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Six billion people are dead. More are dying. The Faerene Apocalypse isn’t over, but the seeds for a new beginning have to be planted, now.

The future of Earth is that of a planet of many of the invading, magical Faerene and mundane, traumatized humanity.

But a few, exceedingly rare humans do have magic. Amy Carlton is one of them.

Forced to bond with the black griffin, Magistrate Istvan, and act as his familiar, Amy doesn’t understand the magic she possesses. Nor does she understand the Faerene society she is thrown into. She’ll have to learn fast because the cost of her ignorance couldn’t be higher. Death stalks an apocalypse, and the lives lost could be those of people she loves.

Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2019

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66 people want to read

About the author

Jenny Schwartz

110 books565 followers
Australian science fiction and fantasy author.

Avid reader.

Jenny Schwartz has a degree in sociology and history, and a lifelong fascination with understanding people. Her character-driven science fiction and fantasy novels explore other worlds and how people navigate strange situations and complicated emotions, while retaining their sense of self. Her plots are twisty and unexpected.

***
I've curated my bookshelf to share books which I hope readers of Caldryn Parliament will enjoy. With the older books, please be aware that they are a product of their times and read with care.


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5 stars
716 (50%)
4 stars
466 (32%)
3 stars
202 (14%)
2 stars
29 (2%)
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8 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
Profile Image for Katyana.
1,808 reviews288 followers
August 1, 2025
Oh my gosh, I loved this so, so much.

The characters are all wonderful, and everything about the story is so hopeful and inspiring. I'm mad at myself for not jumping into this series last year when I discovered this author.

Blazing forward into book 3.
Profile Image for Elizabeth.
370 reviews35 followers
March 12, 2021
The wait is over. Definitely recommend.

Book one is primarily human focused, book two Faerene Society focused. Book one is about survival, book two about building a city and society. Looking forward to book three.

Book two starts immediately after the end of book one and progresses another couple of weeks. Remember book one starts at the northern hemisphere's end of spring, beginning of summer and ends late summer, early fall. May to October approximately.

The story continues to focus on trust, family, friendship and allies as Amy and Istvan start the first phase of their magistrate and familiar duties. Enjoying Amy's development as she attempts to deal with all changes of the last several months. She seems so much older than her early twenties as she tries to figure out her future in light of becoming a familiar and needing to interact heavily with the Faerene.

Even though romance is not the focus of these two books, I have hopes that Amy and Rory's relationship flourishes now that the two of them have talked.

Interesting information is presented as the current Faerene Migration uses all the lessons learned in the previous seven migrations to colonize now that the Rift is closed. Issues unique to the Earth Migration occur that impact how humans and faerene might interact over the next several generations.

I'm having difficulty envisioning how condensed time and events will need to be for the major plot lines of survival, integration, familiar bonds and romance to wrap up in one more book, though that's me being greedy and not wanting to leave this world too soon.

Already re-reading. Best read immediately following Stray Magic

cross posted amazon, goodreads, book bub.
Profile Image for TJ.
3,287 reviews282 followers
August 9, 2025
4.5/5.0

I am absolutely gobbling this series up. It is so unique, creative and downright lovable (yes, that is the correct word. You have to read the story to understand how fully it fits). It is a book (and series) that one doesn’t have to keep reading but wants to keep reading. And that makes all the difference.
272 reviews2 followers
April 3, 2021
Not enough

Background, setting, basic parameters have been explained. In the book you are going into fair complex philosophical debate of balance and linear as opposed to circular approaches. And complex social and cultural dynamics without explaing what they are. Not giving any concrete examples of what magical conflicts need to be resolved. What is foxfire? Are you saying the land has magic? Why doesn't the welfare and struggles of humans who were just devastated and left unprepared without resources, why isn't that a concern. I'm not following because I can't unless I as a reader have the basic information. Definitions of concepts. Why too isn't magic used for the benefit of human populations. Untrained is a danger, I get that. But the obvious is to train them and allow them to use magic for humans. They already have plenty of magic and shortcuts to build a society but deny that to humans. Not clear on what benefit the channeling provides especially in other situations. They are taking it without giving a role purpose for the humans to fill. Lots more definitions explanations before deep philosophical conversations. As a reader I'm not on the same page as you are.
Profile Image for Krista.
1,123 reviews31 followers
January 13, 2023
It was ok, the author has put a lot of work into this story and I just couldn’t get excited about it. The world building was spot on but that was pretty much what it was, world building. Istvan uses magic to build the town of Justice and everyone pitches in to furnish and run it.

Then there is the heroine’s dilemma, what do I do? I was barely able to finish the book, I was really not interested in continuing even though this may be heading for some action. I even forgot the FMC’s name :/
Profile Image for Shasha.
939 reviews30 followers
March 29, 2019
Good addition

I find this series fascinating. The heroine has to choose who she is and will be after the world has changed. The multiple characters filled out this huge world and emphasized the need for family, community, and me time.

