I loved this book. Excellent strong female characters. Stayed up the whole night to finish it. Looking forward to the next in the series.

Really a great book. One of the best books I've read this year, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Honestly it's a DNF for me at 30%. I absolutely hate abandoning a book, but I just can't.

This is a book about a wealthy young woman, who is an heir to a very influential house, literally tethering another young woman who is a mage. The mage is essentially a slave to the empire and the MC sees nothing wrong with this. Not only that, but she bribes her into serving the empire with pretty dresses. Furthermore, the young mage is an orphan who grew up on the streets and yet when she is taken to a ball she somehow has courtly manners....

Whoever compared this to The Wheel of Time was mistaken. Yes The Wheel of Time has the damane and the sul'dam (one controls the other through a collar) yet from the beginning, Jordan makes it a perversion of power, not the norm. This novel sees nothing wrong with enslaving someone through a bracelet and then controlling their power, and for that reason I just cannot bring myself to finish this.

The Tethered Mage by Melissa Caruso posits a world where mages are identified early and "drafted" into the Falcon Army, controlled by a Falconer. Young Zaire has managed to hide her mage-mark and powerful talent for years, but is eventually caught in a situation that changes everything for both Zaire and Amalia Cordaro, who inadvertently becomes Zaire's Falconer. A Falcon's magic is controlled by magical bracelets known as jesses, and only a Falconer unlock the bracelets to release the magic.

Political intrigue, mystery and magic, and two strong female characters. An interesting premise. Did I like it? Yes, but I didn't love it. I'll see what the next in the series holds before firming up my opinion.

Read in June; blog review scheduled for Aug. 3

NetGalley/Orbit Books

Fantasy. Oct. 24, 2017. Print length: 480 pages.

I really enjoyed this novel! I don't normally read epic fantasy but this caught my eye. The political and social intrigue is as exciting and complex as an episode of Game of Thrones. I think this is a great start to a series about corruption, power, war, magic and friendship.