Elise (they/them) reviewed Rarkyn's Familiar by Nikky Lee
Review of "Rarkyn's Familiar" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A deeply immersive fantasy adventure. The characters are well developed, their stories meaningfully intertwined and the writing let me feel as though I journeyed alongside them. This is a richly built fantasy world, touching seams with an Otherworld, from whence magic creatures can travel. Both worlds have their own magic system, and the human population disagree about who can wield magic and how, those repressive of magic holding the upper hand as the story begins.
The story has the familiar master and apprentice trope, but the twist is this master of magic is himself a magical creature, tutoring a human. And he's still learning to control his own magic. Meanwhile young Hane also has great promise with magic, though he falls in with an experienced magic wielder who seems to wish both Lyss and her tutor great ill.
This is a story of pursuits across the wilderness, allies, enemies and …
A deeply immersive fantasy adventure. The characters are well developed, their stories meaningfully intertwined and the writing let me feel as though I journeyed alongside them. This is a richly built fantasy world, touching seams with an Otherworld, from whence magic creatures can travel. Both worlds have their own magic system, and the human population disagree about who can wield magic and how, those repressive of magic holding the upper hand as the story begins.
The story has the familiar master and apprentice trope, but the twist is this master of magic is himself a magical creature, tutoring a human. And he's still learning to control his own magic. Meanwhile young Hane also has great promise with magic, though he falls in with an experienced magic wielder who seems to wish both Lyss and her tutor great ill.
This is a story of pursuits across the wilderness, allies, enemies and people whose motives and goals are less clear cut. Each character has their own clear goals and most are sympathetic —save the kind of baddie you love to hate. A very entertaining debut. I'll definitely want to read the whole trilogy.