I loved this powered through it fast! Addictive!

I loved this so much! One of the best books I've listened to in ages. Captivating world and characters woven in to a story I couldn't wait for the end of but so so sad when it finished because it means I have to wait for the next book to be published. Great narrator essay to listen to.

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Fantastic

Brilliant first novel to kick off a great new series. if you love the spider books then the characters and story do not disappoint. Cannot wait for the second instalment. Do not make us wait too long!

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Decent

Decent enough story with the narrator making it better than it should be. The heroine character was sacrificed for the sake of plot at times making her seem 'too stupid to live'. For a story involving gladiators, the author should have written better fight scenes, writing 'clang' a lot is just lazy.

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glad I stuck to it

I almost stopped listening as the start didn't spark my interest. it took a while to get into the story but I'm glad I did and I can't wait for the next book.

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4 people found this helpful

Not a Bad Start

Set in a fantasy world of magic, gargoyles and shapeshifters, Evie is the daughter of a king and queen who were murdered and is now relegated to a minor royal, no better than a servant. However, what no-one knows is that she has the ability to smell out magic and can make herself immune to it. When her cousin Vasilia stages a coup and murders everyone in the royal family, Evie manages to escape and hide herself away in a troupe of gladiators. Let the games begin

This first book is a promising start to a series which, hopefully, will grow, if all the soul searching does not get in the way!

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This author is talented - book will deliver......

Everything your looking for here - cleaver well written book, with depth of story-line and interest. I enjoyed the entire series immensely. 5 starts all the way!

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Enjoyable but predictable

I totally enjoyed reading this book despite the fact that the plot was very predictable: Nothing happened that I didn't easily predict in advance.  I kept going with it as it was well written and I liked the lead character.  The start was very slow.  It didn't get going until chapter 8 (1/4 of the way through!).  I thought a lot more could have been made of the romance between Evie and Lucas, but maybe that's reserved for book 2, which I will still read when it comes out as I do still want to see how the story progresses. 

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Another brilliant book.

I loved it, I can't wait to see what happens in book two, bring it on.

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Good

Really enjoyed this story even if the H got on my nerves a little bit half way through - will look for next book in the series

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Superb start to a new fantasy series

I have been a fan of Jennifer Estep’s work for some time now and I have been looking forward to this book since it was first publicised. I am so happy that I was not disappointed in any way. This book takes all of the very best things from previous series and none of the slightly niggly things.

The world building as always is superb and I love how the magic is softly woven into the every day existence without great fanfare during the introduction to the main character Everleigh, or Evie as she prefers to be known. Evie is a minor royal with supposedly little magic, whose parents were assassinated when she was 12. After being shunted round the kingdom she ended up at the main court, with her cousin the Queen. With no money, power, position or magic she was treated little better than a servant, who had to work for her living by apprenticing to the Royal Jeweller and attending all the annoying functions that no one else in the royal family could be bothered with. She is educated, but not particularly talented with a sword. She does, however, become very good at surviving the cut throat politics of the court.

At age 28, she thought she was close to reaching her dream of going back to her parents’ estate and opening up the house again, after saving nearly every penny she had ever earned from jewellery commissions, when she attends a function. The events of this function change her life it ways she never thought possible.

We see Evie as she makes new friends and learns new skills, as she tries to survive betrayal and loss.

Evie is a fantastic character, she is smart and determined, she can be cold, calculating and ruthless, but she has a heart. She cares for people even when she tells herself that she is allowing herself to be vulnerable. She battles and struggles with her weaknesses, working hard to overcome them. I liked the other characters in the book as they had depth and you know that future books in the series will flesh them out further.

The narrator for this book really helped bring the story to life. I initially read this as an ebook in 2018 and decided to revisit it as an audiobook and I can honestly say that the narration enhanced my enjoyment. I will definitely be listening to the rest of the series.

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