🐍 Deathbringer 🐍

• Sonia Tagliareni

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‘The last words of the dead are sacred.’

Standing over her Nan’s casket, the dead speaks to Viola for the first time. Immediately, she knows her fate may as well be a death sentence – after all, this magic was responsible for her father’s demise. But when Viola’s sister Olivia leaps at the chance to take Viola’s place at the magical academy, Gorhail, Viola feels a grim sense of relief. When, twelve years later, Olivia is brutally murdered, it’s up to Viola to finally venture into the walls of the place she’s spent her life avoiding.

The plan is simple – find Olivia’s killer and get out. Things are complicated somewhat by a poison mage named Sylas, whose brother was murdered on the same night as Olivia. Despite Dylan’s deep-rooted hatred of death magic, he must ally with Viola to discover the real truth of what happened to their siblings.

Something I really loved about this was the really unique magic system. There are three classes of mage: Arkani, Aspieri and Mortemagi. Sylas is an aspieri, which means his magic comes from the snakes he’s bonded to. It’s definitely a complex magic system, which the author had evidently put a lot of thought into.

Unfortunately, I did think it lost its way slightly, toward the middle section. I really enjoyed the explosive beginning and the ending, but something about the middle’s pacing seemed lacklustre and the scenes were meandering and a bit aimless. Additionally, it was heavily on the plot and light on the romance, which is something to be aware of given it’s been marketed as a romantasy.

Alongside all the necromancy, Deathbringer deals quite heavily with themes of grief, in a way that I thought was really well-done. I also thought the overall arc of the book was well-plotted, with offhanded mentions coming back to haunt the narrative and a LOT of twists and turns toward the end that kept me on the edge of my seat.

I’m also not convinced on the need to make this a series (it’s intended to be a trilogy, I think!) I think it would have worked really well as a standalone. Overall, this was a very solid debut and I’d be interested in reading what the author releases next. However, I’m still undecided whether I will continue this series, just because I actually felt like most of the story was wrapped-up well and probably didn’t call for sequels.

Deathbringer is out now! Thanks to Solstice Books UK and NetGalley for the digital ARC 🐍🖤