Almost Adept

by Olga Godim

To prove her Adept potential, seventeen-year-old mage Eriale embarks on her first magical quest. She expects a glittering foreign escapade but ends up in Grumesh, the land rife with poverty and violence, where local courier Kealan becomes her only friend and ally. Together, they survive an explosion, a treacherous incarceration, and a daring escape. Sparks of interest ignite between them, but before Eriale can explore her attraction to Kealan, she discovers blood magic running amok in the city. Her priorities must change. As an aspiring Adept, she is duty-bound to find and eliminate the blood mage of Grumesh, or the blood magic will taint the entire land. No matter the cost—her life or her heart—she can’t let the vile mage win.

Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2014

About the author

I'm a fantasy writer. I live in Vancouver, Canada, and have two wonderful children: a son and a daughter. Both have already flown the nest, so instead of children I now collect monkeys. I have over 300 monkey figurines in my collection.

I’ve been making up stories with magic and swords since I was very young but I only started writing professionally in the 21st century. Before that, I was a computer programmer. Besides writing short stories and novels, I also work as a journalist for a local newspaper. I enjoy writing cultural pieces and personal profiles of the local artists.

My favorite things:
• Favorite hobby: reading.
• Favorite genres: fantasy and romance, although sometimes I find delight in a serious mainstream novel or a cozy mystery.
• Favorite music: classical.
• Favorite TV shows: it’s a pretty eclectic list, including Remington Steel, Babylon 5, Bones, and Murdoch Mysteries.
• Favorite online community: GoodReads

Reviews

[Heena Rathore Rathore-Pardeshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Plot | Story
A lovely concept with a fairly simple plot story. The pace of the story was great and classified this book as another of Olga's no-nonsense book. No unnecessary melodrama, no useless twists and no over-writing, that's how this book was and for me it was a real fairy-tale treat. This is the third book by Olga that I've read (the first two were Eagle En Garde and Squirrel Of Magic), and once again I'd like to say that her books are like fairy-tales for adults. I don't know how she does this, but while and after reading her books one feels that the world is a beautiful and happy place where evil can never sustain. I love reading her and I hope you'll do too!

Characters
The characters so well-developed that one just can't hep falling in love with them. Eriale, the female protagonist, is just so adorable that she'll instantly make a place in your heart. Koala, the male protagonist will do the same unless you're a guy!
The character connect is just awesome and I'm sure I'll never forget Eriale, just the way one never forgets Cinderella.



Romance
The romantic relation between Eriale and Kealan takes a considerable time to form and is really adorable. It'll keep you entertained throughout the book.

Writing
The writing is amazingly easy and extremely relatable. You'll get hooked in less than 20 pages and will not leave the book till you finish it.
She's one of my favourite authors. Her books have made a special place on my shelf and I can'e imagine not reading her books over and over again!

Beginning
The beginning was really good. I really enjoyed it when Eriale turns a duchebag into a "muttonhead." It was really funny and served as a great start for the book to acquaint the reader with all the magic do's and don'ts in the world of Eriale.

Ending
The ending was good except for the fact that the Eriale's duel with Udolen ended too quickly, it could have been much more entertaining given the fact that Eriale was almost an adept and that the entire book ,kind of, revolved around that only! I feel that the ending needed some more magical action.

Cover Art
I don't know how to put this, but it is quite horrible (sorry Olga!) A book this good really deserved a much, much better cover art!
All I can is don't judge this book by it's cover!

Blurb
The blurb is perfect. But if you'll pick up the book just by reading it then you'll find the ending quite dull and lacking extreme magical action.

