The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! đ
tezzarudge's review
4.0
Raced through this one, in a few days
Actually think this is my favourite from the series thus far, even if some others suggest otherwise.
What I really admire about this one and the author themselves is they moved away from the previously winning formula and experimented with a new part of the world and threw in a lot more actions with consequences.
I think it's brave to move away from a tried and tested approach but also it breathed a whole new layer of the world and story into the series.
The romance was less hot and heavy here but the meaninful actions and wider story are enhanced in this novel.
As before the dialogue is brilliant and this remains the best part of this series and the authors style. I did also really enjoy how the secondary characters were more fleshed out in this one.
Guess I better get to the prequel now!
Actually think this is my favourite from the series thus far, even if some others suggest otherwise.
What I really admire about this one and the author themselves is they moved away from the previously winning formula and experimented with a new part of the world and threw in a lot more actions with consequences.
I think it's brave to move away from a tried and tested approach but also it breathed a whole new layer of the world and story into the series.
The romance was less hot and heavy here but the meaninful actions and wider story are enhanced in this novel.
As before the dialogue is brilliant and this remains the best part of this series and the authors style. I did also really enjoy how the secondary characters were more fleshed out in this one.
Guess I better get to the prequel now!
kendra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
nathans_fantasy_reviews's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
 This review was originally posted at The Fantasy Review
I am not usually one who enjoys a lot of romance in my books. As a side plot its fine, but I donât particularly enjoy books where the romance overwhelms the rest of the plot; I donât particularly care for the âspicy scenesâ; the tropes of the romance genre usually donât do anything for me. There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule, and one of the key ones is JD Evans.
The Mages of the Wheel series has had me in a vice grip ever since I checked out Reign and Ruin back when it was a finalist, and eventual winner, in SPFBO (sidenote: definitely check out the finalists in SFBO each year even if they donât usually feel like they are your âthingâ; it is a great and convenient way to expand your reading horizons!).
Iâm attracted to Evansâ works because while they are definitely romance books and everything you should expect to find with romance, they are also just strong fantasy books â full of magic, politics, and great characters.
Siren & Scion, the third book in the series, is another strong entry in the series. What I found most interesting about this book was that the things I liked most about were things I found relatively lacking in the first two books, while the strengths of the earlier books were Siren & Scionâs weakest aspects. Let me go through the bookâs strengths and weaknesses, starting with the many strengths.
The Worldbuilding: Unlike most romantasies, I have always really enjoyed the worldbuilding in The Mages of the Wheel. It was well-developed, internally consistent, and beautifully married the romance and fantasy genres. Having said that, the world in the first two books was pretty small. We only got to really know a handful of cities and nations, despite Evansâ hints that a much bigger world was out there. Siren & Scion expands the boundaries significantly, placing readers in a brand new part of the world (although with plenty of connections and references to the places and characters we have already fallen in love with). We finally get to see the big bad empire that has been alluded to in previous books, and this also gives the book a different âflavorâ from its predominantly West Asian inspirations/feel from previous books.
The Over-Arching Plot: As Iâve mentioned, I really like how Evans found a way to merge fantasy and romance story telling styles. Romance readers want their happily ever afters, and for each book to introduce a new couple, while epic fantasy readers want to feel like the story is going somewhere. The âoverall goalâ of the series is to recreate the Wheel (the magic system in the book), and each book in the series introduces readers to one of the mages for the wheelâŚwho also just happens to be one half of the romantic couplings in each book. Despite each book further building out the Wheel, the actual purpose of building the wheel has never really come into focus. While Siren & Scion doesnât quite reveal all of the cards of what the endgame for the series will be, readers are introduced to several new plots that will definitely have ramifications moving forward.
The Lead Character: The characters in this series are never bad, but I donât think a character immediately jumped off the page and gripped me as much as Amara. She is fierce, effervescent, and sarcastic; she is just an absolutely fantastic character to spend time with. I think a big part of this is because, unlike many of the characters in Reign & Ruin and Storm & Shield, Amara is not a âtraditionalâ member of the sociopolitical elite (nor does she have a significantly long-term relationship with any in the upper social echelons). Amara is a woman climbing the social ladder, and her complex background and relationship with her burgeoning social position makes her a fantastic character with a heck of a lot to dig into. Amaraâs paramour in the book, Cassian (who is also a POV character) is also great, but nothing can stand up to Amara in terms of great character work here!
