one in my living room, and I have like three more to go. Yuck. But, two of them shouldn't be too bad. They're small.

As for books I got this week, I have the Aurora Crate versions of Stacia Stark's Dance with the Demon and Inner Demons. I bought book one a while back, so I wanted to get the matching sequels. I just finished Stacia's Kingdom of Lies series, and it was really good, so I'm glad I bought these to give her other series a try. The order came with some art prints, a signed bookplate, and a couple of bookmarks too. 

 

 

Up next, I have something that cost me a lot of money, but I guess it makes sense that it did, considering these books retailed for like $35-40 each originally anyway. I traded a book for the FairyLoot editions of Rebecca Ross's Letters of Enchantment duology. The person I traded with bought one book from Mercari and is sending me the other soon. I had canceled my YA subscription right before this book was in it, and now that Wild Reverence is coming out and FairyLoot's edition matches it, plus, knowing how much I enjoyed Rebecca's Elements of Cadence duology, I just needed to get my hands on these. That being said, this was the first UK trade I did where I had to ship something overseas, and boy oh boy, I will not be doing that again. That was just painful. $78 to ship a paperback book is insane! I, unfortunately, have one more book I'm getting personally shipped to me from the UK, so it's likely this will be expensive as well, but after that, no more. Never, ever again! That was nuts.

 

  

 

I traveled to Illinois last weekend and stopped by Barnes & Noble on the way to return a book, and also to take advantage of their buy-one-get-one-50%-off romance paperback sale. I was originally looking for The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, as the movie news was released, and I thought it was time for me to read it. My half-off book was Teacher of the Year by M.A. Wardell, which I've heard great things about. I also got a free green tote bag that I forgot to take a photo of. Oh well. I'm too lazy to do it now. And Looking for Group by Alexis Hall was from a B&N online order. It looks cute.

And lastly, I have another lonely ebook. It's Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer. It's actually a Libby copy. Can you believe it? I haven't read a Libby book in a very long time. I need to really get on it though, because it's already been almost a week, so I think I only have one or two weeks left. Honestly, though, I may just end up using my Kindle points/credits to buy the ebook. I don't think I'll get to it in time. It's also been a while since I read the second book, but I'm hoping I can still get into this one without too much trouble, as I don't want to do a reread of the first two books.

Well, that's all for me. What books have you bought/received lately?

Review: Arcana Academy by Elise Kova

Arcana Academy

Elise Kova

(Arcana Academy #1)

Publication Date: July 22, 2025

Hardcover, 576 pages, Del Rey

Genres: Adult, Fantasy

Goodreads

A woman who wields magical tarot cards lands herself in a false engagement with the headmaster of a mysterious academy in this first installment of an enthralling romantasy series from the bestselling author of A Deal with the Elf King.

 

Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards-a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy.

 

Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy's enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape-for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

 

In order to conceal her identity and keep her close, Kaelis brings Clara to Arcana Academy, introducing her as the newest first-year student and his bride-to-be.

 

Thrust into a world of arcane magic and royal intrigue, where one misstep will send her back to prison or worse, Clara finds that the prince she swore to hate may not be what he seems. But can she risk giving him power over the world-and her heart? Or will she take it for herself?

My Review

Arcana Academy is for the Gambit and tarot card girlies first and foremost. And, unfortunately, I am not one of those girlies. However, I still enjoyed this book, but I had a rough time getting through the beginning. The story starts out pretty heavy on the world- and magic-building. It's a little info-dumpy, similar to the first Crescent City book. I stuck with it, though, and the payoff was worth the confusion and head scratches that consistently popped up while I was trying to figure out what the heck each card did and who everyone was. After the first third of the story, though, things started to get fun.

Let me back up a bit. Our main character, Clara Graysword, has been imprisoned for illegal tarot card magic. She shouldn't be creating or using the cards she's been wielding, so she's locked up by the royal family. A year later, Prince Kaelis comes to get her for his own reasons. He wants her help with a secret task. Now, she has to pretend to be his fiance (fake engagement!) and successfully graduate a magical school (trials and competitions!). It's also the school where he rules as the headmaster. Clara is a strong female lead. She didn't fold easily just because a prince batted his eyes at her, which I appreciated. She was also confident in her abilities and weaknesses. It was refreshing to see for a female main character in a fantasy world. Kaelis, on the other hand, is kind of a jerk at first. But, the tension between the two was very nice. I was actually a bit disappointed when they started getting along. The two still had their moments, though.

As for the magic and world, that's where the book lost me at first. It was really hard to follow the card logistics. And maybe that was because I was reading an e-ARC, so it wasn't easy to flip back to the descriptions of various cards, houses, or characters. Maybe the finished copy will have a nice list of all the important magical terminology in the front of the book for the card types, uses, houses, and house members. I think readers would really appreciate that. For the story itself, it was fun. The academy elements are very reminiscent of the Zodiac Academy series and Fourth Wing while still managing to be its own thing. And while the ending wasn't unexpected, I am sad to have to wait a year or more for book two after that cliffhanger. Boo.

All in all, Arcana Academy was a good read. It had action, intrigue, unique magical powers, romance, and a few twists to keep people reading. I do, however, think readers need to be prepared to go into it with that heavy worldbuilding in mind. If you're not mentally ready to be in a story with descriptive magic, come back to Arcana Academy later, when you can digest all the things. It's a long book, and it takes some brain power to get through. It's very similar to an epic fantasy in that way, just without the larger-scaled setting (the academy is pretty much the primary setting) and multiple points of view (Clara is the only POV throughout the story).

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