A Meddle of Wizards (Fledgling Magic #1) by Alexandra Rushe #bookreview #fantasy @KensingtonBooks
Title: A Meddle of Wizards
Author: Alexandra Rushe
Publisher: Rebel Base Books
Publication Date: January 9, 2018
Page Count: 342
My rating: 3 1/2 stars
About the book:
Welcome to Tandara, where gods are fickle, nightmares are real, and trolls make excellent bakers . . .
Raine Stewart is convinced she’ll die young and alone in Alabama, the victim of a chronic, mysterious illness. Until a man in a shabby cloak steps out of her mirror and demands her help to defeat a bloodthirsty wizard.
Raine shrugs it off as a hallucination—just one more insult from her failing body—and orders her intruder to take a hike. But the handsome figment of her imagination won’t take no for an answer, and kidnaps her anyway, launching her into a world of utmost danger—and urgent purpose.
Ruled by unpredictable gods and unstable nations, Tandara is a land of shapeshifters and weather-workers, queens and legends. Ravenous monsters and greedy bounty hunters patrol unforgiving mountains. Riverboats pulled by sea-cattle trade down broad waterways. And creatures of nightmare stalk Raine herself, vicious in the pursuit of her blood.
But Raine isn’t helpless or alone. She’s part of a band as resourceful as it is odd: a mage-shy warrior, a tattered wizard, a tenderhearted giant, and a prickly troll sorceress. Her new friends swear she has powers of her own. If she can stay under their protection, she might just live long enough to find out . . .
My review:
A Meddle of Wizards by Alexandra Rushe is the beginning of a new fantasy series, Fledgling Magic. The story is mostly told by the main character Raine’s point of view but there are a few instances that it moves over to others in the story.
Raine is living on our world as we know it alone and fighting constant illness when she thinks she is beginning to hallucinate. Instead of hallucinations though a man pops out through her mirror and brings her into a totally new world full of wizards, trolls, giants and many other things.
Raine finds out that she is actually from this world but was hidden away in Alabama to keep her safe from an evil dark wizard. She teams up with the group that has brought her into her world to set out to defeat the wizard and finds new dangers around every corner as they travel across this new world from land to land.
This story is one that for the most part I enjoyed and found was quite a nice start to this new series. I did have a couple of complaints with this first book though when all was said and done. First I found that I didn’t really like the times the story would switch over to other characters instead of just sticking with Raine’s group and building the tale from there. There are a lot of new characters and elements in this fantasy as it is to learn about so these odd chapters just didn’t flow well to me.
I would also say that this one seemed to occasionally get a bit on the slow side to me. For the most part of the book it moved from one scene to the next at a decent pace but then occasionally I’d wonder why it wasn’t moving on or focusing on certain things which also goes back to what I mentioned with the flow of the story by switching POVs too. In the end though I’d be interested in seeing what the author does with the next book as this one held a lot of good things and the story felt as if it were just starting.
I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
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Carries Book Reviews 
First, can I just say I’ve always wanted a dress like that? Ahem. Anyway, this sounds like an intriguing fantasy even though it has too many characters and POVs. I’m going to be good and not request it from NetGalley, but I’m going to keep my eye out for it at the library. Wonderful review!😊
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Hehe you reminded me of a part in the book when Raine is getting a new wardrobe she doesn’t want to be forced to wear dresses and argues women wear “britches” all the time in the world she’s from. But thank you though, I still enjoyed this one even with my complaints. 🙂
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I am rarely tempted by fantasy, but this one looks tempting!
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It was certainly an interesting start to the series with lots of things going on..warriors, wizards, trolls, giants and on and on. 🙂
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