Look, I liked Winnie when I read the first part of the series and I still like her a lot and I hope she'll grow more in the next books.

She's you quick witted, kinda nerdy girl. She's lonely and struggling to find herself and she often doubts her instincts and compares herself to her famous friends.

This book is part of a series, but I didn't feel like you wouldn't be able to enjoy it without reading the other three books. However, I really recommend reading them, because then everything will make much more sense.

The adventure begins when she's sent to Fantis, the country that was their enemy not too long ago. There she'll find many secrets and so much more. I like the magic system and I'm curious how's it gonna change in time.

Disclaimer: I received a free book in exchange for my honest review

This book follows Winnie, a young lady and air-mage apprentice, after the war between her country of Destia and the country of Fantis has ended. A dark warlock from Fantis has left stains of his corrupt magic throughout the land, causing catastrophes and illness to spread, even though had been vanquished. Winnie accompanies a delegation of mages and scholars to Fantis to study the dark stains left behind, in hopes of finding a solution, and strengthening the new peace between the nations.

This book contains elemental magic of; fire, earth, air and water, along with dragons and dragon-riders. The plot is interesting and even though many books have elemental magic, it feels uniquely done. I enjoyed Winnie’s tenacity and good-heartedness, and hope she has more self-confidence in the following books. One thing I was not a huge fan of with this book is that the speech felt a bit too formal and forced. I know this book is set in a time where things were more formal, but it is hard to read the dialogue and feel that it is natural. Also many things in the book were a bit over-explained, as though the reader is not trusted to fully grasp the concepts without a fair bit of help. Overall the book is enjoyable and not a difficult read I would give it 3.5 stars. I suspect the next in the series will be even better, as many potential plot lines have begun in this first book.

This book is part of a series. I'm actually going to start from book one and rate/review as I read them.
It looks like an amazing book, and the part that I read (before realizing its a series) was well written.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC

High fantasy, a young woman finding her way in the world, political intrigue and the aftermaths of a war. And of course dragons. These are the key elements of this book but it takes a while for it really to develop. The first 2/3 goes slowly.

Winnie is use to not being taken serious as a mage because of her age, though she has proven herself to be a competent scholar and taken part in important parts of the turning part of the war. It is understandable that someone at this age, and with other factors, that she feels that she take this. (and she does show based on some of her actions that she is young, inexperienced and isn't always seeing the bigger picture) but hearing about it so many times does get annoying.

A mixed bag but the ending definitely picks up and delivers everything you could want for a YA fantasy.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Loved this book. It was funny and very hot. But it also had some intrigue and an unusual storyline for a romance which made it a real page-turner. I would definitely recommend it! But be prepared to swoon.

Hybrid Magic by Ava Richardson


Destia. Air Mages. Murdered Parents. War.

All heroes have tragic origin stories, and Winnie is definitely not a villain. With a natural affinity for air magic, Winnie is put into the hands of her grandmother after her parents are murdered in cold blood.

Her maternal grandmother is a lady of high society and will do anything to keep an iron fist on power and wealth, forever dreading and begrudging her commoner son-in-law. Her grand lifestyle is all that she values, and she makes everyone around her know who to respect.

Winnie is a very inquisitive, and it's her investigative nature that sets her apart from others, for she has found a weakness with her rival's armor, vowing to end his life in order to end the neverending, bloody war.

The king sees this cunning and appreciates her skills, and soon Winnie is joining the country's best scholars on the Fantis expedition, to make sure all remnants of the former mage's magic is gone for good. These remnants are known in this novel as the Rot.

This was a very engaging story and I am very grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. The author certainly does a wonderful job of painting an adventure of action, fantasy, and navigating difficult situations. It never let me down, urging me to read faster and faster.

I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves high fantasy, complex worlds, and action-packed novels. This definitely made me want to dive into the other installments set in this fantastical world. 🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!

This was a fun YA fantasy book overall. I feel like I was getting lost along the way, missing something, and realized it was part of a series as the description from where I was given the book from says "Book 1" but really it should be "Part 2, Book 1". I'm sure once I've had a chance to read the earlier books and it makes more sense, I'd review higher. In general, we love the magic and dragon stories in our house so it'll likely be something we'd read again. I am personally newer to this kind of fantasy read though, and I'm still learning of what makes a great 5-star read.

While I am not usually one to read YA or teen fiction, I do have to say that this book is a strong contender! While I personally may not pick up the rest of the series, as someone who hasn’t read the previous books, I didn’t feel as if I missed out on plot! I feel that for this genre, provides a beautiful introduction to fantasy reading, world building, and adventure. I appreciated the detail, the dialogue and the main character, Winnie, being so relatable!

I also loved seeing the plot foundation for the rest of the series laid out. For any YA looking to get into ease into fantasy reading, this is a must read!

