Author: Janeal Falor
Series: Mine #1
Publisher: Chardonian Press LLC
Original Publication Date: May 6, 2013
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon
Description from Goodreads:
Serena knows a few simple things. She will always be owned by a warlock. She will never have freedom. She will always do what her warlock wishes, regardless of how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is. And if she doesn't follow the rules, she will be tarnished. Spelled to be bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life—worth less than the shadow she casts.
Serena knows a few simple things. She will always be owned by a warlock. She will never have freedom. She will always do what her warlock wishes, regardless of how inane, frivolous, or cruel it is. And if she doesn't follow the rules, she will be tarnished. Spelled to be bald, inked, and barren for the rest of her life—worth less than the shadow she casts.
Then her ownership is won by a barbarian from another country. With the
uncertainty that comes from belonging to a new warlock, Serena questions if
being tarnished is really worse than being owned by a barbarian, and tempts
fate by breaking the rules. When he looks the other way instead of punishing
her, she discovers a new world. The more she ventures into the forbidden, the
more she learns of love and a freedom just out of reach. Serena longs for both.
But in a society where women are only ever property, hoping for more could be
deadly.
Wow! I loved this book. I found it to be exemplary. The description sounded good and I sampled the first chapter before agreeing to read for review. When I was done, I was floored. I really don't know exactly how the author found me, but she really had me pegged. This book was almost perfect for me. There was really only one thing that I didn't understand, but if I were to pick out an ideal type of book that I love to read, this book would be one of them. I am looking forward to seeing where the author goes with this series.
This entire book is from Serena's POV. She lives in a society where women are owned. Their value is based on how much magic there is in their blood. The higher the magic, the more they are worth. Women are basically used to breed more warlocks. Boys are tested early on in their childhood to see how much magic is in their blood. Girls are only tested after they have reach the eligible age for marriage and want to be put in the marriage pool. People without magic or that break the rules are tarnished, which basically means you are really low on the totem pole and have even less rights.
Whether Serena wants to or not, her father enters her into the marriage pool and she is bought by a man at least as cruel as her father. He wants to meet her and her family, so they all travel to watch a tournament. Warlocks compete to see who is best. Those who die during the tournament have ALL of their possessions given to the warlock who beat them. Serena's intended does pretty good in the tournament until he goes up against a barbarian from Envadi, Zade, where he dies.
Serena is clearly stressed out by being won by a barbarian and her father is not happy either. He works to try to get her back so he can sell her off to the next highest bidder. Serena is sent to one of the new homes that Zade has won. Like the description states she skirts and breaks the rules expecting to be punished, like her father does constantly, only for him to look the other way. Zade is not the barbarian she thought he was and he and the follow people from Envadi just might be more civilized than the one she lives in.
I really liked it, there was some predictable romance, a little coming of age and finding out who you really are, learning how to stand up for yourself, etc...The world the author came up with I thought was pretty interesting. I hope in the next book that Serena gets to go visit Envadi and see the country first hand. That could be interesting reading about her discovering the world beyond her country.
The only thing that I don't quite understand is how the magic works. Clearly boys are trained on the use of magic, but I didn't hear of any girls accidentally discovering how to use their own magic. I would assume it would happen at least occasionally. I can also see the men in the country wanting to keep that secret from the women to make sure they stay in line. In the next book I would also love to see Serena actually being trained in how to use her magic. That could be interesting too.
I also could probably have went for a touch bit more romance, but I think for that to have really worked, we would have also needed Zane's POV and that might have ended up giving away too much of the plot. He wouldn't have been the mystery guy anymore.
If you find your tastes in books is similar to mine, than you will really like this book. You might even love it. I definitely recommend. I look forward to reading more of this series.
My Rating:
This entire book is from Serena's POV. She lives in a society where women are owned. Their value is based on how much magic there is in their blood. The higher the magic, the more they are worth. Women are basically used to breed more warlocks. Boys are tested early on in their childhood to see how much magic is in their blood. Girls are only tested after they have reach the eligible age for marriage and want to be put in the marriage pool. People without magic or that break the rules are tarnished, which basically means you are really low on the totem pole and have even less rights.
Whether Serena wants to or not, her father enters her into the marriage pool and she is bought by a man at least as cruel as her father. He wants to meet her and her family, so they all travel to watch a tournament. Warlocks compete to see who is best. Those who die during the tournament have ALL of their possessions given to the warlock who beat them. Serena's intended does pretty good in the tournament until he goes up against a barbarian from Envadi, Zade, where he dies.
Serena is clearly stressed out by being won by a barbarian and her father is not happy either. He works to try to get her back so he can sell her off to the next highest bidder. Serena is sent to one of the new homes that Zade has won. Like the description states she skirts and breaks the rules expecting to be punished, like her father does constantly, only for him to look the other way. Zade is not the barbarian she thought he was and he and the follow people from Envadi just might be more civilized than the one she lives in.
I really liked it, there was some predictable romance, a little coming of age and finding out who you really are, learning how to stand up for yourself, etc...The world the author came up with I thought was pretty interesting. I hope in the next book that Serena gets to go visit Envadi and see the country first hand. That could be interesting reading about her discovering the world beyond her country.
The only thing that I don't quite understand is how the magic works. Clearly boys are trained on the use of magic, but I didn't hear of any girls accidentally discovering how to use their own magic. I would assume it would happen at least occasionally. I can also see the men in the country wanting to keep that secret from the women to make sure they stay in line. In the next book I would also love to see Serena actually being trained in how to use her magic. That could be interesting too.
I also could probably have went for a touch bit more romance, but I think for that to have really worked, we would have also needed Zane's POV and that might have ended up giving away too much of the plot. He wouldn't have been the mystery guy anymore.
If you find your tastes in books is similar to mine, than you will really like this book. You might even love it. I definitely recommend. I look forward to reading more of this series.
My Rating:
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