Read all my reviews (including this one) at The Reading Bud

[Olga Godim]

I’m not going to write a review of my own novel or rate it. But I’m going to ask the protagonist, young magician Eriale, what happened? Why did she leave her comfortable home for the crazy adventure chronicled in this book?
Eriale: I wasn’t planning to leave home. I just finished my studies and was going to apply for an Adept license but I got into a scrape and had no choice but to disappear for a while. You see, it’s about this guy, Gordin. He is a duke’s nephew. We danced together at a few balls. I liked him and I thought he liked me, but he only pretended, the cad. First, he insulted me behind my back, and then he almost raped me in front of his friends. I’m no wussy; I’m a princess, well, kind-of anyway, so I had to retaliate. I turned him into a muttonhead.
Oh, don’t make those horrified eyes at me; it was only for a week and only his head. His body remained human. I really intended to give him a ram’s head, but I miscalculated (it was a spur-of-the-moment spell), and he got a ewe’s head instead. His family was furious, of course. Maybe they wouldn’t be so angry if I gave him a he-sheep’s head, but still. I had to flee until the furor died down.
I have distant relatives, my mother’s cousins, in the Roodiman Empire, so that was where I headed. I stopped in Grumesh at my father’s request, for some magical guild business, but then things got complicated. I became embroidered in their freedom fighting controversy and I met the most wonderful man, Kealan. And then I had to challenge a blood mage to a duel. Scary stuff, but it happens, when one is an Adept. Don’t worry, I’ll get to Roodim eventually. Maybe in the next book. Thank you for asking.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Almost Adept was a fun, light read and I liked both of the main characters. Eriale has nearly unlimited power but she's still very much a young adult and it shows at times. Kealan on the other hand is a bit older and a veteran of the Grumesh war and it's become his job to lead the remainder of his people to safety after his country was conquered. There's not much his remaining people can do besides flee and hide. His job as a courier helps them tremendously in that regard. He was also the son of the treasurer of Grumesh and has used most of his countries hidden fortune to help smuggle out the families of the warriors and nobles who are hunted mercilessly by the Roodiman's.

I really enjoyed this world. I loved the setting and the people. I liked the conflict between the two countries. Well it wasn't much of a conflict, it was more like a few ex-warrior's trying to hide but it was fun. I also really liked the magic and I'm not normally a fan of "unlimited" types of magic. Normally I just don't care for the kind of magic that you see so often in high fantasy. I prefer a magic system with plenty of checks and balances and while at times I felt the magic just made things way too easy for Eriale, I have to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. When it's done well it can be a lot of fun like with David Edding's The Belgariad. I would have liked to see a little more self sufficiencly on Erial's part and was glad when she lost her bag which just made it too easy for her during the first leg of her journey by providing her with an unlimited amount of food and coin so I was glad to see it go. Then she just starts using her magic to steal whatever she needs which in any other book I doubt I would have liked, especially after she herself had been robbed but the people she stole from totally deserved it so I was laughing with glee every single time she stole something. I was also clapping every time she used her magic to get back at someone who had done her or others wrong. I mean what's the point of having nearly unlimited magic if you can't use it to have a bit of fun and revenge?

But the magic wasn't completely "unlimited". It did have it's drawbacks. She couldn't just use it forever without tiring out and there was also the very real danger of becoming a blood mage and I thought the author did an excellent job with the villain Udolen. He was one nasty piece of work and everything I'd expect from an evil mage.

In the story Eriale has to lose her virginity to become an Adept. It's just kind of explained as "a magical thing". I've got my own theories and one of them is it has to do with being comfortable with who you are and with all of your sides, including your sexual one but I don't really know. For the most part it just bugged me a bit. I mean I loved how open and blunt Eriale was about it so that part was actually qutie a bit of fun and I enjoy reading about a more open society that just doesn't think sex is some evil taboo. The conversation between Eriale and her parents was priceless and the first time she mentioned it to Kealan had me laughing so hard. So in some ways it was pretty fun but it just didn't make a lot of sense to me to be honest. I mean she already had the power of an adept so why does she have to lose her virginity just to be called an adept? If it's because so she'll be content with all sides of herself that's cool, but what if she didn't like men? What if she just didn't like sex? There's just too many what if's for me and I'm just not really 100% sure why she even had to lose it in the first place. So at times it was kinda weird and at other times it could be fun. Sometimes it just felt like it was getting in the way of the story but all in all it wasn't a huge factor to me to be honest. I still enjoyed the story very much.

