Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book started off without much explanation which made it very difficult to get into the book itself. I spent a lot of time confused while I was reading. I wanted to learn more about the system of magic and hope there will be a second book where it could be fleshed out more. I think the basic premise was good and would like to learn more about this world.

At the beginning, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this book. I struggled to connect to the story and to understand what was happening. It felt like I was entering a conversation without all of the previous details. By the end, I couldn’t put the story down and I was so sad to leave the characters.

This is an intriguing fantasy story. It’s great for readers that like a coming of age story. There are elements of mystery, magic, friendship, jealousy, love, and rejection. This is a clean story with a scattering of curse words.

Aris has been dreaming for years but doesn’t remember most of them. She has felt that something is about to happen, but it never does … until Alek appears in her life. Alek has his own gift for never being injured and after reading his tarot cards, he believes Aris is the missing link to finding Krysidia. But there is a catch. Aris must learn to control her gift to fulfill the prophecy. Does Aris have what it takes to survive this quest? Who can she trust and who should she be cautious about?

The Prophet’s Gambit is the first book in a fantasy series by the same title. There were chapters that were captivating and others that were lackluster, but since this was a debut novel, that can be forgiven. The characters were easy to relate to and the world-building was well executed. Evaris has created a story with a lot of potential and it will be exciting to see her writing develop in the next installment.

I LOVED this story! It was everything I needed. I really enjoyed the whimsical side to this story as well.

I found myself immersed in Aris' world, a young dreamer entangled in a web of mysteries. The story, while intriguing, left me bewildered due to disjointed storytelling and underdeveloped characters. Despite promising themes of magic and dream symbolism, crucial details were left unexplored, hindering my connection to the plot. The romance, particularly between Lochlen and Aris, lacked depth, and unanswered questions left me frustrated rather than intrigued. The audiobook narration attempted to enhance the experience, but the confusing narrative made it challenging to engage fully. While the story had potential, it ultimately fell short, leaving me longing for clarity and coherence in this enigmatic tale.

This read seems to be a (slightly) King Arthur retelling that is full of magic, action and mysterious characters. I really liked that there was a good bond between a lot of the characters and most are pretty likeable. There also is a love triangle which makes the story even more intriguing. The book ended on a pretty big cliffhanger which definitely has me very interested in the next book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of the book!

Rating: 3.5/5

While this book had an unique concept, I felt in some ways it felt flat. It was difficult to get into, and the main character especially didn't feel entirely fleshed out. The magic system is interesting though, as is the gorgeous cover.

To start off, as soon as I saw the book cover I wanted to read it ASAP! I read it in a day and not because I loved it but because I wanted to love it but I was interested in the plot to be able to continue if that makes sense.

Honestly… I really wanted to love this book! It wasn’t bad, it just could’ve been executed well and let me explain my opinion. To start off, I usually like slow pace books. Like Orbit Publishing, releases a lot of books that are slow burn but once they pick up… You’re intrigued! That’s how I wanted to feel with this book.

Now with the characters, I believe they were likable but that’s just it. I didn’t have an emotional connection with them as I would have liked. The friend/sibling concept was cute and played off well, I don’t know. I just feel like the characters had no depth if that makes sense?

Now I liked the plot, the magic system. The world building was a bit confusing and I’m hoping in the next book we get more explanations, but I loved the concept of them trying to find a place in their world per se.

Thank you to Net Galley and Hidden Grove Books for sending me this ARC for an honest review!

I really wanted to like this one, the blurb sounds interesting and the cover looks gorgeous as well which makes me want to pick this one up. Unfortunately, I have a difficult time getting hooked into the story.

The world building is actually pretty interesting with a bunch of teenagers trying to find a way to secret world but the I was confused most of the time. It felt like I was thrown in the middle of a series which I know nothing about.

The story is told in multiple POVs, the characters are all different so it’s easier to differentiate them however it took a while for me to realize which POV is it. It would have been better if there’s a name of the character on the chapter heading.

I keep pushing through in hope there’ll be an explanation soon after. The explanation and the reveal comes near the ending by that time I wasn’t really interested in this story again.
This book has the potential to be a great one with all the elements it has but sadly this one fell flat. Moreover, the pacing and the writing style is not to my liking.

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

3.75/5

If I'm being honest, I went into this book expecting to dislike it. To me, the cover and blurb felt very basic YA fantasy, something I am very sick of by now. For the first maybe 15% I found myself being perhaps unnecessarily mean (I am not a fan of the name Lochlen I'm sorry) and comparing it to The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (there were a lot of similarities but not in a plagiarism way). However, once I actually got into the story I found that it wasn't bad, I actually liked it quite a lot.

