A review by megandawn
Mistress Mage by Kayleigh Nicol
2.0
I really enjoyed the first part of this duology, but sadly Mistress Mage was brought down by the same thing that almost ruined Witchmark for me: Characters doing awful things with no consequences. Worse, in the case of this book, because it never even acknowledges that the thing the character did is that bad, and I think the reader was still supposed to sympathise with them. Some minor spoilers for the book follows.
When last we saw Reshi his fear of commitment had seen him running away from Kestral and their love, which I remember finding unbelievable at the time, but Reshi's pathological fear of being tied to someone was much clearer and easy to understand in this book. And it really is a pathological fear on his part, owing to his awful childhood and the scars (figurative and literal) it left upon him. Reshi is genuinely scared of feeling like someone owns him.
So, Kestral's response to this? HE LITERALLY PUTS A COLLAR AROUND RESHI'S NECK. And not just any collar, but one that cuts him off completely from his shapeshifting magic so he can't turn into a bird and fly away again. But, no, don't you see, he just loves Reshi so much. And Reshi ran away from him! I mean, ok, sure, Reshi explicitly told Kestral that as soon as their quest was done he would run away, but that still doesn't make it ok that he actually did it. Because Kestral loves him, like, so much. So even if the collar is just a touch cruel, what Reshi did was just as, nay, WORSE, than that.
No really this is what the book kept putting down. I was not picking it up.
In truth what Kestral did to Reshi was abhorrent, but characters doing abhorrent things isn't a dealbreaker for me. What is though is when every other characters and every aspect of the narrative acts like it's not that bad. One offhandedly mentions that maybe it was a little cruel, but certainly no one speaks out against it or stops being buds with Kestral over it.
This would be like if a character was upset that their lover had chosen to leave them and broke their legs so they couldn't leave so easily again. That's what Kestral does by cutting Reshi off from his abilities. And there are times when this puts Reshi in real danger, (like he still climbs like someone who thinks they can turn into a bird, for example) and Kestral even acknowledges that, but does not take off the collar. He even sends Reshi into danger, telling him that he's sure he'll figure it out.
When Reshi keeps tugging on the collar BECAUSE HAVING A MAGIC COLLAR AROUND YOUR NECK IS UNCOMFORTABLE, Kestral is annoyed because he thinks Reshi is doing it to be obnoxious. This is an actual directly quoted thought that Kestral has:
"Reshi had better be prepared to beg me on bended knees to remove that rusting collar"
Kestral never makes the decision to remove the collar himself, another character makes him. (Because it's making their quest harder, not because its FUCKING CRUEL), and he never grows to feel bad about it. This is the closest he comes:
"The collar may have been a mistake, but I don't regret it."
Again, Reshi's big crime was telling Kestral he didn't want a relationship and that he would leave, and then following through. When even Reshi starts having thoughts about how he hurt Kestral by doing that, as though what they've done to each other is equal, I felt literally ill. Please remember that Reshi has real reasons for his fear, which Kestral knows about, and even if he didn't IT'S NOT A CRIME TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER. It's also not a crime to find them and try to win them back, which is what I was expecting from this book. Patience and understanding from Kestral, not truly unpleasant to read abuse.
In short, Kestral is abusive. And the book refuses to acknowledge it. As you can see, it bothered me a little, and even though I really wanted to like this book I don't think I can recommend it. It still gets two stars because I liked the newly introduced character of Nico, and it was well written (content aside).
When last we saw Reshi his fear of commitment had seen him running away from Kestral and their love, which I remember finding unbelievable at the time, but Reshi's pathological fear of being tied to someone was much clearer and easy to understand in this book. And it really is a pathological fear on his part, owing to his awful childhood and the scars (figurative and literal) it left upon him. Reshi is genuinely scared of feeling like someone owns him.
So, Kestral's response to this? HE LITERALLY PUTS A COLLAR AROUND RESHI'S NECK. And not just any collar, but one that cuts him off completely from his shapeshifting magic so he can't turn into a bird and fly away again. But, no, don't you see, he just loves Reshi so much. And Reshi ran away from him! I mean, ok, sure, Reshi explicitly told Kestral that as soon as their quest was done he would run away, but that still doesn't make it ok that he actually did it. Because Kestral loves him, like, so much. So even if the collar is just a touch cruel, what Reshi did was just as, nay, WORSE, than that.
No really this is what the book kept putting down. I was not picking it up.
In truth what Kestral did to Reshi was abhorrent, but characters doing abhorrent things isn't a dealbreaker for me. What is though is when every other characters and every aspect of the narrative acts like it's not that bad. One offhandedly mentions that maybe it was a little cruel, but certainly no one speaks out against it or stops being buds with Kestral over it.
This would be like if a character was upset that their lover had chosen to leave them and broke their legs so they couldn't leave so easily again. That's what Kestral does by cutting Reshi off from his abilities. And there are times when this puts Reshi in real danger, (like he still climbs like someone who thinks they can turn into a bird, for example) and Kestral even acknowledges that, but does not take off the collar. He even sends Reshi into danger, telling him that he's sure he'll figure it out.
When Reshi keeps tugging on the collar BECAUSE HAVING A MAGIC COLLAR AROUND YOUR NECK IS UNCOMFORTABLE, Kestral is annoyed because he thinks Reshi is doing it to be obnoxious. This is an actual directly quoted thought that Kestral has:
"Reshi had better be prepared to beg me on bended knees to remove that rusting collar"
Kestral never makes the decision to remove the collar himself, another character makes him. (Because it's making their quest harder, not because its FUCKING CRUEL), and he never grows to feel bad about it. This is the closest he comes:
"The collar may have been a mistake, but I don't regret it."
Again, Reshi's big crime was telling Kestral he didn't want a relationship and that he would leave, and then following through. When even Reshi starts having thoughts about how he hurt Kestral by doing that, as though what they've done to each other is equal, I felt literally ill. Please remember that Reshi has real reasons for his fear, which Kestral knows about, and even if he didn't IT'S NOT A CRIME TO LEAVE YOUR LOVER. It's also not a crime to find them and try to win them back, which is what I was expecting from this book. Patience and understanding from Kestral, not truly unpleasant to read abuse.
In short, Kestral is abusive. And the book refuses to acknowledge it. As you can see, it bothered me a little, and even though I really wanted to like this book I don't think I can recommend it. It still gets two stars because I liked the newly introduced character of Nico, and it was well written (content aside).