Familiar Magic: Book Two

by K.L.A. Spanjer aka LokiTheQuick

516 pages, Paperback

Published September 7, 2025

Reviews

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series full of magic, deceit, and a church built on lies, trying to hold on to it's amassed power over the people and the monarchy of Nexum, the world on which Dr Nathan Bishop had found himself. Being a doctor used to doing all he can to save lives, he did just that, little knowing the trouble he had just gotten himself in. The church marked him as a heretic and wanted him executed for saving his friends lives. He was tried not for all the deaths he had caused, but for saving lives, as the church wanted to keep the power of healing for itself. He was not killed but those he had saved were, as the monarchy had other plans for Ethan so they interceded. He was to act as the double of Prince Calevaro during the tournament against another prince. Ethan trained relentlessly to gain more powers, thought with his 3 bonded magical familiars he was powerful already. Those who would win the games were rewarded by being allowed to enter the ruins of the forgotten city, and it is here with his team called the Brightsouls, and comprised of his mentor, Valanor, his brother Savilar, Selina the rune expert, and Cara the archer, that he finds out who is the worst traitor and how to bring down the hated and corrupt church by killing it's main executioner. This is just the start of Ethan's job as a heretic, the church needs to be exposed for the lies they have filled people's minds with, and boy am I looking forward to book 3. This is an excellent series, with great characters, amazingly powerful familiars, lots of adventures which can get quite dark at times, the type which are just up my alley, those aimed to bring down a religious organisation.

[John Stonebraker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Well, that escalated
Content Ratings: Language – PG13; Violence – PG13; Other – PG13


Book 2 picks up where book 1 left off and doesn't disappoint. The pacing and progression seems more even than the first book, and I was engaged from start to finish. There is more of everything I liked in the first book and then some. There were at least a couple of times I thought the book was coming to an end and pushing some storyline threads off to the next book only to continue and resolve those threads, much to my delight. This results in a satisfying conclusion (as opposed to one or more cliffhangers and unanswered questions). I look forward to the next installment.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ethan is grumpy and just generally angry throughout this book. It's basically the cliche of healing from trauma but it goes throughout the book.

I find myself enjoying the world building and overall mysteries more than the actual characters as they are still all just kind of there and not something most people who read the genre haven't read before.

The battles have somewhat taken a downgrade as I felt I could follow them in the first book but struggle a little in the second. They take more of a cut approach to the battles. They basically all just jump or omit most of the fight. There are a few full fights throughout the book though.