Melissa Wright

Frey is a failure. She’s clumsy, she can’t do magic, and then when she does work out how to do it she ends up killing animals and plants with a touch. Her new group of friends seems like they will help her, but who is really protecting them?

Unaware she’s been bound from using magic, Frey leads a small, miserable life in the village where she’s sent after the death of her mother. But a tiny spark starts a fury of changes and she finds hersef running from everything she’s ever known.

Hunted by council for practicing dark magic, she is certain she’s been wrongfully accused. She flees, and is forced to rely on strangers for protection. But the farther she strays from home, the more her magic and forgotten memories return and she begins to suspect all is not as it seems.

I wasn’t really sure where the tale of Frey was going, but there was a theme of ‘the journey’ nonetheless. I didn’t really feel Frey’s character until later in the novel, and then I felt she wasn’t all that bright.

The ending was a real revelation, and well worth reading the rest of the novel for. Having now had a sneak peek at the second book (Pieces of Eight – review tomorrow), I can see how it links in nicely.

There weren’t very many plot points, and the things that seemed like big things often weren’t, and there was more than you would have thought to others. I’d probably say this novel is aimed at teenagers, although there are some hints of romance.

The thing I liked most about this novel was the new world. I felt the journey  and I loved the displays of magic that were in the middle of the novel. I would have liked to know more about Frey’s hair colour change too!

The romance was a little transparent for me. But then, Frey has lost so much, she doesn’t even know where to start looking for everything. How can she be expected to know her own mind? She didn’t seem very old, yet, she must be.

I think I may have been slightly prejudiced against this novel, simply because it was in a PDF form, and the print was tiny, really really tiny, on my Kobo eReader. Yes, it was only 97 pages, but those print pages were small! I also got my review copies a little late, and I still haven’t finished reading the one for the book actually on tour *gulp*.

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