Mages By Chance: Birthright #1

· Terah Edun
3.0
4 reviews
Ebook
235
Pages

About this ebook

For readers of Kristin Cashore's Graceling and Tamora Pierce's Tortall Series, comes a brand-new epic fantasy adventure with twists, turns, magic, and mayhem!


The first book in a new series that follows a young woman destined to destroy every edict her people live by and the boy who would do anything to be accepted by his. Journey along in a spellbinding story of conquering fear and overcoming love as they become Mages By Chance.


Maeryn 'Mae' Darnes is a young woman torn between two worlds...life or death.She has watched her siblings slowly wither away just like all the others blighted by the cursed Darnes bloodline. Now its the two youngest that will be dead within days.


Desperate to find a cure Mae does the unthinkable and breaks her family's code of honor to practice dark magic. If she can find the cure and convince a band of rogue relatives to join her cause, she might even be able to activate the most powerful casting ever seen.


But in her attempts to circumvent her elder's powerful rulings, Mae stumbles upon a plot to prolong the suffering of the afflicted. Now she not only needs to throw off the yoke that binds her to her family, but carve out the darkness that is hiding within.


Blood and family have always been a constant in Mae's life, but as the wasting sickness is being masterminded for other's desire, Mae becomes determined to risk everything to reveal the truth. No matter the cost.

Ratings and reviews

3.0
4 reviews
Tony Calder
October 17, 2021
I can't award half stars, so I'm giving this a 2, although I think it deserves 2.5. In a lot of respects, this is pretty standard YA fantasy, although Edun has a nice turn of phrase and good worldbuilding skills. Also unusual for a YA series (in my experience), is that the main character is headstrong and opinionated to the point of being very hard to empathise with - and it should be easy to empathise with her, as she comes from what is a pretty rotten society - women are very clearly second-class citizens. This was my first introduction to Terah Edun, and I don't think it's a good starting point, I probably should have started with her main series - the Courtlight books. However, I was misled (by Fantastic Fiction) into believing that this was just a renamed version of the first book she wrote - Red Madrassa - which was released in 2012. After having finished this book, and discovering that it ends on a cliff-hanger, I read some reviews of Red Madrassa, and found that it is a completely different book. Apart from the unsatisfying ending, the first two-thirds of the book are very slow. The first 150-odd pages consists of the main character, Maeryn Darnes, arguing with her sister Ember - told entirely from Mae's point-of-view. I think the amount of character development and worldbuilding contained in that could have been covered in half that number of pages. The last third of the book certainly picks up in pace and action, before the cliff-hanger ending. So, I would have to say my first experience of Terah Edun has not been very satisfying, but I see enough in her writing to give her another chance.
Lee.K
April 4, 2020
I liked the characters and setting, seems like an interesting story, however I am disappointed the story did not cover more time, it felt very short.
K. A.
January 14, 2021
Why is the second book available but not the first?

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.