The things I liked:
I honestly love the side characters and the friendships. Jada, Mirai, Yuki? I am a fan of all of them. Mirai and Yuki felt like real siblings and that is something that is surprisingly hard to write. Jada wasn't in the story as much, but they were still iconic just because.
Despite setting out to hate him because I don't like the spelling, I actually begrudgingly like Lochlen now. I expected him to be one dimensional and then he actually isn't, I wanted to be a hater to him specifically but alas I cannot. He reminded me a bit of Sel from Legendborn by Tracy Deonn, but far less angsty (which was appreciated).
I also really like the worldbuilding/magic system. Like the whole inherited powers and crystals thing was pretty cool. The whole Krysidia thing is an interesting concept too, and I am interested to see how it goes in the sequel.

Things I didn't like that much:
Alek, he's not a bad character really, but I just don't really like him (it could be my own bias), but compared to the other characters he just felt ...fine. I am interested to see his development though.
Aris, she is the main character, I suppose. She suffers from Basic YA Protagonist syndrome, it seems that the author wanted her very much to be an everyman type, for people to relate to, because I did relate to her a lot, but it was all very surface level. However, I was very thankful that she doesn't have any of the internalised misogyny a lot of these basic MC's usually have. And she also knows her worth, which I think is a good thing, especially for teenagers reading this.

Overall, the themes were interesting, but perhaps not explored as much as I would have liked. I'm expecting more from the sequel though (which I am keen for). This book pleasantly surprised me.
And while it is very obviously a debut and still has some proofreading errors (at least in the arc), I believe it has a lot of potential as a series, since it is a very solid start.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

I really wanted to love this book. The premise was intriguing and something that I usually really enjoy. However, this book was not it for me. Normally whenever a book starts off slow, I usually am easily captivated by the halfway mark. In this case the pacing just felt off for a majority of the book. The chapters swapped POVs between a couple of the characters, but at times was not easy to distinguish who it was. I wish there was a name at the top of the chapter to distinguish this as it was a bit frustrating at times. The world building was a bit lacking as well, along with Ellie's relationships with other characters. It was mentioned quite frequently how much she loved her sister, but their relationship was barely shown. The interactions with the group, however, were quite nice to read. Especially after a more traumatizing event she went through in the beginning of the book where they were teaching her how to defend herself. Again, I really wanted to like this book, but it was confusing at times and it felt like not a lot happened from beginning to end. The biggest event that happened was the cliffhanger at the end of the book, which sets up the next installment quite nicely.

Somethings I did enjoy were the magic system and the characters. The concept of a lost world and a group of friends trying to discover their ancestor's home was something I was really interested in! Evaris also broke down the heritage of their powers well, along with how they worked and different beaches of magic inherited. The characters were relatable in a sense of trying to find a place where they belong and fit in, as they weren't fully human. The dynamic between Alek, Lachlan and Ellie did not feel strained at all, even though it was somewhat of a love triangle. I can see them having a lot of development in future installments.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

I mean for one look at this cover! Beautiful!

This book suprised me in all the good ways.
Are you in the mood for a good fantasy that will transport you to a different world look no further.

Seventeen-year-old Aris has always been obsessed with dreams, even if she can't remember most of them.
But everything changes when she meets alek.
After a rather fortunate tarot reading the fate of the two is combined.. could aris be the key to saving the realm of Krysidia?
And who is Lochlen and why does it feel like she knows him?


Thanks netgalley for a earc.

I liked this a lot, the characters and the plot was just amazing. The way everything happened had me hooked like aaaa
thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review

• This book had so much potential, I loved the cover.. I loved the synopsis so naturally I was really excited to read the story. I did enjoy it on a certain level but the entire plot was vague & chaotic...even 40% into it... I was left wondering what and why everything is happening.

• As it's a part of a series maybe the books will lengthen the story out beautifully, but book 1 didn't catch my attention - the characters needed more depth, i started enjoyed the story towards the end and the first half of the story felt dragged.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for a copy in exchanged for an honest review

I love the cover, it’s what drew me originally to the book itself. The world building was unique to me, and I also enjoyed the writing style. The beginning was a little hard for me to get into, but by the middle it started to pick up. As a whole, I enjoyed it.

A somewhat interesting urban fantasy but the exceution fell short. The characters didn't gel well with me. They felt underdeveloped and not fleshed out like Alek for example, who I liked the most.

They felt devoid of character and lacked any substance, especially Aris and Lochlen. This is probably why the romance didn't work for me either which is a shame.