Overall I had a really good time reading this one. The authors writing style was peasant and easy to read. The characters were enjoyable and you could relate to them and the storyline was great. I liked Eriale, she was witty, smart, and made some childish mistakes which is understandable but she was also a good person and most importantly a strong person. I loved the fact that she wasn't just some damsel in distress. At times she seemed a bit too happy or optimistic but then I realized that a lot of that was because becoming an Adept was her whole life and she obviously looked up to and admired her father so naturally she would want to make him proud. I really want to talk about the ending and my thoughts on it but I can't without ruining it but I think it was a wise decision on the authors part to end it how she did.

I would definitely recommend this one. I think this was the authors second book and I'm looking forward to reading more by her. I would love it if she revisited this world some day. I'd love to know more about the mage's guild and the different society's as well as see more about court life. Even if it was with different characters I'd just like to spend more time in this world.

http://jamiesbookblog.com/almost-adep...

[OpenBookSociety.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://openbooksociety.com/article/al...

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Alina

Beware of possible spoilers

I had a lot of fun reading this book from beginning to end. It is very fast paced and has surprised me at every turn. When I started reading it, I had no idea that I would enjoy myself so much. The characters are extremely lively and real. You get to know them well, you feel for them and can’t help but root for them. The magic is really cool and very elaborate. And the whole atmosphere is permeated by a feeling of medieval romance.

There are several countries or magical kingdoms, if you will, that are clashing in this story. One is Grumesh, a tiny country ruled by a Roodiman governor, then there’s Roodim itself, an empire that preys on small countries, and Varelia, where Eriale’s half sister Tamara is Queen. Ten years before, Roodim conquered Grumesh and drove all its noblemen into hiding. They kept on fighting back, led by Kealan Machaon, but eventually realized that there is no chance for them and the best option is to just try to stay alive and build a new life for their children.

Eriale is the main character and she is really something. She is 17 years old and a great magician, “the best mage in the kingdom”, actually, according to her. The only downside to her greatness is that in order to become an Adept, she needs to lose her virginity. While it was very amusing to witness Eriale’s discussions with her parents about her budding sexuality, I felt that this whole thing about losing her virginity was a tad annoying for me. Eriale is young and inexperienced, true, but at the same time she is so sure of herself, so ready for anything, that I don’t think that losing her virginity would make any difference to her. It definitely did not involve her emancipation, since she was going to be forced to marry Gordin, an idiot who tried to rape her and ended up with a mutton head instead of his head. The only conclusion I could draw was that losing her virginity actually increased her magic, but then again, she proves herself beforehand anyway.

Ok, so this takes care of the only complaint I had about the book. Let’s go on to the next level, the cool stuff. I thought the magic of Eriale and her father was wonderful. They can build gateways to places that they know, so that they can travel between their home and Tamara’s castle, and this proves a perfect way of saving Kealan from the prison where he was under torture. I also admired how well her father had taught her to loath “blood magic” = black magic, that just by feeling its presence, Eriale starts feeling nauseated. Of course, her father’s magic made it all pretty easy for her in the beginning of her Journeyman quest, so I was excited when her hatch bag (another gateway to her father’s money and food) is stolen and she finally starts showing us her own magic. Eriale is definitely a great role model to follow: she is not only sure of her sexuality, she is great at what she does and, even if a lady by birth, she shows kindness to lesser creatures and gives up her comfort in order to help others in need, which are traits of great leaders, in my opinion.

Kealan is another great character. In his late 20s or early 30s, he used to be the Captain of the High Guard of the Grumesh Republic, before the war with the Roodim Empire. Now he sits on the Grumesh treasure, but instead of using it for his comfort, he shares it between the families of his ex-fellow guards. He is immediately drawn to Eriale when they meet and, all through their relationship, can’t help but have all kinds of naughty dreams about her. He tries to escape her at first, but:

“The sneaky little temptress was obviously older than she looked and not so innocent either.”

