** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley

~

Life Itself, by Elizabeth Bones
★★★☆☆
86 Pages
POV: 3rd person, dual POV


I'm a bit of two minds about this one. It was one heck of a ride, but it took a while to get to where it was going, too. For me, the first half was the storytelling – the reason everything else was happening – while the second half was almost non-stop action. It honestly took me a while to read it, and it felt like it took a long time, because so much was happening but it wasn't always stuff that I cared about. I think part of the problem was that there were no chapter headings. There were no chapters, actually. Just a long run of scenes that made it feel like it took twice as long to get through as it actually did.

Personally, I found the first few pages disorientating. They didn't have an obvious link to the events described in the blurb, and with a lack of worldbuilding and orientation for what this world was, how it functioned, or what it involved, I quickly found myself confused and not all that interested. Then things began to pick up a little, with Tav and Suran showing their established relationship and beginning their adventure.

Overall, I found it took too long to get started, then zoomed straight into an action story for the last half, and didn't focus enough on the things I wanted – worldbuilding, characterisation, and attention to detail. The flashbacks were confusing, but a story of their own, and I found myself ending the book with some unanswered questions and still not being wholly clear on what had happened, why, or where the story intended to go. It left off with still more demons to capture, but it wasn't what I'd expected from the blurb and I think that immediately set me up for disappointment. I was hoping to see Tav actually accidentally release the demons, stumble through that chaos, and then find Suran on his journey. Not for most of the real plot to have already happened.

While it was generally enjoyable and okay, it isn't a story I'd read again.

While this was certainly an interesting concept, it would be nice to read an unabridged version. Perhaps a prequel to get more context on, well, everything.

Flashbacks can be useful if used correctly but if you find yourself needing one in every chapter, just write another book. That would at least save some room for more description, more character development, more world building. Just... more.

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5



Tavali is a mage, a master thief, and his antics have just accidentally released one hundred demons across the dimensional plane. Now Tavali must recapture the errant demons, accompanied by a sentient sword determined to make him see the task through.

But fixing a mistake is always far more difficult than making it, and even love, magic, and a bossy sword may not be enough to save the day…

I thought that Life Itself by Elisabeth Bones a charming fantasy story.  Mostly adventure with some romance thrown in (one already established when the story begins), Bones weaves a tale of a young mage/thief who's mission is to set right something he has caused to go tragically wrong. In this case, because he wanted to prove that he was more talented than others, he set loose 100 demons that had been imprisoned by a Goddess in a mirror. Now he's tasked by said furious Goddess not to rest or return home until all have been recaptured.

It's quite the undertaking and the Goddess has sent a sentient sword to keep him focused and moving always onto the  next demon.  Luckily for Tavali, he also picked up a loving partner, Suran, as well. So the hunt for the demons has two people and one imperious sword doing the Goddess' bidding.

I found myself wishing Bones had been a little clearer on the world building here.  Apparently, the sword takes them from world to world chasing the demons which scattered all over the galaxy or  various dimensions as it were.  By the time the story beings, Tavali is extremely weary having recaptured all but 8.

I would have liked to have more of past demon hunts or something but except for the one where Tavali meets his prince/lover we don't get much back story.  And that's a shame.  Most of Life Itself revolves around one demon hunt.  Good thing its a good one.

Bones creates a wonderful child character, a life force magic, and a demon to contend with for Tavali.  In many ways I almost wished for more of this girl and her world.  I found her charming, courageous, and someone I absolutely connected with.

In fact, most of my issues with this story is that I wish it were longer so that the author could add in more elements to her world building, back history to her characters, and just perhaps give us those last demons that remained to be hunted down.

I will certainly be on the lookout for more stories by Elizabeth Bones and recommend this one to all lovers of adventure and fantasy.

This is a cute little short story about a mage that accidentally let 100 demons escape from a prison-stone and was then tasked with retrieving all of them. He is helped by his boyfriend, a talking sword, and in the case of this particular demon - a mysterious servant girl. Overall it was a fun short read, but I really feel like this should have been a full-length novel instead of a short story because there is a lot going on and the backstory is often rushed and mildly confusing. I would love to see this universe expanded because really this felt kind of like a random chapter out of the middle of a longer book.

this was a wonderful novella about a roguish mage who accidentally unleashes one hundred demons across the entire multiverse, and a goddess gets so pissed off at him that she forces him to travel through the universes with a sentient, bossy sword until he's recaptured them all. this novella focuses on one of these recapturing quests, which involves a princess in danger.

i really liked how there were some flashbacks from when tav first met suran, because it meant that even in this short space we could see how their relationship began. the magic system was also pretty interesting, fraught with danger and obstacles.

it works very well as a self-contained novella, but i definitely would like to see more in this universe - it has a lot of potential! i'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on this author.