On the day of his graduation, Ryn and his loyal auxiliaries face an unprecedented challenge.
Before a mage can graduate from the prestigious Primal Academy and travel the world, they must pass the dangerous and unpredictable Firmament Trials. Successfully completing these tests assures the academy, the Righteous Sect, and the world that the mage will never make a deal with a devil.
With his beautiful auxiliaries Saphi and Lena at his side, Ryn is confident he can best the trials and step out in the larger world... until a spy in the academy betrays him. Now falsely accused of making a deal with a devil, Ryn and his loyal companions are soon hunted by both his own academy and the Righteous Sect.
Yet Ryn, Saphi, and Lena are not alone. With the help of Mistress Aurienda, a woman who will never lose faith in him, and Nephale, a beautiful and mysterious blade mage, Ryn must prove his innocence, expose the traitor in the Primal Academy, and uncover a dark future he must prevent at any cost.
What did I just read. The first book was... okay I guess. This one felt like Ryn lost about 1000 iq points, to the point where his sheer stupidity and uselessness creates a vortex pulling the universe into nothingness. I very much regret reading this
Not my kind for story .The MC is touted as the next messiah as fa as his power but at the every start of his first trial his lady is Ding all the work and he is already thinking they will loose their first trail because he wondering what he can do. Apparently the primal conjured doesn't have it . He is either positive or he isn't , not way to draw readers even in a fantasy story
I surprisingly enjoyed this. Surprising because I went into it with low expectations for two reasons. Firstly I've had a string of series where the first book is great then falls off hard, so I'm really happy to see this continues the quality of the first. Second is that I generally hate "the good guy gets falsely accused and the entire world turns on him without actual proof" scenarios. While the set up for this one was as flimsy as most, it was still enjoyable. Mainly because the story doesn't really focus on Ryn's evading capture, and is used more as a vehicle to introduce a new character.
My only criticism is that the false accusation and how the devil-marked is able to make it is a pretty big plot hole and is a prime example of a character acting on information they shouldn't have. There's also the fact that we're supposed to believe that they'd just accept the devil-marked's (sorry, trying to avoid spoiling the name) accusation as absolute and execute Ryn - arguably the most important and valuable mage alive - without any verification, investigation or interrogation at all. Additionally the book kinda ruins its own set up by clearly stating multiple ways that his innocence could have been proven all along, including having mages with the ability to sift through memories verify what he and Lena saw/what happened.
As I said, though, the entire thing is basically a set up to bring Nephale into the fold and get the overarching plot rolling, and the actual on-the-run part of the story only takes up a relatively small part of the book.
Everything good about the previous book continues here- the setting, the overarching plot, the characters. A great continuation, and I genuinely hope the momentum keeps up.
In my opinion this is a truly wonderful adult fantasy adventure!!! Plenty of dark humor mixed in with even darker adventures make this series a joy to read!!!!
I've waited to read this book until the next came out. I'm glad I did. The first book could have been a oneoff. But the second was as good as the first. Now I can't wait for the nest one. An epic fantasy harem series? Yep. Enjoy if you can.
Technically it’s the early days but things are moving and shaking and the reason for all of Ryn’s training is coming to the fore. The paradox of course explained in better detail in this book. Can’t wait to find out what happens next.
What a great series this is. Smart characters you really care about, plenty of action, lots of sexy times. I’m throughly enjoying this world and can’t wait for more.
I thought the author might string out the dark parts of this over several books. Thankfully, it was wrapped up in this one. Story just keeps getting better.
A cross between slice-of-life, romance, and a little action sprinkled on top for good measure. It's very slow but fun. I just skip paragraphs here and there and it works out well.
This book like the first one was outstanding. The author built the characters and scenes in such detail until I felt like I was seeing it unfold in real life!