What a pair these two make!

The “power-hungry” magician Udolen, cousin to Kealan and leader of the new resistance army, is of course, the villain. We don’t get to learn many details about him, except the kind of magic he has, and that is more than enough. He has created magical tentacles, with the help of which he feeds on the life forces of people he pretends to save. I found him extremely repulsive and his magic, absolutely horrible. The author has done a great job with it.

I don’t know if the author has plans to continue with this magical world, but I believe fantasy fans would welcome it.

*OBS would like to think the author for supplying us with a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's title describes it well: it's almost adept, apart from a few significant stumbles.

Firstly, I get the impression that the author's first language may not be English, and some odd phrasings have survived the editing process. "It's only a day ride" (instead of "day's ride"), "in a nearest town", "on the Varelia's side of the mountains", "every each way" (instead of "every which way"; this appears twice), "she was in such a shock", "only in extreme condition", "could I have some snack before dinner?", and "after the injuries like yours" are all phrases that I noticed as being odd. Some of them may simply be incompletely revised sentences.

There are a few words that aren't quite the right word choice: "depravations" instead of "depravities", "occupants" instead of "occupiers", "largess" used to mean "riches one owns" instead of, as it should mean, "riches one distributes", "forerunner" instead of "progenitor", and "wilted" used of fruit, when it's a word that normally applies to leaves.

There are a couple of anachronistic word choices: "decibels", "dating", "megaton". The language, too, wobbles between relatively formal English and modern American informal, which I found occasionally distracting.

There are a few outright misspellings: "puss" for "pus" (though it's correctly spelled in another place), the obvious typo "fiend" for "friend", "pour" for "poor" and a "you" for "your" (another common typo).

I only noticed one comma error, though. That's something.

So it could have done with another edit. The story itself is satisfying enough, for the most part, though I did think that several of the events and character choices seemed driven by what would work for the plot rather than what was sensible or realistic. For example, the main character, for reasons that are never fully explained, needs to lose her virginity before she can become a fully recognised Adept, and this is a plot driver. She lets herself be arrested and taken to jail, not because she doesn't have a number of other options (which are helpfully listed), but because she's curious about the experience, and this places her where she can conveniently rescue someone else. When the governor's wife is kidnapped, by a startlingly convenient coincidence she's the main male character's former sweetheart (never previously mentioned), and he has a locket with her hair (never previously mentioned), and this enables her to be tracked magically. The magic itself is all kinds of convenient, and apparently capable of doing anything.

Even with these flaws, though, I enjoyed the journey. There was genuine tension, despite the all-powerful magic, which isn't easy to achieve. The young female protagonist is brave and determined, although she's remarkably resilient in the face of bad experiences. When horrifying things happen to children right next to her (and I could have done with a warning about that, by the way, along with the extended torture scene), she is shocked in the moment, but next day she seems cheerful and almost carefree and the incident is hardly referred to again. Apparently it was mainly there to emphasise how very bad a man the villain is.

Still, with another round of edits, less reliance on coincidence, and more care to ensure that story elements aren't just there to drive the plot, arise more naturally and have more realistic consequences, this would be a very fine book. I enjoyed it enough that I could largely overlook the flaws I've mentioned, so it gets four stars. On my subscale within four stars, ranging from 0 (barely above mediocre) to 9 (just short of amazing), it scores a 2, mainly because I liked the characters.

I received a copy of this book from the author for purposes of review.

[Vanessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://bookbutterflyreviews.blogspot.ca

I do a lot of reading books from authors in exchange for an honest review. This is one of those cases. Most of these books I read are on one side of the fence or the other. I either love them, or I believe they still need a lot of work. I am not really sure how to describe how I felt about Almost Adept, but I am going to try.

