Title: Ignatius and the Swords of Nostaw
Genre: Fantasy
Author: D.A. Mucci
My rating: ★★★★

Characters:
To begin, there are several characters that we meet in the book. There's Ignatius, of course, who everyone calls "Iggy" for short. I personally love Iggy the most. I feel like I could really relate and understand him, which is what every reader wants when reading in the main character's POV. Mucci provides an excellent character arc for him that leaves me in awe the entire time. Iggy goes from being a fearful 15 year old to a brave boy who has more strength than he or anyone else realizes. It's amazing to see the shift in his character throughout the story and be able to watch his change in persona based on the world he lives in and the people he meets along the way.

The other main characters include his brother, John, and his aunt, Gwen. These two show up in the beginning of the story, and I really like the bond they all share with one another. It's apparent that he has a loving family who cares for him just as much as he cares for them, and without spoiling, I believe that the readers can greatly empathize with the family.

Along with these characters are two new ones that are introduced a little after the beginning of the book: Lecque and Raraesa. These siblings play an important role in the story and Iggy's character development. They help him uncover the best parts of him and are certainly going to be fan favourites. Lecque grew on me A LOT by the end of the story. He turned out to be not what I expected—and I'm totally okay with that.

I love Raraesa a lot. She's one hundred thousand percent my favourite female character. She is a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants and can handle herself. Like, she can sword fight and throw punches. Amazing. Also, she and Iggy are the cutest thing ever. You can't see me right now, but I'm practically squealing to myself just thinking about the two of them. Ahh.

Furthermore, we have Madam Trinity and Trafagla. These women are another one of my favourites (I've only just realized now how many favourites I have...oops). Anyways, I remember getting so excited reading about them in scenes and seeing the way their minds worked (because it sure worked in extraordinary ways). Their scenes always kept my eyes glued to my kindle screen.

Then we have Nyraeda. I was a bit hesitant about her at first, but by the end of the book, I really did like her a lot. An unforgettable character, she is.

To finish off, we have Emperor Mallak and Kylian. These two are very interesting characters. Emperor Mallak is basically the villain of the story, and Kylian is the victim of his brother's sins. Their best friend, Ulric, who's a guard working for Mallak, is like the peacemaker between the two, which I really like about him. He stays loyal to both of them, despite them being on opposite sides (good vs. evil, you can say). Ansel, the blacksmith, is another great character.

Plot:
Now, the plot of the story is really interesting. Since it's a high-fantasy novel, the story really dives into complex themes about destiny and other worldly-dimensions. I really loved the whole aspect of it all and the worldbuilding was absolutely magnificent. *chef's kiss*

To summarize, Iggy is told of a prophecy about the person he is and the person he must be to find his way back home to his family. The story follows Iggy as he navigates his way through a new world with new people, all while trying to hide a secret truth that's threatening to unravel his entire plan and spark the attention of the worst kind of evil.

The plot of the story kept me on my toes the entire time. There were a ton of twists that I didn't see coming and wish I had. Ever know that feeling? Well, if you read this book, you're sure going to feel that way.

It's evident that Mucci took a lot of time building a solid plot, and I was seriously impressed and amazed at the work he put into this story.

For a high-fantasy piece of work, it's really spot on with the genre.

Writing Style:
Now, you may be wondering: wow, you're saying all these amazing things about the story but still gave it 4 stars. Well, I'm about to explain why I did that here.

Throughout the story, we not only get to read Iggy's POV in past tense, third person (which I absolutely love), but we also get a bunch of other POVs as well, like Lecque's, Nyraeda's, Ulric's, Trafagla's, some guards', and more. For me, I've never read so many different perspectives in a book, which made it a bit confusing for me to keep up with whose thoughts I'm reading. At times, I did end up getting lost and thinking that the scene was in one person's perspective, when it was really in another person's.

Mucci did an amazing job in showing, not telling through his writing, but for me, the various changes in POVs sometimes felt overwhelming. Still, I do believe that he made an excellent choice of using third person, past tense for this story (and I'm not just saying that because it's my favourite tense and POV to read and write in).

The characters and most of all, story itself, fit really well with this form of writing style, and the descriptions were so so good. I felt like I was actually in the world with the characters.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I would give this book 4 stars. As I said before, the only thing that set me off was the number of POVs in the story, but everything else was so detailed and well thought-out. You could clearly tell that Mucci wrote this from the heart and put so much effort into his book, which I acknowledge and give him full respect for.

All in all, this interview was an amazing experience, and I'm really grateful for this opportunity! If you are looking for your next read, a fantasy one at that, you will NOT be disappointed if you go check out Ignatius and The Swords of Nostaw! I couldn't recommend it enough, and I look forward to seeing more works from this talented author in the future! (Note to the author: please give us readers—me—the sequel soon! I need to know what happens next T-T )

Alright, thank you for tuning in to this week's post! Let me know if you want to see more posts like this, or if you would like to be the next person to be interviewed! Just send me a message through the contact form on my website or message me on Instagram, where I'm always active and post 4-5 times a week! (@hxneyscribbles)

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I loved this book. Can not wait for the next one! I'm especially curious how the prophecy will play out.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy in return for an honest review. This book had a lot of ups and downs for me. Firstly, it is not appropriate for an adult to be writing about a 15-year-old girl feeling herself for a boy. Besides that, the slow-moving plot and lack of world-building made it difficult to read. Additionally, the book ends on a cliffhanger, which in some books can be ok, however for this one, I feel as though there wouldn't be enough plot left to write an entirely new book. On a positive note, Iggy was a very relatable character, and I enjoyed seeing him grow throughout the book. This was a hard book to read and I do not anticipate myself picking up a sequel, as the overall plot was predictable and did not interest me as much as I wish.

I realized very early on what kind of book this was going to be.

The writing style of this book is full of purple prose and clunky dialogue. The villain of the story is described as having a hooked nose (even though none of their family members are also described this way), someone uses the g-slur to describe a character’s costume, and a 15-year-old girl is sexualized through the act of showing her underwear multiple times to the main character to get a rise out of him.

I was very close to putting this book down and never picking it up again.

I’m not really sure why I gave this book a second chance. Perhaps I felt bad because this is the author’s first piece of writing. Maybe I wanted to accurately spread the word about this book after giving the characters a chance to be better.

(Not gonna lie, the slur was later on in the book. So no, it doesn’t really get better.)

One thing I can commend this author for is their imagination. It’s easy to tell that the author has thought about this world a lot and figured out the details. As a reader, I can’t pinpoint any detail that reminds me of another piece of media, and everything seems fresh and interesting once we dive into this fantasy world the author has created.

It’s admirable that this author set out to write a book and finished their goal. However, this author needs a bit more time to hone their craft and create a book that stands out, and as it is right now, I don’t think this book is ready to be published.

Thanks Netgalley and Publisher for the opportunity to read.
The author managed to create quite intriguing magical world full of fantastic beasts, some of which are not what you typically expect from beasts - they are mighty warriors, living in seclusion, whose abilities in battles are legendary. The world building is really nice and takes your imagination to amazing places. Combine this with an awkward, introvert and insecure boy who gets swallowed into the greatest adventure of his life, one which is too big for him to understand at a time, but he grows and shows his worth and true power. Definitely recommend this book.

Oh my. Alright so I’m usually not into this type of book however I really did enjoy it. Very thrilling and can’t wait to read more by this author