I can finally see the top of the review request pile! This one has been in the pile for far too long, but C’est la vie at this point, lol. This book looked interesting to me. It has a lovely cover, and the story sounded like something new.
I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review of it.
Kara was thirteen when she learned her mother was dying. Five years later, the last component of her mother’s cure waits in the city of Tarna, but that is one journey she may not survive.
Even as a Glyphbinder, a wielder of blood glyphs created by a people long dead, Kara is no match for the madman that hunts her or the dark forces at his beck and call. As those Kara loves fall one by one, her hunter’s purpose is finally revealed.
Demons thought long defeated stir now in the shadows of her world, seeking a dark power hidden in Kara’s blood. Tireless and without pity, these demons will not be satisfied until they claim Kara’s world … and her soul.
The tree rummaged through her memories, everything from her first steps to her first kiss to her most secret dreams. It drank her life’s experience as a hungry tick would drink her blood – impatient, eager and rough.
This story follows Kara, who is a student at Solyr, which is a magical school. She’s a pretty typical eighteen year old girl, other than having orange eyes, being one of the most powerful teenagers ever, and generally being magically badass compared to her peers.
People in this world can use glyphs, which are like symbols that are drawn in blood that have different effects on the world around them. Most people have one sort of specialization, like healing or fire, and so on, but Kara is a glyphbinder, which means she can use glyphs from any school of magic.
She’s looking for a cure for her mother, who is dying of a debilitating disease, and to do so she must travel to the capital city of the realm. While out finding one of her reagents, she gets attacked, then finds and saves a man and drags him back to town. He’s lost his memory, but all signs point to him being a part of the army that her people are at war with. She gets attacked again while in the school that supposedly nobody can get in, and the conclusion is that she’s being hunted for some reason. Her and a group of her peers travel from Solyr to the capital city with the amnesiac man, and the creatures who are hunting follow.
And a great time is had by all. Great times!!!
This book is fast paced AF. Almost too fast, if I’m really being honest. I found it really, really hard to put down once I got situated with it. Action followed by more and more action, and then more neverending action. I almost wanted the characters to take a little break in there at some point to just recuperate. I rather liked most of the characters though. I liked Kara. She’s rather snarky, and I like that. I liked many of her compatriots, mostly Byn and Trell. Jain is also a really interesting character with interesting powers.
This book starts out rather tame. It almost felt rather YA in the beginning, to be honest. It’s very magical school right at first. Not quite as young as Harry Potter, but still sort of college-level feel, so I don’t know what I was really expecting. Well, it goes from tame to horrible death all over the place preeeetty quick. Things unfold really quickly, and it has plenty of twists that I didn’t see coming. The ending wrapped everything up nicely, and was satisfying. I thought that it was written rather well. It is certainly written in a way that kept me reading it into the wee hours.
All told, I thought this was a really fun debut! It certainly keeps you on your toes. 🌟🌟🌟🌟
superstardrifter 
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