There are only two elements of Siren & Scion that worked less well than the previous two books:
The Self-Contained Plot: While Siren & Scion gave us so much good stuff in terms of the overall world and plot, I thought that the individual plot of Amara and Cassian was a step down from the previous two books. It took me much longer to feel engaged by their story than normal. Maybe it was because it has been a while since I had read Storm & Shield (if anyone from the JD Evans team is reading this, I would really appreciate recaps at the beginning of the books!), or maybe because the plot here didnât involve the delicious court politics weâve seen previously. This is not to suggest the plot was bad by any means! It was still quite strong, and by the halfway point I was flying through the book. It just took a bit longer to build momentum and get to the heart of what makes these books so great.
The Ending: Donât worry, no spoilers here! I just want to note that the endings of Reign & Ruin and Storm & Shield (donât worry â no spoilers for those endings either) were magnificent. There was a stunning climax and a grand finale building to the building of the Wheel. This book really lacked that kind of emotional and stirring ending. This book concluded on a quieter note, really emphasizing the romance aspects. I know this is just me and what I gravitate towards in this series (the fantasy over the romance), but I didnât get that swell of awe and emotions that I usually get when finishing one of these books. Like with the plot, by no means a bad ending but just not as good as the first two.
If youâve been meaning to check out this series, now is the perfect time. Not only are there three fantastic mainline series entries for you to binge through (plus a prequel novel that I am hoping to read this summer), but the fourth official book should be out soon. This is a series perfect for fans of romance and epic fantasy (and, yes, you can just skim past the spicy scenes without losing anything if they arenât your thing â this is usually what I do). Siren & Scion is yet another entry that just proves how great this series really is.
Concluding Thoughts: Siren & Scion is another great entry into The Mages of the Wheel series, and it demonstrates a lot of strengths (and weaknesses) that the previous books lacked. JD Evans uses this book to not only introduce readers to her best protagonist yet, but she also seamlessly builds out the world while giving more details about the overarching plot and threat in the series. The actual self-contained plot of this book is probably the weakest of the three, and the ending doesnât quite land as nicely, but this was still a fun and engaging book that I really enjoyed my time with. If you havenât jumped on this series, what are you doing? There has never been a better time!Â
I am not usually one who enjoys a lot of romance in my books. As a side plot its fine, but I donât particularly enjoy books where the romance overwhelms the rest of the plot; I donât particularly care for the âspicy scenesâ; the tropes of the romance genre usually donât do anything for me. There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule, and one of the key ones is JD Evans.
The Mages of the Wheel series has had me in a vice grip ever since I checked out Reign and Ruin back when it was a finalist, and eventual winner, in SPFBO (sidenote: definitely check out the finalists in SFBO each year even if they donât usually feel like they are your âthingâ; it is a great and convenient way to expand your reading horizons!).
Iâm attracted to Evansâ works because while they are definitely romance books and everything you should expect to find with romance, they are also just strong fantasy books â full of magic, politics, and great characters.
Siren & Scion, the third book in the series, is another strong entry in the series. What I found most interesting about this book was that the things I liked most about were things I found relatively lacking in the first two books, while the strengths of the earlier books were Siren & Scionâs weakest aspects. Let me go through the bookâs strengths and weaknesses, starting with the many strengths.
The Worldbuilding: Unlike most romantasies, I have always really enjoyed the worldbuilding in The Mages of the Wheel. It was well-developed, internally consistent, and beautifully married the romance and fantasy genres. Having said that, the world in the first two books was pretty small. We only got to really know a handful of cities and nations, despite Evansâ hints that a much bigger world was out there. Siren & Scion expands the boundaries significantly, placing readers in a brand new part of the world (although with plenty of connections and references to the places and characters we have already fallen in love with). We finally get to see the big bad empire that has been alluded to in previous books, and this also gives the book a different âflavorâ from its predominantly West Asian inspirations/feel from previous books.
The Over-Arching Plot: As Iâve mentioned, I really like how Evans found a way to merge fantasy and romance story telling styles. Romance readers want their happily ever afters, and for each book to introduce a new couple, while epic fantasy readers want to feel like the story is going somewhere. The âoverall goalâ of the series is to recreate the Wheel (the magic system in the book), and each book in the series introduces readers to one of the mages for the wheelâŚwho also just happens to be one half of the romantic couplings in each book. Despite each book further building out the Wheel, the actual purpose of building the wheel has never really come into focus. While Siren & Scion doesnât quite reveal all of the cards of what the endgame for the series will be, readers are introduced to several new plots that will definitely have ramifications moving forward.
The Lead Character: The characters in this series are never bad, but I donât think a character immediately jumped off the page and gripped me as much as Amara. She is fierce, effervescent, and sarcastic; she is just an absolutely fantastic character to spend time with. I think a big part of this is because, unlike many of the characters in Reign & Ruin and Storm & Shield, Amara is not a âtraditionalâ member of the sociopolitical elite (nor does she have a significantly long-term relationship with any in the upper social echelons). Amara is a woman climbing the social ladder, and her complex background and relationship with her burgeoning social position makes her a fantastic character with a heck of a lot to dig into. Amaraâs paramour in the book, Cassian (who is also a POV character) is also great, but nothing can stand up to Amara in terms of great character work here!
