Review: The Firetongue Heir by Elyse Thomson

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I don’t often make a whole review post for short stories and novellas but this one apparently caused me to say more than I usually do for such a short read. Its own post made more sense than including it in the mini review section of my round-up posts so here we are. I really enjoyed this novella and hope y’all will give it a try as well!

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About the Book

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Series: Mages of Oblivion

Genre: Fantasy
Intended Age Group: Adult
Length: 109 Pages
Published: June 18, 2023

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Link

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Add to your Goodreads here.

Prequel to Poisoned Empire, this romantic fantasy novella is an exclusive gift to newsletter subscribers.

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Blurb

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As the cunning mage Nadia plots to reshape a continent plagued by war, the fate of a noblewoman—marriage and a life of stultifying insignificance—is only one of many hurdles to overcome. Forced to let her brother take credit for all her brilliant plans, she’s resigned to scheme from the shadows while her family decides her future. Her life seems set in stone, until she meets a charming, irritating rogue and the bane of her existence—Darius.

Prince Darius Firetongue loves nothing more than nettling the sharp-tongued, quick-witted Nadia, and being the disappointing youngest son of a tyrant leaves him plenty of time to woo her away from a fiancé she doesn’t want. But when the king decides to bring him to heel by threatening Nadia’s life, he knows he must act.

Compelled to flee, with only each other to rely on, passions ignite. Yet as dangerous secrets are revealed, they must decide: side with family, or choose a reckless, forbidden love and the dark promise of bloodshed to come.

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About the Author

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Elyse Thomson is the pen name for a writer, bookbinder and self-proclaimed hermit residing in Canada’s capital. 

I graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelors in History and Classics. I write adult romantic fantasy novels for those looking to escape into another world. If you enjoy court intrigue, daring heroines, magical mayhem, swoon-worthy romances and ancient history-inspired settings, check out my Mages of Oblivion series! 

When not writing, I’m restoring antiquarian books for a select group of clients, or snuggling up with my neurotic terrier, Freya.

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Review

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The Firetongue Heir was a whole lot more fun than I expected. I can be really picky with short stories and novellas but this pulled me right in.

I really liked the simple map in the beginning. It gave us a quick overview without a lot of details that sometimes make things hard to make out. I’m a fan of intricate maps as much as the next person but sometimes they do get a little overwhelming in books and it takes me forever to find places.

That first chapter really knew how to hook you. And so did the second. It kept the momentum going well despite the setup feeling as elaborate as a full length novel. I am a little worried that the first full-length book will feel a little repetitive if some of this info will be repeated as it does feel important but a friend told me it takes place several years later so maybe it won’t play that big of a part there after all. Nonetheless, this was really interesting and a whole world opened up within just this short little book.

Overall I really liked the writing style but I do think some sentences could’ve been done simpler because they slowed my reading unnecessarily when trying to figure out the sentence structure. That mostly stood out at the start and it felt like it got smoother throughout the story.

The banter and flirting were really well done. Very sexy. The main characters had such great chemistry and I loved watching them dance around each other. It was a lot of fun and added a good layer of personality to the story. Though I did find the ending a little bit too cheesy for me. I much preferred the prior tension between the characters. But that’s personal taste.

I was promised a lot more banter in Poisoned Empire and am really looking forward to it. I also hope that we get some more of that sexiness as well. I immediately bought it after finishing The Firetongue Heir.

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