The Stats
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: Spellmaker
AUTHOR: Charlie N. Holmberg @cnholmberg
Publisher: 47North
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Published: March 9, 2021
The Review
✨ The Title/Cover Draw:
- After reading Spellbreaker, I was eager to continue the duology. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity. As I said before, I love Charlie Holmberg’s writing and her Paper Magician series. The magical worlds she creates are so accessible and Spellmaker is no different.
💜 What I liked:
- Spellmaker follows the connection of Elsie and Bacchus as well as unraveling the mystery of who is murdering magicians. The characters are well written and relatable.
😱 What I didn’t like:
- Sometimes the plot of Spellmaker dragged at times. Also there were points that I thought a twist was going to happen, but it didn’t.
💁♀️ The Characters:
- We follow the same characters from Spellbreaker – Elsie, Bacchus, Emmeline, Ogden. There are some new characters in this book: Irene Prescott, a magician who tutors Elsie, and Reggie, someone from Elsie’s past!
🚦 The Ending:
- Excellent action scene in the ending! Wraps everything up nicely and I was very satisfied.
💭 Consider if you like:
- Accessible period fantasies that get you invested in the characters.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.
📘 Summary:
Dead wizards, stolen enchantments, and broken promises force a young spellbreaker out of the shadows in the next thrilling installment of the Spellbreaker series by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Paper Magician.
England, 1895. An unsolved series of magician murders and opus thefts isn’t a puzzle to Elsie Camden. But to reveal a master spellcaster as the culprit means incriminating herself as an unregistered spellbreaker. When Elsie refuses to join forces with the charming assassin, her secret is exposed, she’s thrown in jail, and the murderer disappears. But Elsie’s hope hasn’t vanished.
Through a twist of luck, the elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey helps Elsie join the lawful, but with a caveat: they must marry to prove their cover story. Forced beneath a magical tutor while her bond with Bacchus grows, Elsie seeks to thwart the plans of England’s most devious criminal—if she can find them.
With hundreds of stolen spells at their disposal, the villain has a plan—and it involves seducing Elsie to the dark side. But even now that her secret is out, Elsie must be careful how she uses the new abilities she’s discovering, or she may play right into the criminal’s hands.