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Mage: A dark fantasy of war, loss, and deep friendship
Leah Nealia’s greatest desire is to be wanted. But Leah has a special type of healing magic that allows her to see the medical history of anyone she touches – a great personal invasion. As a result, she won’t touch anyone without permission, and everyone is afraid to get near her.
She might touch you and know.
In a desperate attempt to find purpose, Leah joins Guardian Matt Azure on a mission to Earth to help restore Athánatos after Theron’s defeat. She fantasizes about finding Prinkípissa Alexina, Ouranos’ missing sister, and proving her worth.
However, she finds someone else of interest instead – an Athánatos prince named Zeke, living on the mainland, oblivious to his roots. But when two thugs attack them, Leah and Zeke accidentally bind their focus jewels in a social bond, sending them tumbling through the past to the War of Eons - a war that took Zeke’s moms from him. And one that took Trecheon’s arms. Leah is determined to prove herself a Defender and prevent both tragedies, no matter the cost.
But Zeke faces trauma of his own, making him distant and aloof, despite the social bond. Now Leah has to decide what’s more important – saving the victims of the war and letting Zeke go, or letting the victims go while trying to cultivate a bond that she’s always wanted with the reluctant prince.
Color Stories - Umber Sky and Gray Matter Content War, battles, assassination, body horror, graphic death, mental anguish, starvation, psychological horror
She might touch you and know.
In a desperate attempt to find purpose, Leah joins Guardian Matt Azure on a mission to Earth to help restore Athánatos after Theron’s defeat. She fantasizes about finding Prinkípissa Alexina, Ouranos’ missing sister, and proving her worth.
However, she finds someone else of interest instead – an Athánatos prince named Zeke, living on the mainland, oblivious to his roots. But when two thugs attack them, Leah and Zeke accidentally bind their focus jewels in a social bond, sending them tumbling through the past to the War of Eons - a war that took Zeke’s moms from him. And one that took Trecheon’s arms. Leah is determined to prove herself a Defender and prevent both tragedies, no matter the cost.
But Zeke faces trauma of his own, making him distant and aloof, despite the social bond. Now Leah has to decide what’s more important – saving the victims of the war and letting Zeke go, or letting the victims go while trying to cultivate a bond that she’s always wanted with the reluctant prince.
Color Stories - Umber Sky and Gray Matter Content War, battles, assassination, body horror, graphic death, mental anguish, starvation, psychological horror
437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 31, 2022
2 people want to read
About the author
R.A. Meenan
22 books8 followersR. A. Meenan was born in London during the golden age of science fiction, but somehow time traveled to the Modern Era (some say a mad man with a blue box was involved). She was dropped on the doorstep of a house owned by anthropomorphic cats and though they were disappointed she didn't have furry ears and a tail, they took her in to teach her the ways of elemental magic. After setting fire to her furry cat friends' tails one too many times (final score - fire: 2612, cat's tails: 0) they called an exterminator and sent her out on her way.
Now an adult (physically, not mentally), she ride-hops intergalactic military spacecraft, combing the outer reaches of space and time, writing science fiction and urban fantasy stories based on her experiences. She's also hoping to find the perfect cup of coffee and a better way to grow dinosaurs. Humans kind of look at her funny, but she's managed to make herself an honorary ambassador for furry and anthropomorphic aliens and space dragons.
She carefully feeds and brushes her wonderful husband Joe and the pair have four furry children (which are really cats, but don't tell them that). She also spends her spare time teaching essay-writing haters, molding them into people resembling Actual Students and Lovers of English.
She may not win the hearts of stiff military men or students who want good grades for no effort, but she certainly captures the spirit and imagination of time travelers, magic users, nerds, Students-In-Training, and fantasy lovers.
Now an adult (physically, not mentally), she ride-hops intergalactic military spacecraft, combing the outer reaches of space and time, writing science fiction and urban fantasy stories based on her experiences. She's also hoping to find the perfect cup of coffee and a better way to grow dinosaurs. Humans kind of look at her funny, but she's managed to make herself an honorary ambassador for furry and anthropomorphic aliens and space dragons.
She carefully feeds and brushes her wonderful husband Joe and the pair have four furry children (which are really cats, but don't tell them that). She also spends her spare time teaching essay-writing haters, molding them into people resembling Actual Students and Lovers of English.