There are only two elements of Siren & Scion that worked less well than the previous two books:
The Self-Contained Plot: While Siren & Scion gave us so much good stuff in terms of the overall world and plot, I thought that the individual plot of Amara and Cassian was a step down from the previous two books. It took me much longer to feel engaged by their story than normal. Maybe it was because it has been a while since I had read Storm & Shield (if anyone from the JD Evans team is reading this, I would really appreciate recaps at the beginning of the books!), or maybe because the plot here didnât involve the delicious court politics weâve seen previously. This is not to suggest the plot was bad by any means! It was still quite strong, and by the halfway point I was flying through the book. It just took a bit longer to build momentum and get to the heart of what makes these books so great.
The Ending: Donât worry, no spoilers here! I just want to note that the endings of Reign & Ruin and Storm & Shield (donât worry â no spoilers for those endings either) were magnificent. There was a stunning climax and a grand finale building to the building of the Wheel. This book really lacked that kind of emotional and stirring ending. This book concluded on a quieter note, really emphasizing the romance aspects. I know this is just me and what I gravitate towards in this series (the fantasy over the romance), but I didnât get that swell of awe and emotions that I usually get when finishing one of these books. Like with the plot, by no means a bad ending but just not as good as the first two.
If youâve been meaning to check out this series, now is the perfect time. Not only are there three fantastic mainline series entries for you to binge through (plus a prequel novel that I am hoping to read this summer), but the fourth official book should be out soon. This is a series perfect for fans of romance and epic fantasy (and, yes, you can just skim past the spicy scenes without losing anything if they arenât your thing â this is usually what I do). Siren & Scion is yet another entry that just proves how great this series really is.
Concluding Thoughts: Siren & Scion is another great entry into The Mages of the Wheel series, and it demonstrates a lot of strengths (and weaknesses) that the previous books lacked. JD Evans uses this book to not only introduce readers to her best protagonist yet, but she also seamlessly builds out the world while giving more details about the overarching plot and threat in the series. The actual self-contained plot of this book is probably the weakest of the three, and the ending doesnât quite land as nicely, but this was still a fun and engaging book that I really enjoyed my time with. If you havenât jumped on this series, what are you doing? There has never been a better time!Â
rightearphone's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lindsey_reads_books's review
5.0
I was also captivated reading this book. All 3 books are written from different characters but follows the main story and events. I didn't see this ending coming and now I have to wait for book 4! If you love adult fantasy, enjoy a slow burn romance with well written amazing characters and a fantastic story then you will love these books!
nomonbooks's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Â
This is book is so brave. It takes a uterus to write something that is in a different place, away from all the characters you know, with a protagonist who the characters you know donât really like.Â
That said, I really enjoyed this book. I came to like Amara relatively quickly, particularly when she was away from the characters in Tamar. Maybe there could have been some hints in the other books that Amara wasnât as unreasonable as she initially seemed but once youâre in the thick of the story you are so far away from the Tamaran drama it doesnât matter.Â
The bulk of this book takes place in the Republic. It amped up the fantasy level, with more world building and an understanding of the Republic and other races we havenât met. I feel like as we go through the series the world is getting bigger and bigger. I have never read a fantasy/ romance series before but it feels really clever that book 1 starts with a couple and a bit of world, then the story draws you in. I find with other fantasy books they are front loaded with world building and then the story all takes place within it. This way round is like looking at a map thatâs hazy then slowly coming into focus across the series.
The sex scenes in this book were the best so far, and some of the best Iâve read, they were so well written and real. Hats off for that as they were steamy and joyful at the same time.
I do have a snag â The Tamar based plot points that you know are coming were wrapped up in around 3 chapters right at the end which could have been better reasoned. It would have benefitted from some hints towards a wholesale change of opinion from Amara in the bulk of the narrative. It also felt like the main issue in Tamar could have been very easily solved with some clear communication; and it was entirely unclear why that hadnât happened. But, balance aside I LOVED this and canât wait for the next instalment.
tinareadsthings's review
4.0
I loved it!
I feel it necessary to explain why this one gets four starts instead of five. Let me be clear, I am a fan of this series and this author. All of the things that made the previous books solid are still present in this book.
We remove focus a bit further from court this time, shifting to Amara and Cassian, so if you have hopes to return to that as the driving force behind the story you will be disappointed. I did not find it disappointing personally, but it definitely took an adjustment since the story primarily takes place on Republic soil where mages are persecuted and magic is outlawed. Instead, we find ourselves in this land almost entirely absent of magic in every day living where there are firearms, explosives, and a strong military presence are used in its place. The use of slaves is also common practice.