I look forward to book 3.

Read in KU
32 reviews1 follower
March 29, 2019
Nothing happened.

In book one the world ended. In this one, nothing happens. I keep waiting for a story to start, now I'm 2/3 of the way through and the characters just keep rehashing the same background points while buying furniture, ordering dresses and other minuta.
Profile Image for D.
1,069 reviews
July 8, 2022
Bound Magic

The phrase, don't forget to come home, is the theme of this story. Amy tries to figure out who, what, and where is home. She creates a space for herself in a place that has changed drastically from how she knew it. Amy's journey reminds me of Jeremiah's letter to the exiles. Jeremiah told them to settle in the land where they were sent. Amy attempts to settle into her new life and figure out who she is and what she wants to be. I like that family is highlighted positively in this series. I appreciate that the author emphasizes family as not only blood but includes those we connect with that help us to be okay with being ourselves.
Profile Image for Kristi.
594 reviews23 followers
August 7, 2024
Well thought out world with a variety of characters and types of people - humans, griffins, werewolves, goblins, dragons, elves, etc. We follow Amy (human) as she learns about the Faerene society and her journey to make a place in it.
Profile Image for Chrissy.
1,390 reviews62 followers
December 22, 2021
Stuck Between Two Worlds

This is the second book in a continuing series. You won’t understand this book without the preceding one. The book concludes at a natural break but the narrative continues in following books.

These book are quite brief and are closer to novellas in length. This makes them good bite sized snacks you can devour in an evening, if you are fast reader like I am. They are interesting and entertaining.

This book deals with Amy settling in to her new role as Istvan’s familiar. The huge black griffin appears to be treating her with distant affection. He’s unused to living with anyone and has always remained a bachelor to focus on his work with as a magistrate. For a being who has lived more than 600 years by himself adjusting to being responsible for a young human is a little tricky. On top of the transformation of having a familiar he is incredibly busy establishing his headquarters. He chooses a place of the banks of the Mississippi and Amy starts to witness the scope of his magic abilities.

Amy is one of the first humans to try to integrate into Faerene society and it is difficult to try and forge a path for herself and for future humans who find themselves in a similar situation. She has always been incredibly independent and despite being young compared to Istvan she is competent and self-aware enough to realise when she is unsettled by circumstances. She tries to work her way through her emotions to ensure she doesn’t lash out or disappear under the pressure of being the sole human in a community of beings who could destroy her easily.

I’m really enjoying this series. This book held a good balance on Amy’s internal world, her thought processes, and the activities she takes part in. The landscape around can change in hours because of magic and she has to demonstrate a great deal of mental flexibility to cope with all the changes. She’s an admirable character and her self awareness is impressive. I enjoyed getting to learn more about Istvan and his work. He is really quite sweet to Amy underneath his confusion about how to handle her.

This author has very carefully constructed a society and is revealing it slowly piece by piece to Amy and thusly to us the reader. It’s a very interesting society and I’m relishing getting to know it and the characters who live in it.
605 reviews12 followers
July 20, 2022
A lovely dystopian (yes, those two apparently contradictory words apply) series continues to provide great entertainment and some rewarding philosophy. Each book is under 200 pages, a quick and riveting read.

Earth is in a bind; humanity has lost about 7 billion people within days and is now stuck with no more tech than was extant during the Renaissance.

And now there are also about half a million Faerene, on Earth to stay. They include every mythical creature ever mentioned in literature. They have tech through magic they hide from humans who have caused a rift in Earth's protective shield by always attempting more and consuming more. The Faerene are bent on teaching humanity to reject its inherently dangerous, linear projection and learn to live a circular one instead. We must embrace entropy and live a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, replenishing the planet's resources instead of mindlessly stripping them.

One problem among many: a majority of the Faerene want no interaction with humanity and think of us as a worthless cause. To these, we are merely lesser beings, barely sentient. Would our enslavement be so wrong, if it was done to save us from ourselves?

Climate change will inevitably bring us to the brink of speedy annihilation. One wonders whether the abrupt loss of 6/7ths of humanity would actually change our destructive course in the absence of a higher, alien civilization to enforce it.

This entertaining, easy reading gives us much to ponder.
103 reviews
May 12, 2024
A love note to slavery.