To start, I think I was misled on what I was expecting to read. When NetGalley presented this on their site, it was shown as a book 1 series story. As I read the first half of the book, I continued to feel as though I was missing something. Things either seemed like I should already know the information, or that more story existed and I wasn't being given it. I continued to push through and read though. The further along the plot went, the more I was finding myself irritated with bits and pieces of the world building and storyline. I then went and researched more about this authors other written series, only to see that this is a part 2 in a series previously written. That explained every thought I had up to this point. So essentially, if you did not know otherwise, this is book 4 rather then a book 1 like NetGalley presented. The first series is written about Eva and this part 2 of the series is written about Winnie who is Eva's friend.

I had other issues with parts of the story aside from this major detail and error. To name a few without going too deep into detail, I found myself not even understanding why including the grandmother in any regard was necessary. The first portion of the book was sooooo long and overly written. Most of the information was not needed, and maybe if I had known prior to starting this that 3 books were prequels, it may make a difference. But....I didn't find any positive impact on the grandmother being in the picture. You learn while reading that our MFC helped the king literally save everyone!!! Like she's the reason everyone is alive and well and not being ruled by some crazy power obsessed evil guy. But, she's spoken to like she's nothing more then a peasant, she's overlooked as if she is ghost in a crowd and people talk to her as if she is not smart. It got VERY aggravating at a certain point, because I am sitting here like, HELLOOO she's probably right and you need to listen to whatever she may have to offer up. She also wrote our MFC to self doubt herself wayyy too much. She's totally fine with it being normal that no one notices her or listens to her, etc. I was wanting her to fight to be heard, fight to be seen, have self validation in her ideas and intelligence.

Moving on, I was really conflicted with the cover art. It's never really stated that she has green glowing hands when using her magic, but again, maybe this is mentioned in one of the first 3 books. I also felt that the whole idea that dragons seem to be weak and the way they are explained in the story... a bit strange and confusing. Mix this with sentences that seemed to have been written in an odd formatting of old English and new, and I was stumbling with the flow in which I was reading. I do know my version is an ARC, so maybe this was remedied in the final production.

I'm not sure. I really was hoping to love this story, but ended up feeling so many different thoughts in the end. The last 1/3 of the book was where the action and pace finally picked up and got better, but I am not entirely sure that it was enough to carry the storyline alone. I would say if you want to read this story to please read the first 3 books prior, then jump into this one, I would hope it would greatly improve your take away then what I had to experience.

**Thank you NetGalley and Relay Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I liked the book, I think it's full of adventure and takes us to a life full of fantasy and dreams. I loved the academy and magic aspect in this book. I look forward to reading more books by this author

First, thanks to Netgally for the advanced copy!

Hybrid Magic follows Winnie, a young woman working to become a mage. When she's invited to join a special delegation to help alleviate dark magic in a newly-friendly country, she agrees, excited to learn. But things aren't always as simple as they may seem.

It should be noted that this book is the first book in a second part of a series. What follows in my review may largely be due to the fact that I did not know to read the first three books in that series. (Note, I was also unaware there were other books because NetGalley's site incorrectly labeled it as Destia's Dragon Shifter War #1 with no mention of it being a Part 2).

While an effort was clearly made for this to stand alone, I don't think it does. So much so that I think this should have been Book 4 rather than Part 2 Book 1. Reading this as a standalone, I found myself wishing I was reading the earlier books because the backstory seemed so much more interesting than what I was reading. I didn't realize it had books before and wondered why I was reading about a magical cleaning crew rather than an evil wizard and a magical war. It felt like an unnecessary extra season tacked onto the end of a great show, only I hadn't seen the great show. It's not a standalone, so don't read it if you haven't read Part 1.


TO START: I didn't hate every minute of this book. If I wasn't reading it for Netgalley, though, I likely would have given up before it got good. The first 2/3 dragged because of the heavy exposition and lack of drama.


I was initially excited for this book because, based on the description, it had a lot of promise. I like mages. I LOVE dragons. All good things! The last third of the book delivered on this promise and was truly great. There were even some great moments that seemed to me to be pretty cool foreshadowing (if the next books are going where I think they are). Honestly, if the first 2/3 of the book were condensed into a few chapters and the last third was more drawn out, more complex, it would have been a MUCH better book. It would have been the book the description promised.

But, the description lied. It said it was about a girl and a dragon but we don't meet the dragon until 2/3 of the way through the book (at which point it gets good). The cover also lied- it shows a girl with glowing green hands but that's not a thing at any point. This problem was largely due to the extraordinary amount of exposition and backstory (which wouldn't be necessary if this were sold as a 4th book in a series rather than a Part 2 Book 1).