Starting the story off, we have an extremely strong female lead, Eriale. We also find out she is an extremely strong magician who will become stronger once she loses her virginity. What I really enjoyed in this novel was how consistent Eri remained throughout the story. She was strong willed, and stubborn, yes, but she also had vulnerabilities. What made her such an amazing main character is that she didn’t let her insecurities and doubts get in the way of what needed to be done. There was very little room for whining, and even when things got tough, she didn’t lose her cool. This is something we don’t see very often in novels, especially with a female POV… and a teenager at that.

I also felt that the way she reacts to the situations she is put through was extremely believable and realistic considering what her personality is shown to be at the beginning of the book. While some situations felt a little far-fetched, I tried to keep in mind that it was a fantasy novel and the attitudes of the characters in the book may not reflect today’s societies attitudes, or even mine in certain situations.

My biggest problem with the book was the lack of good supporting characters. Yes, we see Kealan, who is probably the only decent supporting character, but the others that we see (the father, the mother, the landlord of the boarding house, etc.…) I felt were very flat. We see them in few scenes and they fail to play a huge role in Eri’s life/ adventure/ mission. This story was more about Eriale than anyone else, Kealan included. I would have liked to see more of the King and Queen (Eriale’s sister and brother-in-law). They play an important part, but we never actually see them. I would have liked to maybe see flashbacks or visions of them, maybe even them in the flesh, to get a better sense of them and what role they play in Eri’s life. I was also not very fond of how things turned out with Kealan and Eri… I understood it, but I didn’t like it.

All in all, this story was more of an adventure than anything else. While it had romance, it was not about romance. The story was about Eri venturing off to prove herself, and she accomplishes that to the T, but I felt like very little else was important in the story. If you took out all the supporting characters and just had the story be about Eri and the antagonist, I feel that very little would have changed (with the exception of Eri needing to lose her virginity).

To sum it up, the story was pretty good. Strong female lead, great action, a believable plot, an interesting fantastical world, and a fun adventure. It was a great easy read, and definitely worth a try if you are okay with a little slack in the romance department. I hope this book has a sequel, because I would love too see this world Olga has created expand and grow into its potential.

[Lynelle Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received the book from the author for an honest review.

Not a huge fan of fantasy and magic stories, I must I really liked this book. The plot was very original and well delivered, with a strong female character that had a nice momentum to the book.

Erial, a very young almost Adept woman lived in a castle a princess life, but when she used her magic for evil and not good; even if justified; she's send on a journey to be trained.

On this journey she had good and bad adventures allowing her the time to become part of everyday life meeting people in desperate positions; doing what they had to do to survive, but through it all her magic kept her out of harm's way and the colorful characters made the story interesting.

One such an character was Kealan, courier, ex-commander of the High Court, protector of the treasury that found himself in trouble with his people and especially his evil cousin Udolen. Betrayed, held as a captive and in-humanly tortured he was left as dead when Eriale found him.

Through her determination and sacrifice she learned about people, using her magic as a guide and getting what she needed; to rid herself of her virginity and become an Adept. Young Erial was very nonchalant about her virginity and very arrogant in her own powers as she found herself in the middle of a resistance, helping the villagers to be rid of an Evil Mage. Her own abilities strengthen her to stand up against the evil that lingered every where, destroying the land and its people.

The author's descriptive writing cause you to enjoy the path with her, as she paint this very fresh and captivating story with her pen. Through her descriptive writing you could feel the torture of Kealan as he laid sprawled open on the torture table; you'd smell the different aromas, as it drifted through the jail; it felt realistic and believable; making you part of every scene as it happened. You'd sense the evil magic as it deceive and torture innocent villagers and children from their life force.

The author had created a fascinating world where magic is at the order of the day, fairies fly freely around and ordinary people that tried to make a living. It is about sacrifice,and holding on no matter what the circumstances; always finding a solution in the most harshest of times.
A great book, that is fast paced and well written; a great book that I can recommend to all lovers of fantasy, but not under the age of sixteen.
This was the second book I have read from this author and once again I wasn't dissapointed with her stories, and I for one will be on the look out for more from her.
Thanks for the opportunity Olga.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a review.
A slightly rocky start to the beginning of the story, but by the 3rd page I was captivated. The use of magic to turn a muttonhead into a sheep was well done, although the language could use a little tweaking to make it flow better, as it seemed a bit choppy.