All knowing and wise aliens show up, intentionally kill 6 out of 7 people, predominantly women and children, weak and the elderly.
They do this so they can take ownership of a new land, divide it up among their political allies and enslave the humans “for a few centuries” while they teach humans how to live properly.
Pretty sure what sounds like like the Roman’s when they enslaved a new land, but they killed way less people.
Then unexpectedly it turns our humans have folks who can do magic, which means they can fight back, so those who have been doing magic for the greater good at gathered together in a concentration camp/ slave auction. Anyone with honesty, honor, integrity or standard is murdered. Only those willing to sell themselves into slavery are allowed to live as magic batteries for their powerful owners.
It is casually mentioned that this is against the law, against custom and a vile thing but that it’s “necessary” thing for a temporary time.
Quote “nothing is so permanent as a temporary measure”.
I gave up about 6% through this book.
I kept hoping the author was just setting up the context for a rebellion by the humans or recruiting of honorable aliens to fight their political masters evil acts, but we are more than a full book in and it’s just one justification for slavery and subjugation after another.
Not sure if the author is tone deaf, or just so long winded we did got to a redemption arc in a reasonable timeframe, but so far there is little if anything redeeming about the main character or her alien allies.
Profile Image for Jessica Donegan.
Author 1 book10 followers
October 24, 2019
So this isn't a book. There is no plot. Nothing happens. I didn't mind because I like all the characters, but at the same time I kept thinking "all this belongs in the first book."

My complaints regarding rehashing the same information become way more problematic in this second book. I skipped a TON of the MC's "thoughts" because she just kept summarizing the same stuff about the Rift and the shield. By the way, no matter how many times they say the Faerene told us about bug invaders and we are suuuuper lucky they saved us, I don't believe it. The plot is beyond convenient. The whole "we look like bad guys because you haven't seen the real bad guys and now you never will cause we saved you" is too much to swallow. If it's true, I'm going to need verified proof and if it's not true, the whole thing is set up in a way where I'm going to be like "duh."

I still think people should read this 2nd in the series because the 3rd is better and there is information in this book that will enrich the experience of reading the 3rd book.

This review reads like I hate this book, but that's not true. I was disappointed. By the end I was like "really, there's not going to be any inter-character conflict or any overriding large world conflict?"
Profile Image for Tara.
746 reviews
January 8, 2022
I really enjoyed the character relationships in this book. However, I was frustrated with the fact that linear progression and circular progression isn’t ever defined, which is a pretty big deal, since that is why the entire apocalypse happened. Technology is bad, unless it’s done with magic, then it’s a-okay. Humans can’t use magic, but the faerene can use as much as they want to build a city in a day, because their way is circular instead of linear, apparently. The post-apoc survival story is the first book, and all of the relationship development, was interesting and enjoyable to read, although it also has a lot of unexplained questions with the magic system. Also, it’s supposed to be Renaissance era technology, except apparently the Faerene get to have “magic” electricity & plumbing & internet. This book has more unexplained questions, and was a little frustrating to read, although the relationships were well done.
18 reviews1 follower
April 1, 2019
Because humans are dumb

I like everything about this book except the premise.

This book confidently announced that human tech is bad. And refuses to explain why. Adding to this insult, we learn that the magicals have their own internet. They destroyed ours, but they get to keep their own?

Not all research is good. Some of the things we know about our world came because somebody decided to build a weapon. But yesterday's poisons are tomorrow's medicines. Yesterday's bioweapon is tomorrow's gene therapy. And the magicals dumped everything down the drain in their arrogance.

I suspect that humanity will declare war on the bugs with the magical's approval. Too bad all that weapon tech was destroyed, right?

Don't get me wrong. I like these books. But the over-the-top insistence that humans did it (are doing it) wrong is grating.
Profile Image for Spinneretta.
2,855 reviews21 followers
July 6, 2023
Good

Book two of the Faerene Apocalyse, sees Amy begin her new life as Istvan’s familiar, the building of their new home base, and her attempts to understand both her new world, and the new reality in which she finds herself.

We get an interesting introduction to the faerene in this one, as Amy meets various members of them. It’s a steep learning curve, but she’s adaptable.
It’s also the setup for the next part of the story, that which involves the rebuilding of their world.
We see a little more magic in this one, and a hint of romance; and though the action level is low, it’s not a boring book, and plenty of interesting things happen.
An enjoyable second part to this post apocalyptic fantasy tale.
Profile Image for Dena.
4,455 reviews12 followers
April 5, 2019
Complicated

This is a very in-depth and complicated story. A girl who gets ignored for most of her life gets picked up and now lives a different life. We see the apocalypse happening and identify with what the humans are going through but we see more too. The MC is traumatized and in survival mode through out most of these books. I'm some instances she hasn't really acclimated to what's going on. I think it finally happened when she started to the Justice and being around her pack and family.
There are many things going on with the fairy people and I think magic for them is the ultimate power. I can't wait to see what happens next with her.
Profile Image for PurpleBookFox.
305 reviews4 followers
June 15, 2022
The story and world are interesting. I just feel that the trauma of being made a magic slave isn’t truly addressed. Yes, she is lucky in her treatment but bottom line they want to control or kill the human magic. Amy just goes with the flow of it all. No questions, or real anger in her. What of the others in her position, or future magic slaves. They are talking about removing children from families as its no big deal. This is colonizing in the past.
They talk about a new equal earth but all I see is the fae in power with all the comforts and the humans left to struggle and be lorded over. Where is that an equal new earth? Also if it were truly about integrating why do the always tell her she fits in too well. This screams that is not their goal. Wouldn’t they be happy if she did fit in well. That they could live in harmony with the humans?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
235 reviews4 followers
September 10, 2025
Nihilistic environmentalism.