She may not win the hearts of stiff military men or students who want good grades for no effort, but she certainly captures the spirit and imagination of time travelers, magic users, nerds, Students-In-Training, and fantasy lovers.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 29, 2025
I can't believe US imperialism in the Middle East still exists in this timeline...
It feels weird to say, but this has actually been my favorite of the entire series so far. I made critiques in my reviews of books 1 & 2 about my misgivings about the clarity of character arcs, as they are sometimes not fully resolved in meaningful ways or are resolved too quickly and through more dialogue than action. I am happy to report that the arcs of all the characters in this book are more or less tightly bound and thus given adequate time to develop and resolve. There are two main threads that bind all of the main characters together. First is the realization (both in the sense of coming to know and the sense of coming into fruition) of Zeke's consanguineous kinship with Jaden, Alexina, and Embrik; his non-consanguineous kinship with the rest of team Hunter; and his partnership with Leah. The second thread is the external threat of war and the desire to both escape Ackerson's grasp and take down his circle of influence, which is tied up with Leah and Zeke's goals of saving the latter's moms and saving Trecheon's arms. Both threads are wound exceptionally well around themes of trust in beginning relationships and yielding to the inevitable ends of relationships.
Zeke's arc receives the most treatment by the text: he must both accept to let people into his life again after being repeatedly burned as an aro-ace person in an amatanormative world, creating both his (queer-platonic?) bond with Leah and his familial bond with the rest of team mage; and learn to come to terms with letting people go, that being his moms, whose death was another catalyst of his isolation. Leah, I feel, possesses a stronger and clearer version of Izzy's arc from the books 1 & 2. As a healer-s, Leah also feels that she is stigmatized both for her non-elemental magic and added -s ability, paralleling Izzy's feeling of stigmatization for her non-elemental magic and black bound ability. As noted in my first review, there was a bit of a conflict between whether she would embrace her healing magic as solely worthy of golden guardianship status, or whether she would lean into the offensive aspect with her increased use of hammer wielding and authority wielding in Matt's temporary absence. Leah also has a similar start, as she also possesses a staff that she demonstrates considerable prowess in already. However, unlike Izzy, Leah comes to totally embrace her status as a healer-s, not only becoming the primary healer in battle but also letting it guide her morality, as she consistently urges the team to reduce death counts and avoid revenge killing. She also still manages to tie her offensive ability with the theme of trust, becoming most powerful and adept at staff wielding when the emotional barriers between her and Zeke fall. Perhaps Izzy is meant for a multi-book arc regarding the balance between healing and offense, and Leah is meant to overcome this problem in this book only, but I still think Leah's character arc is exceptional. Jaden is the only other member of team Mage to receive POV chapters as far as I remember, and he too must overcome the same challenges of trust and grief as his son, only he deals with the weight of the near entire genocide of his people and the feeling that he is doomed to stay on Earth forever, separated from his beloved planet. His moral arc is well tied into his character development and Leah's emotional arc, as he grows once again to trust in the ideals of Zyearth and his role as a golden guardian thanks to Leah's influence.