There was TOO MUCH exposition. The book started at a snail's pace because everything from Part 1 had to be explained again and again in detail so that a reader who hadn't read Part 1 would have all the necessary context. This book does not stand alone. It doesn't. Not only was there a ridiculous amount of backstory and exposition, but it's done in a very clunky way. The majority of the backstory (particularly at the very beginning) is not done through the prose, but through the dialogue. The problem this creates is that you show two characters who just lived through an event... asking each other basic questions about the event. They were often asking about things they should already have known the answer to. A lot of the exposition could have (and should have) been done at the very least in a long, detailed prologue. But realistically, it wouldn't have been needing if this was Book 4.


Part of what also confused me was how the main character, Winnie, was treated by the people around her. About halfway through the book it's revealed that she's directly and solely responsible for figuring out the evil wizard's weak point and how to kill him. She's the reason the war ended. She's the reason that they are in times of (admittedly tenuous) peace. She worked directly for the King on the very important project of saving people that ended with her figuring all this out. She's a badass.

No one treats her like it. They keep trying to make her prove herself. She's disregarded and scoffed at. She's treated like something stuck to the bottom of everyone's shoe instead of a WAR HERO. And not just any war hero- one of three people who brought about the end of the war. Everyone should know who she is. They should be star-struck by her. They should be listening to her ideas because her ideas literally ended a war. Instead they wave her off, they treat her like she's completely irrelevant, and she walks around parties alone, with no one even looking in her direction. At one point someone from the rival nation says something along the lines of "ignore her, she's young and just an assistant.' SHE LITERALLY ENDED A WAR.

Even worse, she thinks she's right. I've had enough of bad*ss heroines who think they're nothing special. Girls can be awesome and know it. They can be proud without being boastful. I know it's done a lot in fantasy, but honestly it's to such a degree here that Winnie almost seemed pathetic. She let everyone ignore her and mistreat her and was like "I get it. I'm used to it" which makes no sense! She's a strong, intelligent woman and she's allowing herself to be a doormat and accepting it as the way she is. "I'm nothing special" kind of attitude. Make it make sense.


There were a lot of inconsistencies or things that just didn't make sense.

For example, the grandmother could have been completely cut from this. Aside from exposition, the scenes she appeared in gave us nothing. But Winnie also talks about how her grandma is proud of how Destin (their country) focuses on helping everyone reach their full potential for contributing to society. Her granddaughter is a war hero and well-respected scholar. And she's mostly worried about... marrying her off? The character was completely inconsistent.

Another example: all the people who revile the peace agreement wear red everywhere, everyday. They're also the biggest supporters of the now dead evil sorcerer. Why would they be advertising their out-of-date alliance? It would be like Death Eaters walking around in Dark Mark t-shirts AFTER Voldemort died. Why would they do that?

Third example: the high council of the country they're invited to is fighting over whether they should be allowed into the country at all. Half the council wants to throw them out. And yet, she's able to walk around the city alone, unmolested, despite very clearly being Destian and not Fantisian? If the council hate Destians, people on the streets (who lost more in the war than council members probably did) would LOATHE Destians. She would be yelled at, assaulted, followed. Instead, people just kind of look at her funny.


The dragons.

Dragons fly! Duh. They have telepathy! Cool! The telepathy has a very limited range and is essentially useless. Not so cool. Not one of them breathes fire at any point which is... not dragons. Also not dragons? Doing as they're told by humans and behaving as though they are humans' pets. These dragons are super easy to kidnap. They can be held down by some chains and a handful of guards. And worst of all, they can see all the magic that exists in the world in a way human's can't. But they can't use it. It seemingly doesn't do anything except give them good intuition. They've had this power for centuries but no dragon has ever been able to use it to manipulate the world around them. Cue main character.

Winnie gets access to this sight and five minutes later is using it to change things and save people. It almost overwhelms her but then the dragon's like "Hey calm it down" and she's like "Oh is that all?" and magically is in complete control of it. Later someone else gains access and the ability to manipulate the magic around them is IMMEDIATE and stronger than even Winnie has managed.

The dragons were so weak. They were basically giant birds with an appreciation for the magic of nature.


The book could have used another edit, sad to say. There were small proofreading errors and grammatical mistakes throughout. It's not a big deal to a lot of readers, which is fine, but for snobs like me, it can easily ruin a book. Those errors disrupt the flow of the writing and take the reader out of the fantasy. The dialogue was also awkward. Yes, because of the heavy expositional conversations held by character who both already know that information, but also because it was just awkward. The author couldn't decide whether to use old-timey grammar or more current ways of speaking, which led to "Worry not" and "Keep in touch" being in the same paragraph. Characters would say "I know not" but also use contractions. It was very strange to read.

All in all, this is a fun, light YA fantasy book that has its issues and should have been Book 4 in the series. It spent so much time on exposition that it didn't really have much story on its own. Cutting down on the exposition could have saved 50 pages, and those pages could have been dedicated to the most interesting part of the story that gets a bit rushed at the end. If you're selling a book about a girl and her dragon, the dragon should show up at some point in the first half of the book!