The Authoress wants a world that has only natural in it.
So she lets her aliens kill 6/7 of all Earthlings, and counting, and break up everything she deems unnatural into atoms and "return it to Earth".
(Hey, Jenny. Do you know where oil comes from? Obviously not.)
The only people who deserve to live are "family". Not natural family, but people who are family because they have the same values...
And Goodness only knows what those values are...
Kill everyone who doesn't share our values?
Those are the values of nasty cavemen.
Who will never be anything but cavemen.
Not for me.
Profile Image for Kit.
1,517 reviews16 followers
May 2, 2022
Read : May 2, 2022
Rating :4 Stars

What I really like about these books so far is the fact that the possible romantic entanglements are more back burner to the construction of an entirely new society of Faerene and humans side by side and what all is needed for such a melding of lives, cultures and expectations.

Nevertheless, the romantic connection that is there is more adult than I expected and I don't mean sexually or anything like that but in terms of emotional vulnerability.

This is a lot more fantasy than young adult and the the mc is a lot more grown up in her thinking.
Profile Image for Dwilli.
14 reviews
September 29, 2024
like reading a diary

I really like this series. To be honest, I like Jenny Schwartz’s writing in general because it’s like a glimpse into someone else’s life…in space or with other worldly beings. She provides a little slice of life that forces the reader into intellectual pursuits like “how would I feel in this situation” or “yeah, I get that and never thought about it that way”. For me, her stories are mental pallet cleansers.I LOVE these kinds of books and hope Ms,Swartz gives us more.
142 reviews
January 30, 2020
I'm hooked

I am loving this series! It has a great lead character in Amy. It doesn't shy away from sorrow. It is full of hope for humanity and people working together (faerene and human). I love the relationships she has made and continues to make as her world has gone through cataclysmic change. Read it, but be prepared to continue reading! I'm also excited that this author has other series that are available for me to explore!!
Profile Image for T..
Author 13 books573 followers
October 25, 2023
Bound Magic: A Slice of Life in Troubled Times, the second book of the Faerene Apocalypse series, is an ebook I borrowed through Kindle Unlimited (KU). I'm really enjoying the character dynamics between magic-enhanced humans and the magic users they are bound to. This could so easily have warped into a bonded/servitude situation, but Amy has a commonsense attitude and understands the potential disaster of stray magic.
Profile Image for Dr susan.
3,071 reviews51 followers
July 29, 2025
Excellent apocalyptic fantasy adventure

I'm not a fan of apocalypse stories in any genre, mostly because of the massive body counts. But I enjoy Jenny Schwartz's books and decided to give this series a try. Amy is believable and likeable. The growing romance feels right. Both of her made familes are fun and caring. The story is interesting and well plotted (although the body count is horrifying). I'm glad the series is finished so bingeing is possible.
598 reviews14 followers
August 22, 2025

Amy has taken up her role as Magistrate Istvan's human familiar. The role requires her to live with the Faerene, leaving her found family and creating a new one.

As with a lot of Jenny's books, I love the details of setting things up and this book includes both creating a new frontier city and setting up the Magistrate’s team and home. The story includes a great mix of Faerene people - goblins, werewolves, griffins, unicorns, elves, centaurs, dragons.
Profile Image for Court.
157 reviews10 followers
March 30, 2019
The meat of the story was the entire book. This was like a long chapter of character development that usually shows up in the middle of a long(er) book. There were no highs or lows, just the character speaking to a shrink and deciding where to go from here.

But...I still can't wait to read the next installment!
Profile Image for vena.
109 reviews1 follower
July 3, 2019
Great series.

I would walk carefully regarding taking children away from parents. It happened after the genocide of the American Indians. We were wiped out and then because we were filthy heathens you white devils took our babies to teach them your view of the World and injected your thieving, lying, manipulative god.
Profile Image for Barbara Strickland.
Author 7 books53 followers
February 20, 2020
Loving the idea behind this

This series is so much more than I was expecting. Though not action packed there are some underlying elements that are very interesting, and the series is building into a character study with supernatural beings representing a lot more than first appears, and there is an edge here veering straight into acceptance and diversity. Loving it.
7 reviews
December 19, 2022
This book continues the story with the city building after the apocalypse. It provides interesting details. I wish the story had more POV so that I could get to know what the characters were thinking as they were going through their ordeals. The magic is fascinating. I'm looking forward to the next book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews

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