In my first book review, I mentioned some misgivings I had about the role of time travel in this universe. The second book seemed to confirm that this is a fixed timeline scenario, at least for all intents and purposes; the Black Cloak hints that he has tried to manipulate the past before and that it leads to worse outcomes, hence why he "guides" it rather than attempts to outright change it. Although the cleanest to write, it introduces diegetic problems of agency and reader issues of what Paul Ricouer calls the totum simul, or entire temporal perception, of a narrative. I think this book does a pretty good job at dealing with both problems. On the agency front, the initial goal is to fix the past and brighten the future by saving Zeke's moms and Trecheon's arms; however, we know this attempt must fail because of the fixed timeline. Nevertheless, we still feel that the characters have some agency in, if not preventing, then coming to understand why things played out the way they did and doing their best to stop the physical outcome. It is somewhat like a tragedy, where we know things fall apart at the end, but we also feel a vicarious catharsis when characters come to yield to the fate of themselves and their loved ones. They do not feel powerless, but we feel their power in coming understand their own physical and emotional limits. The totum simul, as theorized by Ricouer in Time and Narrative, is the phenomenological idea that readers perceive the entire narrative at once in every scene: stories are only read one scene at a time, but we feel "retention", the impact of previous scenes and their bending towards the present, and "protention", a feeling that the story is bending towards a pregiven climactic moment. Time travel narratives, especially fixed time travel narratives, play with this by making the protention very clear: we know what will happen already, and so the story must appropriately build retention in order to make the payoff of what we already know happens clear. In Prisoner of Azkaban, unfortunately the only other fixed timeline narrative I know, retention is built through Harry's anticipation of his father's arrival, and is paid off when he realizes that he saves himself. Here, retention is built slowly and methodically through the journey of Mage to their several hits, through Canada (as an Albertan when I saw Alberta mentioned I went "WE DID IT ALBERTA STILL EXISTS IN THIS TIMELINE LET'S GO"), Zeke contacting his moms, and their final descent into the battle of DC. We feel the narrative bending towards the inevitable, Zeke's moms' deaths and Trecheon's double amputation, but we are well paid off with final hug and willing death of Zeke's moms and the Black Cloak's reassurances that Trecheon's injuries will lead to a better future, whether Jaden is willing to believe it or not. The totum simul is not wasted, and we feel appropriate tension and payoff even though we already know the outcome.
Despite these improvements from the first two books, I feel very conflicted about the ending chapters of the book. First of all, the copyeditor must've taken a day off because I found some capitalization, spelling and grammar errors; small nitpicks, but for a published book, this is a rather serious thing to overlook. I also did not like the rushed conclusion. I feel that the story would have much better narrative, emotional, and character arcs if it ended right after the battle of DC in the medical camp. This book's pacing was slower and much more focused on character development than worldbuilding than the last two books, and I think that is its best element, allowing everyone's arcs to come to full fruition. I would've preferred if the book ended when the general assembled them with the rest of teams Hunter and Guardian, laid out their new positions and the arraignment of Ackerson, picked their new name Defender, and then ended the book there. It would've left out the destruction of the desert wall and the death(?) of Ronan, but it would've tied the ending up nicely while teeing up the next book and military arc. Instead, we receive what feels like a relatively truncated battle sequence of the storming of the desert wall. With how much characters talked about that event as being the climactic moment of the War of the Eons, its rushed treatment seems narratively imbalanced. Since the next book deals with the aftermath of Leah and Zeke's newfound knowledge about Defender along with Trecheon's military past, I am unsure where else the destruction of the desert wall could have been placed. Perhaps that was the best place; doesn't mean I'm too happy about it though.
Yet again though, this was my favorite of the series so far. The slower pacing, regulated by missions given to the team by Ackerson, allowed for a deeper exploration of character motivations and actions through actual action, showing, rather than telling, a problem I had with previous books. The battle scenes as always are well done and engaging (with the exception of the desert wall, see above for why I have problems with it), and as a fellow aro-ace person I liked the representation of aro/ace characters and the queer-platonic relationships they can still develop. I originally thought that the first two books were the main duology and everything else was just backstory; now, with time travel and the Black Cloak playing a more active and purposeful role, I realize that there is much more development to be had with all the characters and the world. I very much look forward to reading the rest of what has been written about the series, once my friend again finds the author at a convention and picks up literally every other book in the series for me. I can say that I am hooked in a way that I have not felt about any other book series for many years. I also feel so vindicated about my feelings about this being Sonic inspired; I just checked out the author's website and they confirm that this did start out as Sonic fanfic. No shade, as a fellow Shadow stan.
It feels weird to say, but this has actually been my favorite of the entire series so far. I made critiques in my reviews of books 1 & 2 about my misgivings about the clarity of character arcs, as they are sometimes not fully resolved in meaningful ways or are resolved too quickly and through more dialogue than action. I am happy to report that the arcs of all the characters in this book are more or less tightly bound and thus given adequate time to develop and resolve. There are two main threads that bind all of the main characters together. First is the realization (both in the sense of coming to know and the sense of coming into fruition) of Zeke's consanguineous kinship with Jaden, Alexina, and Embrik; his non-consanguineous kinship with the rest of team Hunter; and his partnership with Leah. The second thread is the external threat of war and the desire to both escape Ackerson's grasp and take down his circle of influence, which is tied up with Leah and Zeke's goals of saving the latter's moms and saving Trecheon's arms. Both threads are wound exceptionally well around themes of trust in beginning relationships and yielding to the inevitable ends of relationships.
