Spellbreaker (Spellwright, #3) By Blake Charlton
Leandra Weal has a bad habit of getting herself in dangerous situations While hunting neodemons in her role as Warden of Ixos Leandra obtains a prophetic spell that provides a glimpse one day into her future She discovers that she is doomed to murder someone she loves soon but not who That s a pretty big problem for a woman who has a shark god for a lover a hostile empress for an aunt a rogue misspelling wizard for a father and a mother who especially when arguing with her daughter can be a real dragon Leandra s quest to unravel the mystery of the murder she will commit becomes urgent when her chronic disease flares up and the Ixonian Archipelago is plagued by natural disasters demon worshiping cults and fierce political infighting Everywhere she turns Leandra finds herself amid intrigue and conflict It seems her bad habit for getting into dangerous situations is turning into a full blown addiction As chaos spreads across Ixos Leandra and her troubled family must race to uncover the shocking truth about a prophesied demonic invasion human language and their own identities if they don t kill each other first Spellbreaker is the long awaited sequel to Spellbound which was listed by Kirkus Reviews among the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2011 This final installment of the Spellwright Trilogy stands alone as a complete story however fans of the series will find in it answers to the questions raised by the previous books about Leandra s parents Nicodemus Weal and Francesca DeVega Spellbreaker Spellwright 3 Novelist physician proud dyslexic. 5 stars Final review first posted on Fantasy Literature If someone is offering to sell you a spell that predicts one hour into the future one excellent way to test whether the spell really works is to try to murder the man selling it to you If you succeed in killing him clearly it wasn t a valid prophetic spell In any case that s Leandra Weal s rationale for poisoning the blackrice liqueur she offers to the smuggler selling her the spell Luckily for both Leandra and the smuggler the spell warns the smuggler not to drink the puffer fish liver infused drink Unfortunately once Leandra tries the spell making a small spelling adjustment to allow her to see twenty four hours into the future she sees that she will either have to murder someone she loves or die herself If she tries to run or avoid the prophecy everyone she loves will suddenly die. With this compelling start Spellbreaker 2016 the final book in Blake Charlton s SPELLWRIGHT trilogy launches us into an Indonesian inspired fantasy world where local gods and demons are incarnated from the prayers of the faithful and spells literally need to be spelled in writing taking physical form and living in your skin and muscles Misspellings will alter a spell for good or ill. Spellbreaker takes place some thirty years after the events of Spellbound the second book in this series in which Leandra s parents Nicodemus Weal and Francesca DeVega first met Leandra Nicodemus and Francesca are all Wardens responsible for converting or destroying neodemons who cause violent disturbances in the League kingdoms Leandra is estranged from her mother Francesca who can literally turn into a dragon Nicodemus is a spellwright a spell caster whose dyslexia like disability results in his misspelling every spell he touches and his disruptive touch will kill anyone he touches other than his immediate family His misspelled metaspells however also have the mixed benefit of making magic intuitive which strengthens the powers of both deities and neodemons in the League of Starfall and weakens spellwrights Nicodemus half sister Vivian controls the hostile Neosolar Empire using metaspells that are the opposite of Nicodemus they make magical language consistent and logical weakening deities and demons and increasing industrialization but perilously decreasing the diversity of plant and animal life. While Leandra is trying to figure out what the best way is to address her deadly prophecy she is also setting herself at odds with the two competing empires and their opposing magical philosophies Meanwhile her father is investigating an appearance by a demon of the ancient continent that portends a potentially devastating supernatural conflict Her mother Francesca and her aunt the Empress Vivian are pursuing their own independent but equally dangerous paths. After an exciting first chapter the pace slows down as the story follows Leandra Nicodemus and Francesca in turn each on his or her separate path The gradual build up to the main conflict takes about two thirds of the book as the characters paths weave together and the conflicts between them gradually solidify Leandra whose point of view is the predominant one in Spellbreakerisn t always a sympathetic protagonist she takes several ruthless actions in her attempt to pursue the path she thinks is necessary and right. The SPELLWRIGHT world created by Charlton has intricate and imaginative world building with a challenging complexity