This is a fun book overall.

Yes, it takes some time for the plot to take hold, but once that happens, it's a good time all around. The secondary characters are a nice addition—Ellyn, Daniel, Asher, even the queen. The antagonists are, interestingly, even more expanded than the leads. Celeste... I wish that we would have had more scenes of Celeste, because she is creepy, wonderfully insane, unpredictable. She has the potential to drive this story in the second book with her dark personality, and these types of roles are oftentimes the ones that grow the overall potential of the novel. At least or me.

The mythology of the Hollow King and the reveal at the end that Bastien discovers in himself was enjoyable and shocking. I was not expecting it, and mostly I think that's because I was focused on the story so strongly that I didn't have time to guess what was about to happen. That's great. Mageborn does hold your interest regardless of setbacks, it sucks you right in, and I devoured the words as fast as I could.

There was action, and plenty of it from the opening sequence. The moments devoted to these scenes were exciting and the way that the magic is used—as well as the way that the source of this magic is described—was very nicely done.

Despite room for growth, the first novel in The Hollow King series brings forth a gratifying read for fantasy-lovers.

Jessica Thorne is a new to me author and what a great start to her stories!

The cover drew me in straight away and the characters are likeable and easy to get on with. The world building is pretty good and overall a good fun read. Will definitely read more of this author.

What a great start to a new series. We have a unique magic system and wonderful characters that were utterly relatable. I recommend it!

What an absolutely stunning cover! Honestly, that's what first pulled me into Mageborn, as Jessica Thorne is a new to me author.

This was an epic style new adult fantasy, with some good character development and great world building.

The MCs Grace and Bastien were likeable and endearing, relatable but flawed, and equally bad ass in their own ways. Their slow burn love story was enjoyable 😍.

The (very basic) premise is that magic is outlawed in the masses and if found in a user (a mageborn) it is syphoned away to be controlled by the ruling class.. Grace is an elite soldier for the Crown, tracking down the elusive mageborn. Bastien is the Lord of Thorns responsible for dealing with their magic once found. This leads to the inevitable conflict when their duty clashes with their personal desires...

Loved it!

4 stars ✨✨✨✨

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an early copy.

This was a really interesting book with an interesting world, magic system and characters. It was a good solid start to a series.

Thank you so much for allowing me to read and review your titles.
I do appreciate it and continue to review books that I get the chance to read.
Thanks again!

Wow-what a read. This is set in an alternate magical reality there is a medieval vibe to the setting but it's a world where LGBT characters are not discriminated against. Instead, it is those with magic who are the downtrodden and indentured. The world-building in this book is phenomenal however the ending was rushed and lacked the spark the first three-quarters of the book had. The whole memory issue with Bastien was complicated and all the characters are accepting of the big reveal. I can't say too much because I don't want to give any spoilers but it all became overly complicated and it really let down the story.  

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

While this was a world that I felt I could enjoy, there was something just missing the mark for me. Unfortunately, I found myself putting this book and never came back to it. Perhaps I will give a try in the future again.

I really enjoyed reading this book and was addicted from the beginning. The story was interesting and kept you guessing the whole way through - just the way I think it! I enjoyed getting to know the characters and look forward to reading the next book in the series!

Sweet Baby Jeebus, I loved this novel. Jessica Thorne seems to have this amazing way of drawing in the reader and keeping them enthralled until the very last emotion filled page. When this one popped up on Netgalley, I knew I had to have it. And then it got lost in the 900ish novels currently stored on my kindle. Until this morning when I was looking for a completely different novel and stumbled across the masterpiece of Mageborn.

Now I’m not going to lie, Thorne’s are not the most complex of novels to read. They are breezy and read like something early Maas or if Amie Kaufman wrote a romance-esque novel. But in their simplicity is an absolute beauty that makes you want to keep going – in her Queen’s Wing series (you can find reviews for them here and here), Bel and her merry band are on a simple quest which takes a turn; I honestly could not put it down because although it was almost 400 pages, the story has so many twists and turns that quite suddenly 5 hours and almost a novel were just done. The same can be said about this her first foray into the paranormal/fantasy romance genre. I found a comfy spot, grabbed a cup of tea and settled in at lunch time and then suddenly my SO was announcing they were making dinner.

