Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
Ninos has been training all his life to be a sylvan mage. Trees, plants, herbs, flowers, fruits, berries, nuts—he knows them all, and he intends to use that knowledge for the good of his home, a village he has not seen in more than a decade.
The final step to becoming a full-fledged mage is the conjuring and binding of a familiar, a faithful companion and guide who will supplement his power and remain at his side the rest of his life. Instead of a sylvan familiar, like a unicorn or stag, however, something goes horribly awry and Ninos finds himself bound instead to Sinn, a raven familiar meant for dark magics.
Neither is happy about it. Ninos wants a familiar who can help him with life, with growing and restoring a place destroyed by fire and plague. Sinn should be helping to raise the dead or cast blood workings. They were never meant to meet, let alone be bound.
The Review
Ninos is a student at the Havenbright Academy of Magic, and has been there since he was five. He is a Sylvan mage, and is finally preparing for graduation and conjuring up his familiar. Ninos is prepared for everything – except for his mentor, Professor Brandor being murdered. His final presentation is already done, but there will be no reveal. Professor Brandor was like a father to him, since he barely saw his own since he was five, and the man’s death is devastating to him.
When the headmaster calls Ninos into his office, it’s to reveal that the professor left his entire estate, money and house to him. Speechless, Ninos accepts, but the sadness of not being able to say goodbye or thank him is overwhelming. Finally, it’s his turn to get his familiar. He is joined by his best friend Kina, whose familiar turns out to be a poisonous snake.
Something goes wrong, and his familiar ends up being a raven, indicative of black magic, not Sylvan. The headmaster reveals that someone sabotaged his conjuring with the intent of killing him, but now, with no way to reverse what happened, he has only one recourse. He must find the black magic mage, who probably has his Sylvan familiar, and hopefully switch with one another.
It doesn’t take long before the professor’s killer is discovered, and it’s a shock to everyone, but I won’t reveal it in this review. Now Ninos and his Raven Sinn are on their way to find the mage that belongs to Sinn, but along the way they run into danger.
On their journey, they visit a carnival, where the unbelievable occurs. Of course, anything can happen when you enter the Carnival of Mysteries.
This story is filled with lies, secrets, betrayals, a Sylvan Mage with a love of plants and a mischievous raven who work together and form a bond. But do they belong together?
I highly recommend this book, and all the books in the Carnival of Mysteries series. This is a new year with new stories by many authors, and all are worth the price of admission.
5 stars.
The Reviewer
I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.
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