I continued on for the plot though which was at least somewhat enjoyable, if not vague with dream sequences. This made the overall story confusing and I was expecting more. The cliffhanger was expected but I still liked reading it play out.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hidden Grove Books for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This book brought me back to being a 13 year old reading fantasy that I was naughty over by staying up way past my bedtime to read.

The first few chapters didn’t grab me and make me want to continue reading, there was a lot going on, multiple dreams and it made the beginning of the book very confusing.

The story got better the further you got in. A little gang of young kids trying to find a portal to a mythical place while all having their own little powers? Every twelve year old kids dream story, right?

There seemed to be some subplots in this book that didn’t come to fruition and seemed to be mentioned just to make things more mysterious. Nothing ever came of them though and I think those small details are what made this book lack for me.

Did I feel like a young teen reading this book? Yes. Do I want to read the next one? Absolutely. Let me escape to the simple stories of my early teen years please and thank you!

I was really intrigued by the plot to this one. It sounds fantastic - magical dreams that the MC can't remember?! - and the cover is just amazing. However, I think it just fell a little flat for me. Through reading it, the plot felt very confusing, almost as if we aren't given enough information to understand what is going on. It also reads almost annoyingly YA with characters behaving as children at times - just because it is YA does not mean it is enjoyable to read about bickering children. In saying that, I think that the magic system is amazing in this story and the atmosphere of the story. I also enjoyed the characters, when they weren't acting like children.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this one, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to Net Galley & Hidden Grove Books for providing the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled at the start and through the middle of this book, but the last third picked up for me.

It’s difficult for me to write a recap of the book because I had trouble following the plot most of the time. I started off being confused and unfortunately that feeling continued through most of the book. But since I’m usually a reader that focuses on vibes, I continued on. So I’ll share what I liked and some critiques.

What I liked:
- The characters! Their dynamic seems diverse and interesting, just wish I would have seen more.
- The world. While I’ve seen elements of this type of world in various other books, this was a fresh take on what I’ve seen.
- The magic system. Their powers being linked to descendants of the moon (familial) along with a physical talisman was very cool.

Critiques:
- Aris (fmc) and Alek (one of the male leads) made for a confusing reading experience. Both four letter names that start with A.
- I appreciate mystery in a book, but there was too much mystery for me with this one. There was mystery around multiple characters’ powers, very little access into the home life for Aris, late intro for some characters, etc.
- I don’t mind a love triangle, but was it really a love rectangle? I was getting vibes from Lochlen, Alek, & Mirai as well! Aris has been around for less than a month and is catching everyone’s eye 👀
- I also assumed dreams would be much more involved in the book, however, besides the opening sequence and some scattered nightmares, it didn’t seem like much of a pivotal point in the story? Maybe this is fleshed out more in the next book.
- The POV in the book was also confusing to me. Hopefully someone that’s more familiar with this than I am can explain why 😅

Rating is closer to 2.5/5. It’s unlikely I’ll read the next book in the series, but I would be interested to see what other books the author releases in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hidden Grove books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of The Prophets Gambit in exchange for my honest review.

I was immediately drawn into the book by the beautiful cover art (for some reason it doesn’t show up on my kindle, which stinks because I’d have liked to use it for content) and the fact that part of the fantasy element had to do with dreams (something I am personally interested in)

This is a YA urban fantasy about a high school senior who finds out that she is a descendant of a magical peoples from an alternate realm through a new group of friends, who are trying to find their way back to that place. I love her found friendships, after her original friends were so awful. (A moment of appreciation for Mirai, how she is physically strong and can be explosive with her anger, but that she is so soft and caring with her friends). I think that each character had their moments where you got to know their good and “bad” sides. You even find yourself empathizing with and understanding why the villain ends up as they do. The magic system, overall writing style and pace all worked for me.

Also- The love triangle in this book!!! I think anyone would have a difficult time choosing who they want her to end up with. I think the way they’re written is excellent, because they’re both multifaceted in such opposing and yet similar ways. I know who I’m rooting for, and that’s why I need more ASAP!

I really enjoyed this book! I honestly can’t wait to read the next one, and think it deserves way more hype than I have seen, because I haven’t seen nearly enough. I’ll be waiting for part two impatiently, because I KNOW things are about to get real. The only “negative” is that I wish there was more. This was very much so an introduction to the series, and book two is going to be so much more of that fantasy element, and even more character development.

I won’t include the next part in my external review but some places for editing via my kindle location:

Loc 4964 days hotage instead of hostage
Loc 5125 “he was holding her like he knew her and Aris c that feeling”