But what are the finer points, you ask? For starters that simple yet stunning cover is AMAZING. Had it not been a Jessica Thorne novel, I would have still spammed that request button like there was no tomorrow. I don’t know whether Thorne makes them herself or she has cover design peeps do it for her but y’all deserve a raise. All her covers are simply beautiful.

As I said earlier, the narrative is not the most complicated or convoluted BUT Mageborn doesn’t pull any punches when it comes pulling the heartstrings and getting the reader on board. I honestly just wanted to take Bastien, wrap him in a warm blanket and sing him a lullaby so he knew everything was ok. And Grace is an absolute trooper despite all the stuff flung at her as she attempts to save the man she loves from himself as well as those out to get him. Honestly its just wholesome fantasy about love, loss and sneaky bitches who want to steal everyone’s magically powers. Also, I totally did not see the Hanna thing coming…

I could gush for the length of my unused thesis about how much I truly love this novel but really all you need to know is that its an epic fantasy with a heart of gold. The characters are wholesome but damaged. The magic system is an interesting one full of quirks. The narrative while relatively straight forward, will draw you in until the final page.

The reason why I decided to read this book is because of the pretty cover, It drew me to the book straight away.
Now for the book itself, it was a good start to the Mageborn series, told from two POV, Grace and Bastien. Grace is an orphaned soldier, she doesn’t remember her past. She is a strong woman and a very likeable character. Bastien, although I didn’t like him to start with, I started warming up to him eventually. I guess I saw what Grace was seeing in him.
There was a lot of world-building and character-building throughout the book and the path has been laid for a potentially fantastic series. It was well written with a great plot.

The room is small and dark. Row upon row of jars line the shelves, each one sealed with blood-red wax. The seal’s mark is a twisted circle of briar with gleaming, gold-tipped thorns. And in each jar a flicker of forbidden magic dances… beautiful, but deadly.

Sold to the Crown in the aftermath of the Last Great War, Grace Marchant has never known her parents. Now, she trains as an elite soldier tracking down mageborn – those born with an ancient and long-outlawed magic – and destroying them if they don’t surrender their power to the Crown.

The mageborn who submit are collared, then handed over to the King’s cousin and heir: the elusive Bastien Larelwynn, Lord of Thorns, locked away in his shadowy workshop deep inside the castle. What becomes of them is hard to say – the Lord of Thorns keeps his secrets close.

Grace has always fought the voice inside her that questions whether the law is truly just – but when her closest friend is next on Bastien’s list, Grace’s loyalties are tested to the limit. Confronting Bastien – searching his strangely compelling obsidian-black eyes for answers – Grace is shocked to feel herself begin to change, to show the first signs of the wild magic she so fears.

Only the Lord of Thorns has the power to save her and the rest of the mageborn – if he doesn’t destroy them all first…- Goodreads

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. The world building was A+. I'm a sucker for history, so the background stories about the mageborn, Lord of Thorns and the Larelwynn family really pulled me in.

Grace on the other hand was a hit or miss for me. I loved the fact that she was this bad ass captain that took no shit from anyone, excelled at her job but still had a soft heart. She didn't need to develop a heart for her team or the people she served. Don't get me wrong she had a few rude awakenings as she deserved but she was for the most part open minded. The part that missed for me is that every few pages she would just get whinny. Whinny about herself and about the Lord of Thorns. It happened too much for me that sometimes when she spoke I would roll my eyes because she would complain just to complain.
'
Other than Grace, I felt the book was too long. Yes it is only 303 pages but there is a lot of dragging in this novel that made it feel longer than it should. If it was just a bit shorter or if there was more going on more of Grace and her team being detectives I would have enjoyed this book much more.

Also the sex scene(s) are A+.

Overall, I am going to read book two.