Zeke's arc receives the most treatment by the text: he must both accept to let people into his life again after being repeatedly burned as an aro-ace person in an amatanormative world, creating both his (queer-platonic?) bond with Leah and his familial bond with the rest of team mage; and learn to come to terms with letting people go, that being his moms, whose death was another catalyst of his isolation. Leah, I feel, possesses a stronger and clearer version of Izzy's arc from the books 1 & 2. As a healer-s, Leah also feels that she is stigmatized both for her non-elemental magic and added -s ability, paralleling Izzy's feeling of stigmatization for her non-elemental magic and black bound ability. As noted in my first review, there was a bit of a conflict between whether she would embrace her healing magic as solely worthy of golden guardianship status, or whether she would lean into the offensive aspect with her increased use of hammer wielding and authority wielding in Matt's temporary absence. Leah also has a similar start, as she also possesses a staff that she demonstrates considerable prowess in already. However, unlike Izzy, Leah comes to totally embrace her status as a healer-s, not only becoming the primary healer in battle but also letting it guide her morality, as she consistently urges the team to reduce death counts and avoid revenge killing. She also still manages to tie her offensive ability with the theme of trust, becoming most powerful and adept at staff wielding when the emotional barriers between her and Zeke fall. Perhaps Izzy is meant for a multi-book arc regarding the balance between healing and offense, and Leah is meant to overcome this problem in this book only, but I still think Leah's character arc is exceptional. Jaden is the only other member of team Mage to receive POV chapters as far as I remember, and he too must overcome the same challenges of trust and grief as his son, only he deals with the weight of the near entire genocide of his people and the feeling that he is doomed to stay on Earth forever, separated from his beloved planet. His moral arc is well tied into his character development and Leah's emotional arc, as he grows once again to trust in the ideals of Zyearth and his role as a golden guardian thanks to Leah's influence.
In my first book review, I mentioned some misgivings I had about the role of time travel in this universe. The second book seemed to confirm that this is a fixed timeline scenario, at least for all intents and purposes; the Black Cloak hints that he has tried to manipulate the past before and that it leads to worse outcomes, hence why he "guides" it rather than attempts to outright change it. Although the cleanest to write, it introduces diegetic problems of agency and reader issues of what Paul Ricouer calls the totum simul, or entire temporal perception, of a narrative. I think this book does a pretty good job at dealing with both problems. On the agency front, the initial goal is to fix the past and brighten the future by saving Zeke's moms and Trecheon's arms; however, we know this attempt must fail because of the fixed timeline. Nevertheless, we still feel that the characters have some agency in, if not preventing, then coming to understand why things played out the way they did and doing their best to stop the physical outcome. It is somewhat like a tragedy, where we know things fall apart at the end, but we also feel a vicarious catharsis when characters come to yield to the fate of themselves and their loved ones. They do not feel powerless, but we feel their power in coming understand their own physical and emotional limits. The totum simul, as theorized by Ricouer in Time and Narrative, is the phenomenological idea that readers perceive the entire narrative at once in every scene: stories are only read one scene at a time, but we feel "retention", the impact of previous scenes and their bending towards the present, and "protention", a feeling that the story is bending towards a pregiven climactic moment. Time travel narratives, especially fixed time travel narratives, play with this by making the protention very clear: we know what will happen already, and so the story must appropriately build retention in order to make the payoff of what we already know happens clear. In Prisoner of Azkaban, unfortunately the only other fixed timeline narrative I know, retention is built through Harry's anticipation of his father's arrival, and is paid off when he realizes that he saves himself. Here, retention is built slowly and methodically through the journey of Mage to their several hits, through Canada (as an Albertan when I saw Alberta mentioned I went "WE DID IT ALBERTA STILL EXISTS IN THIS TIMELINE LET'S GO"), Zeke contacting his moms, and their final descent into the battle of DC. We feel the narrative bending towards the inevitable, Zeke's moms' deaths and Trecheon's double amputation, but we are well paid off with final hug and willing death of Zeke's moms and the Black Cloak's reassurances that Trecheon's injuries will lead to a better future, whether Jaden is willing to believe it or not. The totum simul is not wasted, and we feel appropriate tension and payoff even though we already know the outcome.
