Hello lovely people! Remember a few weeks back when the wonderful Lydia Redwine was here for an author interview? I promised you a book review, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do today. But first, check out the interview if you haven’t already: the tagline is “let’s talk epic fantasy, homeschooling, and religion,” so you can tell you’re in for a fun time.
And now, to the review!
About the Book
When a Royal dies, the realms elect the one to take their place. By reasons Camaria does not know, her realm elects her as the next Royal. Now that she is the new-found sixteenth Royal of the nation of Mirabelle, Cam embarks on a journey with her sisters and a young huntsman to the four realms of the nation to complete training in the four kinds of magic. Once she has completed this training, she will then be permitted to consume her annual amount of magic and possess manifested powers. Her ventures are unexpectedly steeped in precarious events when Cam discovers a secret plan of revolt, a past she never knew, and an ancient people group thought dead who call themselves the Spirit Followers.
- Goodreads | Amazon | paperback is 332 pages (but the font is pretty small so it reads like a longer book)
- Book 1 in the Instruments of Sacrifice series
My Thoughts
I had the privilege of copyediting this book, so I may not be entirely unbiased 😉 That being said, I wouldn’t feature a book on my blog if I didn’t genuinely think it was promising.
Spirit Followers is a wonderful example of indie fantasy! The characters are well-developed and diverse. I feel passionately about diverse characters in fiction and was delighted to find characters of all different races and countries (hailing from the fictional world, of course). Cam shows character growth throughout the book, as do her sisters. It may be difficult to keep them all straight at first, because there are quite a few of them, but it’s a rewarding experience because they’re all so sweet and feisty. There are several pairs of characters who I enthusiastically ship and I hope they will end up together in the next book!
The religion in the book seems to be inspired by Christianity but at no times is it overly preachy or overbearing. It was the perfect balance and is exactly what I hope for in books that have religion in them.
Content warning: sexual assault (both off-page and on-page when a character forces a kiss on another), violence, and mild swearing. All is handled respectfully and nothing is gratuitous.
My Rating
Because I was involved with the editing process, I don’t feel that I can actually give an unbiased rating, because I have an emotional investment here now. 🙂 What I can say is that this is a really excellent gem in the world of indie fantasy, and this author is definitely one to watch. I would recommend this book to fans of Shannon Hale in particular. Fans of C. S. Lewis would likely appreciate this series as well.
Thank you to Lydia for allowing me to review her book and feature her on Once Upon a Yarn!