The language seemed a little off-kilter (“Gosh” seemed a little out of place, and was used multiple times.)

Another small incongruity - when the sheep transformed, it still had hands to check that there were horns, but the rest of the body was a sheep (page 8). Or, when Eriale was talking to her courier, she told him she couldn’t heal, but a few pages later she healed herself. She can also fix a “minor injury”. But she can’t heal?

There were several areas where there was a mismatch in memory history also.
1)Kealan recognized the girl Eriale, knew where he had met her before, and still did not understand how she came up with expensive baubles.
2)Eriale erased memory in one place then in another could not make someone forget.

Even with all this, I did like the story – it flowed well and was (mostly) believable. However, it could benefit from judicious editing… example “They didn’t talk, as Kealan dumped Frest in the bow,
assisted Arenia to the stern, and climbed in himself.” (The rescuee was named Arenya.) and “take that pour man off the rack” (the word is ‘poor’) and “I wonder what you royal half-sister would have to say if she knew” (should be “your royal half-sister”).

In a sense, the writing reminds me of an early Andre Norton, styled towards young readers, with interspersed choppy sentences and hasty action, although some of the sentence structure is odd. Example “She had maybe a couple of candlemarks before her parents stormed back from the palace. Before she had to answer for her misdeeds.” might be better presented as “She had a few candlemarks before her parents stormed back from the palace, and she had to answer for her misdeeds.”

A solid three, maybe a three and a half.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eriale is almost an Adept magician, the most powerful there can be. As the seventeen-year-old half-sister to the Queen, Eriale is found in the midst of a scandal when she turns a suitor into a sheep, she is sent on her first Journeyman's quest until the incident is forgotten. While on her quest, Eriale is bound to use her magic to help those around her, but she also wants to do one important thing so that she can become fully adept- lose her virginity. She hopes to do this with the help of Kealan, the courier who delivered the request for help. First, however, Eriale and Kealan must stop an evil force that is destroying the lives of the people of Grumesh.

A fun, fantasy adventure in a beautifully built world with a strong heroine. The castles, crystal fairies and magical workings were so well described that I had no trouble painting this world inside my head. I absolutely loved Eriale's character, she is strong, brave and level headed, but not without any faults. She was very easy to identify with. Most of all, I enjoyed the way virginity was treated in the book, not something to be held onto and cherished, but something she needed to lose in order to fully gain her magic. Eriale was ready to help in whatever way she could with her magic, even when it meant taking on pain. Her relationship with Kealan was sweet, though I knew where it would go; it was interesting to see their interactions as the relationship developed.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[Mary Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The whole story revolves around this girl,a magician girl becoming an Adept. She is th half-sister in a royalty family and had always been th troublemaker. Her latest mischief,turning a prince she was supposed to marry into a sheep. HAHA it was really hilarious,and i think th prince deserved it for trying to take advantage of her. but in th world of magic,it is illegal to use magic for revenge and hence,this got her into trouble. Scared that she would be banished,her father asked her to go on a mission as a Journeyman. what she did not realise is that the mission is one that will test her skills as an Adept. Of course there was a guy. Kealan. i looove that name,hehe.

MY REVIEW:
I like th plot of this story,not really start off with th cliche "girl meets boy,girl fell in love at first sight" kind. Th whole main focus about th story was th war between Grums and Roodims. And yes,th sideline was about Eri and Kealan. i loved how th author tries to include information about magic and th way th mages in this story works. It is creative how th author does not follow th stereotypical opinion of mages. i think that is what made this story even more fascinating. All in all,though there were some errors with th spellings,this is a great book. I guess for me,th ending was abit too abrupt. it seemed like th author wanted to get it done and over with. anyhow,i rate this book 4stars :)

[Alina-Diana Välinen · Rating 4 out of 5]

my review at:

http://openbooksociety.com/article/al...

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars