A review by breekeeler
The Flames of Albiyon by Jean Menzies

adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I truly fell in love with this world and the characters, especially the dragons! Be forewarned that this book does not wrap everything up and you will desperately want to keep reading to find out what happens next. I am early awaiting sequels! This book picks up some of my favourite fantasy elements - like the importance of universities or libraries, dragons, and soft magic systems - expands on them and the mixes them up with things I didn’t even realize I was missing in my fantasy worlds - like queer rep and non-monarchal governments - and the result is a delight.

It is self published, and you can tell at times. There are more typos and grammatical issues that in a traditionally published book, and there are some places where the structure feels a little clunky, but the story is so gripping, and the world so interesting, that I didn’t mind any of this.

I wanted to know so much more about this world, but I think to satisfy my curiosity, this would have been an absolute tome. The world building in the book is wonderful, and this desire for more comes from curiosity and wonder tether than any sense of lack. I will have to patiently wait for the next instalment 
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