Rating: 3.75⭐️
Riftbourne represents new authors and a new fantasy trilogy to explore in the first of the Esprithean trilogy novels.
Authors Bree Grenwich and Parker Lennox include maps of the territories (be still my heart) and dictionaries of terminology and pronunciation to help readers understand the world building and character foundations.
I was involved in the storyline of Fia Riftbourne, an adopted orphan of uncontrollable powers who is conscripted into the formidable Sidhe Guard, to be trained by the General and be used as a new weapon against their enemies.
There’s a lot of world foundational structure and elements such as history and current events that the authors have to lay out in the novel as well as build Fia’s narrative and the magical elements and systems here.
With all that to pack in one book , unless absolutely brilliantly written, some aspects have to feel less than complete, and that’s a bit of everything.
We don’t exactly know what the magical elements are and how it works. Fia’s adopted mother seems to have some kind of powers, but those aren’t really ever mentioned or defined. Nor is Fia’s adolescence fully understood. We arrive at her life pretty much as the tale begins with only the barest hints of her background.
The conflicts, the war that destroyed her country and caused her and her countrymen to lose everything, become branded, isn’t really defined either except in an paragraph at the beginning.
So it’s emotionally not as strong a factor it could be but more a ‘as a told to’ element. That weakens much of the other characters perspective’s of the story. We get fanatical bigotry but no real emotional connection to its foundation.
The romance or in reality the relationship that develops between the characters , Fia and Laryk, here feels genuine, the uneven power balance and unexplored power dynamics add to the tension between them. It’s hot, tense, and unpredictable.
I felt that, Fia and Sidhe General, Laryk Ashford, were possibly the best elements here.
Too many other things were left undefined or hidden, most likely due to the coming second novel’s storyline, that it felt underwhelming or less convincing in the plot, than some of the other better written aspects of the novel.
Most have to do with Fia’s character and powers, hinted at and described. But her muddy beginnings are a factor too.
So I’m left with a book and characters I feel are good, a universe that the authors are clearly expanding with a second novel, and a large amount of unresolved and undefined aspects of the various storylines.
It ends on a cliffhanger. But it’s not exactly an unexpected one.
Headed to Duskbound now.
Cover art and Map by Parker Lennox
Esprithean Trilogy:
Riftbourne #1
Duskbound #2
Buy link
Riftborne (Esprithean Trilogy Book 1)
Blurb
He was striking in a cold-blooded kind of way, like his beauty was tinged with poison. Unassuming, alluring even.
I brought my eyes up to meet his.
“Fia Riftborne?” The words dripped from his lips like blood from a dagger.
Twenty years after a rebellion branded her an outcast, Fia Riftborne navigates a city rife with prejudice so deep, it’s often deadly. But she harbors a secret, one that would paint an even larger target on her back. A hidden power within her is growing, threatening to destroy everything she’s built for herself.
Enter the elusive Sidhe General, Laryk Ashford, who is building a unit of powerful wielders within the Guard to face a growing threat. Wraiths of darkness devour the Western border, leaving a trail of death and destruction in their wake.
When Fia’s power erupts, and two daughters of Nobility are seemingly dead, General Ashford offers her a chilling choice: join the Sidhe Guard or face execution.
Because Fia might be the only hope for the Isle’s survival.
Torn between surrendering to the chaos or becoming a weapon for those who took everything from her, Fia must confront her growing feelings for the General and face a dark truth that could shatter everything she’s ever known.
- Publisher: ONYX Publishing
- Publication date: September 3, 2024
- Edition: 1st
- Language: English
- Print length: 428 pages
- Book 1 of 2: Esprithean Trilogy
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 