Despite these improvements from the first two books, I feel very conflicted about the ending chapters of the book. First of all, the copyeditor must've taken a day off because I found some capitalization, spelling and grammar errors; small nitpicks, but for a published book, this is a rather serious thing to overlook. I also did not like the rushed conclusion. I feel that the story would have much better narrative, emotional, and character arcs if it ended right after the battle of DC in the medical camp. This book's pacing was slower and much more focused on character development than worldbuilding than the last two books, and I think that is its best element, allowing everyone's arcs to come to full fruition. I would've preferred if the book ended when the general assembled them with the rest of teams Hunter and Guardian, laid out their new positions and the arraignment of Ackerson, picked their new name Defender, and then ended the book there. It would've left out the destruction of the desert wall and the death(?) of Ronan, but it would've tied the ending up nicely while teeing up the next book and military arc. Instead, we receive what feels like a relatively truncated battle sequence of the storming of the desert wall. With how much characters talked about that event as being the climactic moment of the War of the Eons, its rushed treatment seems narratively imbalanced. Since the next book deals with the aftermath of Leah and Zeke's newfound knowledge about Defender along with Trecheon's military past, I am unsure where else the destruction of the desert wall could have been placed. Perhaps that was the best place; doesn't mean I'm too happy about it though.
Yet again though, this was my favorite of the series so far. The slower pacing, regulated by missions given to the team by Ackerson, allowed for a deeper exploration of character motivations and actions through actual action, showing, rather than telling, a problem I had with previous books. The battle scenes as always are well done and engaging (with the exception of the desert wall, see above for why I have problems with it), and as a fellow aro-ace person I liked the representation of aro/ace characters and the queer-platonic relationships they can still develop. I originally thought that the first two books were the main duology and everything else was just backstory; now, with time travel and the Black Cloak playing a more active and purposeful role, I realize that there is much more development to be had with all the characters and the world. I very much look forward to reading the rest of what has been written about the series, once my friend again finds the author at a convention and picks up literally every other book in the series for me. I can say that I am hooked in a way that I have not felt about any other book series for many years. I also feel so vindicated about my feelings about this being Sonic inspired; I just checked out the author's website and they confirm that this did start out as Sonic fanfic. No shade, as a fellow Shadow stan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 30, 2024
This book pulled me in and I read HALF of it in one night. I only stopped because I was exhausted, it was 5am, and I had to sleep.
This series is known for flawed, but deep, characters, and Mage is no exception. I love Leah, who has extreme and relatable social anxiety. She definitely reads as autistic, too. And there's one part of the book that hit really hard that I have to spoil a little bit, and that's the darkest depths of anxiety where you feel like you don't have any friends, no matter what anyone says.
But there's people there. You just have to trust them.
Then there's Zeke, who's been so burned by people wanting things from him that he can't give that he just won't let people get close to him anymore. And I've been there... It's more like a numb pain to have nobody than to have someone and lose them. And the numb pain is often preferable, because you know it. It's happening, it's constant, and it becomes almost comfortable in spite of the loneliness.
Also, I want to point out that this author made me cry through a plot point other than character death. So other authors, take note: You don't have to kill off your characters for shock to get your audiences to feel. This particular scene was done so well, I wish I could read it again for the first time.
So yeah, Leah and Zeke were the highlights of the book.
I also liked the other characters. Jaden, Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Ari. Angus. The Phonar and other summons. I'd love to know more about Judgement, too.
I really enjoyed the story, as well. Interesting. I'd like to know how the inciting incident happened, but it doesn't matter as much as the overall plot and diving into the lore of characters like the Black Cloak, and the war on earth that has affected so many of the characters from the first two books in one way or another.
The fight scenes are really good. I have a problem with books that go into excruciating detail with fight scenes, because they're supposed to be fast-paced. If you start going into the minutiae, you get into situations where the battles seem sluggish. There's just not time to get into every little thing, and the author has pulled this off beautifully. She introduces the battle, trades some blows, and gets to the point. Sometimes things happen so quick, it's difficult to react, but it's really the end result that matters.