I absolutely adored this book. Like I cannot get over how good it is, 100/10 will recommend.

The world building and characters draw you in in such a way that you don’t want to leave the world.

I can’t wait to read book 2

Title: Mageborn
Author: Jessica Thorne
Rating: 🌟 🌟 🌟

The life of an orphan soldier becomes entwined with that of a mysterious heir to the throne, whose very presence draws out the secret magic living inside of her: a magic that breaks every law she is duty-bound to uphold.

I don’t understand why I didn’t read this earlier this book is really good it is not enemies to lovers, it is not friends to lovers, I don’t really know what to call it. It is fantasy it is young adult it has a lot of very good tropes. Grace and Bastien are very well written characters I actually like their banter and how they gradually fall for each other. At the beginning I was a little confused I wasn’t sure what was going on with the magic and some people having it other people not having it but as a story went on it became clearer. I usually do not like royalty and books because they seem to be very pompous and think very highly of themselves this was also the case in this book with the exception of Bastien and king Marius. The characters in the world are very unique. If you get a chance to read this book I highly recommend you do so Jessica Thorne has done a wonderful job I can’t wait to read the sequel.

I received this e-galley from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#netgalley #netgalleyreview #mageborn #yafantasy #ya #fantasy #magic #noteneniestolovers #notfriendstolovers

Jessica Thorne has created a magical world in Mageborn that hooked me from the first page. The first book in a series i cant wait to see where she takes us in the future

Unfortunately I have tried numerous time’s to get into this book and I just can’t. I was drawn in by the cover which is absolutely stunning. However upon starting to read this I found that I just could not get into the writing style. It didn’t really flow well for me and I found it difficult to put down. I keep telling myself I’ll go back to it but I can’t. Therefore I cannot review this book.

While the book was fairly slow to start, it picked up about halfway through and hooked me! I look forward to reading the other books in this series.

An orphan soldier and prince collide, you know what's going to happen!

I found the book very slow to begin with but then it picked up pace and I've got to say that contrary to some reviews, I really enjoyed it. Magic and mayhem galore. Go read it..........

4 stars from me.

Thank you to Netgalley, publisher and author and apologies for the delay, I thought I had submitted this review ages ago!

After reading the first couple of chapters, I expected to love this book with all my heart. The beginning made me feel so much for the characters and I could feel myself getting attached already. Sadly, this didn't end up to be the five stars book I thought it would be. It was still entertaining and enjoyable just not as much as I wanted it to be.

If you don't know, Mageborn follows Grace Marchant, a soldier in charge of a team who tracks Mageborn - those who are hiding from the Crown and the dangerous ones who needs to be controlled. In this world, magic can quickly turn to madness. To avoid that, Mageborn have to go to the Lord of Thorns, the Prince, and surrender some of their powers to him in order to keep the Darkness at bay.

When a mission goes wrong and the Lord of Thorns has to syphon all magic from one of her teammates, she'll learn with time that he's not the monster everyone think he is. Bastien (the Prince) has a really bad reputation but it turns out he's kind of a victim. He gets manipulated, drugged and almost raped. It made me really uncomfortable and I wanted them to get the karma those people deserved. Unfortunately, that didn't really happened.

The romance in this book disappointed me. It didn't feel natural. Instead, it felt awkward and forced. Another case of a love story existing simply because every YA Fantasy book out there feel the need to have a romance in it. When it's well done and I can feel the sparks of the pages, I'm all for it. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case here. I could have done without it, to be honest.

This book was a bit too predictable for my taste. I could see the twists and turns from far away but that's okay. I was still looking forward to the reveals. As for the ending, I wish this would have been made a standalone. I don't imagine myself picking up the sequel so I would have preferred to see things wrapped up in a more satisfying way. This is the second book I've read from this author and I'm still curious to see what she could come up with in the future.

<i>(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

This book follows the story of Grace and Bastien who live in a world where magic is taken away from children and controlled in adults. The concept is so interesting, but the execution lacked a little. What started as an fascinating look into censorship and power, turned into a love story that was lacklustre.