and strong and diverse characters The setting of Spellbreaker in an Indonesia based culture is a breath of fresh air as is the multifaceted textual based magical system Crimson language can wrap around one s head be removed and placed on someone else s head Spellwrights do startling things like pull magical text right out of their skin and hurl it at people as a curse or use tattooed skinspells to wage war Having a misspelling disability like Nicodemus does an echo of Charlton s own struggles with dyslexia is a mixed curse and blessing. Unfortunately this detailed and complicated world never became quite real to me There is quite a bit of info dumping that was difficult for me to assimilate although readers who have read the prior two books in this series will probably find it much easier to engage with this world While it s possible to read Spellbreaker as a stand alone novel after having done that I can t personally recommend it If I d read Spellwright and Spellbound first this world would have been familiar and the info sharing probably would have made sense and thus been interesting but as it was the detailed background information tended to go in one ear and out the other leaving me somewhat mystified Still it s a fascinating world in many respects and I d like to go back and read the first two books in this series and then give Spellbreaker another try 480 A wonderful and glorious trilogy with a unique magic system it addresses many difficult subjects I absolutely loved the way it evolves through many years It left a profound impression on me and will stay in my heart Well worth a read 480 I will admit I had my doubts about this book. The entire series reads a bit like something of a philosophical parable The balance between order and chaos is not necessarily one of good versus evil This book especially compared to the first two can be rather uncomfortable I don t mean this in a sense of graphic violence raunchy sex scenes or scandalous topics It s just weird The worldbuilding is incredibly unique and wholly complete in and of itself It actually provides most of the driving force behind the conflict of the novel It s awesome that s all I can really say about that I think part of the weirdness is that the main character is a little unrelatable She makes questionable decisions and her morality seems highly vacillate from one moment to a next She s willing to do what it takes which is good I guess but she doesn t seem to have the redeemable qualities to make over it She does come around in the end with a strong goal and motivation but it may or may not be entirely too late depending on your tastes. By the end I think this book entirely redeems whatever faults you may or may not have with the book I really liked that ending It was a surprise A good surprise The prose was beautiful the conclusion was satisfying Ultimately I think it was absolutely worth reading through I m glad I found this series again and discovered that there was actually a third book 480 While this is the final book in Charlton s trilogy it can stand very well on its own with adequate amounts of reminding and jostling of the memory that serve to help readers who haven t reread since the preceding books were released before Charlton began med school but that do just as well at introducing new readers The magic system is incredibly unique based around magical texts that compose magic beings and that magic users can use Prayer creates new magic text that can be used by the sorcerers The rules aren t perfectly explained but for folks who enjoy hard magic systems this is a solid bet The plot is easy to follow and the biggest twist of the story was definitely a surprise But it was encouraging to look back and realize that it was well laid out beforehand and to realize that it wasn t deus ex machina The character growth takes a long time to happen but when it finally does it comes fast and furious and is very satisfying I particularly liked the setting a fusion of South Asian Polynesian influences and cultural nods Really the parts are all good and I think the way the whole could have been improved was to have been a bit longer to link portions of the plot concretely But I like my epic fantasy to be a bit on the door stop sized side so I might be biased I received a review copy courtesy of Net Galley 480 This book was initially hard for me to get into because of the 30 year gap from the previous book but once I did I enjoyed it very much In this story Nicodemus and Francesca take a backseat to their daughter Leandra and her godlike companions Unfortunately while Leandra is as equally complex as her parents are she s not as likeable as they are I didn t enjoy her character very much and I m glad the story spends lots of time exploring other characters as well In fact this story is interesting than the previous two and I would say overall it is on far or just a little bit better than the previous book 480
| Spellbreaker (Spellwright, #3) By Blake Charlton |
| 0765356600 |
| 9780765356604 |
| 480 |
| Mass Market Paperback |
3.BUT