I love the idea behind Wishing Dust. What a cool concept, with some seriously awesome drawbacks. I want to know so much more about it. It's uses, its limitations. I hope this is looked into in future books.
There are a couple issues I had with this book, and one of them was a big one for me.
It's a spoiler, though, so, uh. Read at your own risk!
OK, spoilers over.
Besides that, there are some little things that I didn't mind so much. A lot of characters say similar things (IE: "Fair enough" or "that's fair,") that I would expect only one character to make a habit of saying. It's a small character voice problem, but overall the characters are unique and engaging.
It does get a LOT schmaltzy at times, but I accept that's probably more a consequence of my own biases than a problem with the book. I wish more books would go deeper into the non-romantic love between adult characters. Reading it back, it was good. It made sense. And in the heat of war, you want to know the people around you actually love and care for you.
Anyway, really loved this book, and I'm totally failing at my goal to read one book in a series at a time, because I already started reading book 4.
This series is known for flawed, but deep, characters, and Mage is no exception. I love Leah, who has extreme and relatable social anxiety. She definitely reads as autistic, too. And there's one part of the book that hit really hard that I have to spoil a little bit, and that's the darkest depths of anxiety where you feel like you don't have any friends, no matter what anyone says.
But there's people there. You just have to trust them.
Then there's Zeke, who's been so burned by people wanting things from him that he can't give that he just won't let people get close to him anymore. And I've been there... It's more like a numb pain to have nobody than to have someone and lose them. And the numb pain is often preferable, because you know it. It's happening, it's constant, and it becomes almost comfortable in spite of the loneliness.
Also, I want to point out that this author made me cry through a plot point other than character death. So other authors, take note: You don't have to kill off your characters for shock to get your audiences to feel. This particular scene was done so well, I wish I could read it again for the first time.
So yeah, Leah and Zeke were the highlights of the book.
I also liked the other characters. Jaden, Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Ari. Angus. The Phonar and other summons. I'd love to know more about Judgement, too.
I really enjoyed the story, as well. Interesting. I'd like to know how the inciting incident happened, but it doesn't matter as much as the overall plot and diving into the lore of characters like the Black Cloak, and the war on earth that has affected so many of the characters from the first two books in one way or another.
The fight scenes are really good. I have a problem with books that go into excruciating detail with fight scenes, because they're supposed to be fast-paced. If you start going into the minutiae, you get into situations where the battles seem sluggish. There's just not time to get into every little thing, and the author has pulled this off beautifully. She introduces the battle, trades some blows, and gets to the point. Sometimes things happen so quick, it's difficult to react, but it's really the end result that matters.
I love the idea behind Wishing Dust. What a cool concept, with some seriously awesome drawbacks. I want to know so much more about it. It's uses, its limitations. I hope this is looked into in future books.
There are a couple issues I had with this book, and one of them was a big one for me.
It's a spoiler, though, so, uh. Read at your own risk!
OK, spoilers over.
Besides that, there are some little things that I didn't mind so much. A lot of characters say similar things (IE: "Fair enough" or "that's fair,") that I would expect only one character to make a habit of saying. It's a small character voice problem, but overall the characters are unique and engaging.
It does get a LOT schmaltzy at times, but I accept that's probably more a consequence of my own biases than a problem with the book. I wish more books would go deeper into the non-romantic love between adult characters. Reading it back, it was good. It made sense. And in the heat of war, you want to know the people around you actually love and care for you.
Anyway, really loved this book, and I'm totally failing at my goal to read one book in a series at a time, because I already started reading book 4.
January 24, 2025
Magepunk!
I am fascinated by this concept. The author fuses modern warfare and magic into a novel that still manages to show the human (and Zyfauna) side of the characters drawn into the conflict. The conflict itself is brutal and this is by no means a light read. There is a lot of death and suffering (as is the case with war) though this is all presented in a respectful manner.
The two main characters - Zeke and Leah - accidental bind their focus jewels during a fight. From that point on, they are bound. They can communicate telepathically and there is an overlap in their souls. The binding, however, also thrusts them back in time. They are forced to relive the horrors of the war of Eons - a war that had already ended in their own timelines. But the unfortunate situation also gives them the opportunity to right some of the wrongs. Amongst other things, they give Zeke the opportunity to save the lives of his two mothers during a brutal battle in Washington DC, which was yet to happen...