For me, I like to see something more to a villain. Perhaps that will come in time, but the Republic in general gave such "big bad" vibes - I was hoping that we would learn a bit more background about the motivation behind the persecution of magic users. I understand the fear of magic and the fear that mages would be able to overpower people without magic or always reign superior, but is that truly all? I couldn't help but wonder this, but perhaps the time for that will come later.
Amara is not my favorite character in this series, but I do really like Cassian. He is a total dream. 10/10
I would call the romance the weakest of the series, while still remaining pretty damn good. And to be entirely fair, the first two books come in strong at the top of my favorites. They are just that good!
I feel it necessary to explain why this one gets four starts instead of five. Let me be clear, I am a fan of this series and this author. All of the things that made the previous books solid are still present in this book.
We remove focus a bit further from court this time, shifting to Amara and Cassian, so if you have hopes to return to that as the driving force behind the story you will be disappointed. I did not find it disappointing personally, but it definitely took an adjustment since the story primarily takes place on Republic soil where mages are persecuted and magic is outlawed. Instead, we find ourselves in this land almost entirely absent of magic in every day living where there are firearms, explosives, and a strong military presence are used in its place. The use of slaves is also common practice.
For me, I like to see something more to a villain. Perhaps that will come in time, but the Republic in general gave such "big bad" vibes - I was hoping that we would learn a bit more background about the motivation behind the persecution of magic users. I understand the fear of magic and the fear that mages would be able to overpower people without magic or always reign superior, but is that truly all? I couldn't help but wonder this, but perhaps the time for that will come later.
Amara is not my favorite character in this series, but I do really like Cassian. He is a total dream. 10/10
I would call the romance the weakest of the series, while still remaining pretty damn good. And to be entirely fair, the first two books come in strong at the top of my favorites. They are just that good!
taisie22's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
5.0
This has been a wonderful series. The setting is unusual, in Tamar, which seems to take influences from Turkey or the Ottoman Empire. I love the references to that culture in clothing, food, etc. And this book finally gave us more about the Republic, which is distinctly Roman in flavor.
The premise is that the Sultana of Tamar wants to find the Charahs, or heads, of each spoke of the Wheel, a different type of magic for each. In the previous books, she's found some of the necessary mages, but now she sends the water mage off to find a missing branch of magic. Amara is powerful though she fears her magic also. She has to go into Republic territory, free slaves, and find more mages to help Tamar in the coming war. Cassian is a criminal, the son of a Republic senator, but has also been helping free slaves. While there's an attraction between the two, Amara has also been promised a betrothal to the Sultana's cousin, an ice mage, mostly for the power such an alliance will bring.
I love the magic system here and the world-building. This is the last book published but I think two or three more should be coming and I can't wait.
The premise is that the Sultana of Tamar wants to find the Charahs, or heads, of each spoke of the Wheel, a different type of magic for each. In the previous books, she's found some of the necessary mages, but now she sends the water mage off to find a missing branch of magic. Amara is powerful though she fears her magic also. She has to go into Republic territory, free slaves, and find more mages to help Tamar in the coming war. Cassian is a criminal, the son of a Republic senator, but has also been helping free slaves. While there's an attraction between the two, Amara has also been promised a betrothal to the Sultana's cousin, an ice mage, mostly for the power such an alliance will bring.
I love the magic system here and the world-building. This is the last book published but I think two or three more should be coming and I can't wait.
jksteach's review
5.0
These books are so good! At the beginning, Amara is ambitious, mercenary and has a core of ruthlessness. I didnât take to Amara as quickly as I did to Aysel or Naime, but she cares deeply about helping others and I became sympathetic to her pretty quickly. And Cassian is an adorable rogue who just gets better and better throughout the book. But there are lots of secrets and danger between them.
Amara makes a deal with the Sultana -in exchange for a betrothal to the prince she will go to the Republic in search of the lost and endangered mages of the third house. But the Republic enslaves and murders mages, so Amara will have to hide her magic and work with an abolitionist smuggler who has been helping slaves escape.
Each of the books in this series has been great (really so, so great!) and theyâre clearly and closely connected, but theyâre also very different from one another. The first book included a lot of political intrigue, the second was funnier and more action-oriented with cool chase sequences, and this third has more introspection and internal conflict. Nearly all of the characters are dealing with surviving trauma and the story explores different ways people do that. The book also has a greater sense of found family and their relationships are terrific. I also love how the steamy scenes are integral to both the plot and character development- really masterfully done.
This has become one of my very favorite series ever!