A Far Wilder Magic
Ratings33
Average rating3.9
This is the kind of YA slow-burn romance fantasy you can read in a weekend and enjoy doing so. The writing doesnt ruin itself with purpose prose and the characters (although sometimes a little bland) are likable and feel real in their interactions. Took a chance with the cover, loved the read.
This was as beautiful as I expected it to be. The writing is extremely atmospheric, with many sentences just evoking unforgettable imagery and I'm so glad the author just stepped up from her wonderful writing in Down Comes the Night. We also have the grumpy sunshine trope here with Margaret being a very serious person, mostly because of her abandonment issues. She just wants her mother's love again and will do anything for it, even if she doesn't wanna kill the Hala in her heart. Wes feels happy go lucky on surface but is hiding a lot of insecurities and just wants to provide for his family. Their relationship is full of small and tender moments which was so endearing.
Overall I really loved this story. It made me smile and cry and feel all kinds of emotional. The only reason my review is short is because I've just not been in a good mood these days and don't feel upto writing something longer. But don't let my boring review stop you, go ahead and pick up this book to enjoy a lovely atmospheric romantic fantasy.
This book was alright. Loved the unique plot but it took me a while to get into the story and like the characters.
Notice how all hot man have girlboss sisters to slay them, they're legends plss !!
I got this book on a whim and started reading with no preconceived notions or expectations and I was delightfully surprised. I will be thinking about this book for the next few months and wishing it wasn’t a standalone.
Excitingly on of the best books I have read in 2023
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)
4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this. Hard to put down and kept me up past my bedtime reading it.
A little disappointing that the main plot of the book is literally 1 chapter long. Very atmospheric and with good character chemistry though; Wes is the cutest.
This was a wonderfully executed piece of fantasy! Frankly, I've never read anything like it before and i was fully captivated throughout the whole time i was reading this book. The idea of a mythical and dangerous fox hunt combined with alchemy and a slow-burn type of romance is honestly the best mix one could come up with haha!
I loved the author's writing style, it was enchanting, but straightforward at the same time. I also really enjoyed the sociopolitical and religious commentary expressed through the fictional time setting she chose.
However, what I enjoyed the most was clearly the relationship between Margaret and Wes. I just love the grumpy-sunshine dynamic ESPECIALLY when the boy is the one playing the sunshine role. Moreover, them being so different in nature only made the plot more entertaining. Wes was charming, goofy and clumsy, whilst Margaret was demure composed and, of course, grumpy. Loved how Wes was Margaret's emotional support person and helped her realise that withering away in her old and lonely manor was not her destiny. She had the power to choose her own path in life, she just needed someone to help her learn to dream and Wes, being the supportive little ray of sunshine that he is, manages to do just that✨
I badly wanted to love this, and was hoping that it'd live up to its gorgeous cover artwork, but the ending was so disappointing to me and knocked a few stars off of it.
There was a lot to like here from the beginning—it started strong—but the author just kept stretching it further and further until it was so thin and unsatisfying that it just kinda fizzled out.
Margaret and Wes are really great characters; they're interesting and complicated, and I was rooting for them. But by the end of the book they're surrounded by a bunch of filler characters, some of which are so cartoony by comparison that it undermines them a bit.
The world building was compelling at the beginning, but then all the useless details that were added along the way just muddied it instead of strengthening it, and I lost interest. It started off like, okay, it's rustic and we've got guns and carriages and alchemy, cool, that's fun. Wait... so we have motorcars now? Arright, steampunk, got it. Mmm right, and landline telephones. Okayyyy. Record players and flappers? So, it's 1920s but fantasy; sure, I guess. A literal condom in a foil wrapper!? Come on now. Shall we just whip out an iPhone and record a dance for Tik-Tok at this point? Ma'am, be serious!
The different religions, politics, and the science of alchemy were so promising when it was first set up, but none of it gets any real development or time to shine, and it's all overshadowed but the most banal and unnecessary romance that sucked all the air out of the room. So many missed opportunities, to be honest.
I don't mind a slow burn, so long as there's a payoff, but the whole Big Event™ that is built up from the beginning doesn't even start until the last 50 pages. And look, if you have a sequence where a magical, deadly, angry creature that you've literally been hunting just politely twiddles its thumbs while your main characters choose that moment to have a long deep'n'meaningful, you have properly lost me.
Don't get me wrong though, I didn't have a bad time, but it was just... fine?
There is something so magical and powerful about an only boy with four sisters. Like something about that dynamic is always just a masterpiece.