After the Parler Debacle of Jan. 2021, I soon made my way to Minds. I know, it’s even more toxic that X/Twitter, a shattered place filled with angry social media refugees. Very much like the books I am about to review.
Amy’s books are hidden gems. I don’t use this term lightly. I am fascinated by the world she has created, a world where magic is destroying the environment. In the full world building series, I asked people questions about how magic could affect the physical environment and weather. Amy shows how to ask those questions in spades in her book!
In Twisting Every Way, we have Emya, who is a mage in a town that hates magic. The town, and culture as a whole hates magic, because magic sickens the land. Turning areas in dangerous places no person should tread.
Two people come in with a magic artifact and conquer the town.
They enslave Emya, who also meets Felix, another mage that they have enslaved with the artifact. The artifact allows them to use magic, but in later books, you learn they had no magic of their own, but lived in one of the sickened areas for centuries.
But Emya and Felix were able to get away from the “Kings”, but they were linked through the artifact, which they called the companion. If any of them were too far away from the other, they could die.
At the end of the story, Emya and Felix were able to break the enchantment the Kings placed on her village and make it to Civim, the mage citadel, where all mages learn their craft.
In Winding ever Higher, Emya and Felix try to go about their daily lives, her as a student, and Felix as a citadel mage. But the companion keeps complicating things. As I said, they are forced into close proximity.
And when twisted monsters attack the Civim, Emya and Felix know they need to break the link and get rid of the artifact. It’s a danger to mages everywhere.
Which brings us to Spirialing into Oblivion.
Felix and Emya and Artyem, a guard of Civim that has been helping them in Civim go into the Twisted lands, where great magical battles were fought millennia ago. Everything is sick, twisted and dangerous.
And the meet with the “Kings” again, who try to tricked Felix and Emya into never breaking the bond with the Companion.
But in the end, they do, but it almost costs them their lives.
The story had a good forced proximity romance, as Felix and Emya profess their love for each other, though Emya was not quite sure because of the nature of the companion.
The world building is fantastic. It’s a great example of taking a great trope, like magic, and twists it into something that makes the world much more real.
How do they deal with the environmental damage caused by excessive usage of magic?
What can they do to repair the damage of excessive usage of magic that has already occurred?
These a great stories, and I definitely recommend buying them off of Amazon today!
The Twisted Realms Series –
Amazing Gaming Productions 