Readers familiar with the series will recognize the return of some of the characters. The doe (Ethos, Pathos and Logos) make a welcome return, though they are a lot more likeable that they were in "Tanned Hide". Trecheon (from aforementioned book) is also there.
Though the worldbuilding is excellent, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of unfamiliar concepts. At times, it felt like I started reading a series on the the second or third book; that I really
should have a better understanding of the world before picking this up. Luckily the author does provide a glossary of terms in the back.
The characters are unique and well written. I confess that I am an absent-minded reader, though. I sometimes struggled to keep tabs on all of them. The travelling party swells quite big at times.
Lastly, I found that dialogue during fight scenes tended to be a bit wordy and/or felt out of place. I feel that the combat is paused for too long whilst the characters are talking. In the heat of battle, with adrenaline pumping, I would expect only the absolute minimum to be said. This is down to personal taste, though.
Overall I enjoyed this book. Recommended if you want something fresh and especially you if are willing to invest time to understand the Zyearth universe.
I am fascinated by this concept. The author fuses modern warfare and magic into a novel that still manages to show the human (and Zyfauna) side of the characters drawn into the conflict. The conflict itself is brutal and this is by no means a light read. There is a lot of death and suffering (as is the case with war) though this is all presented in a respectful manner.
The two main characters - Zeke and Leah - accidental bind their focus jewels during a fight. From that point on, they are bound. They can communicate telepathically and there is an overlap in their souls. The binding, however, also thrusts them back in time. They are forced to relive the horrors of the war of Eons - a war that had already ended in their own timelines. But the unfortunate situation also gives them the opportunity to right some of the wrongs. Amongst other things, they give Zeke the opportunity to save the lives of his two mothers during a brutal battle in Washington DC, which was yet to happen...
Readers familiar with the series will recognize the return of some of the characters. The doe (Ethos, Pathos and Logos) make a welcome return, though they are a lot more likeable that they were in "Tanned Hide". Trecheon (from aforementioned book) is also there.
Though the worldbuilding is excellent, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of unfamiliar concepts. At times, it felt like I started reading a series on the the second or third book; that I really
should have a better understanding of the world before picking this up. Luckily the author does provide a glossary of terms in the back.
The characters are unique and well written. I confess that I am an absent-minded reader, though. I sometimes struggled to keep tabs on all of them. The travelling party swells quite big at times.
Lastly, I found that dialogue during fight scenes tended to be a bit wordy and/or felt out of place. I feel that the combat is paused for too long whilst the characters are talking. In the heat of battle, with adrenaline pumping, I would expect only the absolute minimum to be said. This is down to personal taste, though.
Overall I enjoyed this book. Recommended if you want something fresh and especially you if are willing to invest time to understand the Zyearth universe.
July 10, 2025
Magepunk!
I am fascinated by this concept. The author fuses modern warfare and magic into a novel that still manages to show the human (and Zyfauna) side of the characters drawn into the conflict. The conflict itself is brutal and this is by no means a light read. There is a lot of death and suffering (as is the case with war) though this is all presented in a respectful manner.
The two main characters - Zeke and Leah - accidental bind their focus jewels during a fight. From that point on, they are bound. They can communicate telepathically and there is an overlap in their souls. The binding, however, also thrusts them back in time. They are forced to relive the horrors of the war of Eons - a war that had already ended in their own timelines. But the unfortunate situation also gives them the opportunity to right some of the wrongs. Amongst other things, they give Zeke the opportunity to save the lives of his two mothers during a brutal battle in Washington DC, which was yet to happen...
Readers familiar with the series will recognize the return of some of the characters. The doe (Ethos, Pathos and Logos) make a welcome return, though they are a lot more likeable that they were in "Tanned Hide". Trecheon (from aforementioned book) is also there.
Though the worldbuilding is excellent, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of unfamiliar concepts. At times, it felt like I started reading a series on the the second or third book; that I really
should have a better understanding of the world before picking this up. Luckily the author does provide a glossary of terms in the back.
