Rating: 4 / 5
THE TETHERED MAGE by Melissa Caruso was the April/May book pick for the #MagicMayhemReads buddy read on Instagram. I knew nothing about this one going in.
THE TETHERED MAGE is set in a world where magic is uncommon and potentially dangerous. Those who develop power must be kept under tight reign, so they are required to come into government control, bound to a Falconer who can bind and unbind their magic with just a few words.
Zaira has a very powerful and very dangerous magic which she tries to keep under wraps as she lives on the streets. When her fire power is finally seen, putting the empire in great danger, she is bound to Lady Amalia Cornaro. As heir to her mother’s throne, Amalia should not have found herself bound to a mage, but she must now learn to deal with this new complication even as war and political turmoil continue to threaten the empire.
I wound up really enjoying this book. I found it a very easy fantasy to settle into with the action picking up pretty quickly. I thought the author did a good job of introducing the world and the magic system without it feeling like a major info dump in the beginning. Because Lady Amalia has been raised separate from the world of mages and falcons, she is needing to learn the world and that introduces the reader as well.
Zaira is understandably upset at her new role as a tethered mage after escaping notice and maintaining independence for so many years. I really enjoyed the banter and rivalry between her and Amelia throughout. There is quite a bit of political maneuvering as well and I did occasionally lose track of the who’s who in the political realm as I listened to this one, but I found that I could roll with it and still get the overall impact of what was going on.
In all this was an entertaining and enjoyable read and I would look to read more in the series going forward!
DG Reads 