The characters are unique and well written. I confess that I am an absent-minded reader, though. I sometimes struggled to keep tabs on all of them. The travelling party swells quite big at times.
Lastly, I found that dialogue during fight scenes tended to be a bit wordy and/or felt out of place. I feel that the combat is paused for too long whilst the characters are talking. In the heat of battle, with adrenaline pumping, I would expect only the absolute minimum to be said. This is down to personal taste, though.
Overall I enjoyed this book. Recommended if you want something fresh and especially you if are willing to invest time to understand the Zyearth universe.
I am fascinated by this concept. The author fuses modern warfare and magic into a novel that still manages to show the human (and Zyfauna) side of the characters drawn into the conflict. The conflict itself is brutal and this is by no means a light read. There is a lot of death and suffering (as is the case with war) though this is all presented in a respectful manner.
The two main characters - Zeke and Leah - accidental bind their focus jewels during a fight. From that point on, they are bound. They can communicate telepathically and there is an overlap in their souls. The binding, however, also thrusts them back in time. They are forced to relive the horrors of the war of Eons - a war that had already ended in their own timelines. But the unfortunate situation also gives them the opportunity to right some of the wrongs. Amongst other things, they give Zeke the opportunity to save the lives of his two mothers during a brutal battle in Washington DC, which was yet to happen...
Readers familiar with the series will recognize the return of some of the characters. The doe (Ethos, Pathos and Logos) make a welcome return, though they are a lot more likeable that they were in "Tanned Hide". Trecheon (from aforementioned book) is also there.
Though the worldbuilding is excellent, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the number of unfamiliar concepts. At times, it felt like I started reading a series on the the second or third book; that I really
should have a better understanding of the world before picking this up. Luckily the author does provide a glossary of terms in the back.
The characters are unique and well written. I confess that I am an absent-minded reader, though. I sometimes struggled to keep tabs on all of them. The travelling party swells quite big at times.
Lastly, I found that dialogue during fight scenes tended to be a bit wordy and/or felt out of place. I feel that the combat is paused for too long whilst the characters are talking. In the heat of battle, with adrenaline pumping, I would expect only the absolute minimum to be said. This is down to personal taste, though.
Overall I enjoyed this book. Recommended if you want something fresh and especially you if are willing to invest time to understand the Zyearth universe.
November 4, 2022
An excellent, and surprising, update to the series.
This book handles two things that can be very difficult to achieve - a time travel plot, and continuing a series with the main characters from previous books being absent.
Time travel stories often mess up the events of previous books and make them feel pointless, or the characters feel like their on rails, unable to change anything. This book handled that well, exploring events described vaguely enough in the previous books that it wasn't clear if anything could be changed or not.
The new main characters were also delightful, which helped in the absence of the previous main cast.
A few of my theories were proven incorrect, but there is still one which I think could be possible, given the events of this book. We'll see!
This book handles two things that can be very difficult to achieve - a time travel plot, and continuing a series with the main characters from previous books being absent.
Time travel stories often mess up the events of previous books and make them feel pointless, or the characters feel like their on rails, unable to change anything. This book handled that well, exploring events described vaguely enough in the previous books that it wasn't clear if anything could be changed or not.
The new main characters were also delightful, which helped in the absence of the previous main cast.
A few of my theories were proven incorrect, but there is still one which I think could be possible, given the events of this book. We'll see!
February 26, 2023
Our author's constellation of flawed and faltering characters continues to expand in this, the third installment of The Zyearth Chronicles, again featuring anthropomorphic characters and military magic users. An unlikely hero and an unlikelier heroine find themselves far from homes and cut off from allies as they inadvertently travel back in time to Earth's recent past. There, they'll develop a bond worth defending, right to the last, reminding the grizzled and disillusioned veteran Defender they meet just which bonds are worth having in the first place. Pro tip--everything after the thrilling conclusion to the battle for Washington, DC strikes this reader as a fine prologue for the next book. For which this reader will be anxiously awaiting.
January 24, 2023
Such a good book crazy awesome action
Very Very good was very intense and definitely worth the read.
Characters are great lore is interesting and the moments are emotional
Very Very good was very intense and definitely worth the read.
Characters are great lore is interesting and the moments are emotional
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