Lady Spy

The Serving Magic Series Book 4

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Pub Date 11 Jan 2022 | Archive Date 05 Jun 2022

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Description

A dark fay uprising. A dashing fay wizard. And a growing anti-magic movement. Mara’s blades aren’t sharp enough to cut through this tangled web.

By day, Mara runs a clockwork toyshop. By night, she spies for the resistance. The last thing Mara needs is a ridiculously handsome fay to train in customer service and spy craft.

Arnesto is persistent, bedazzling, and a twelfth-level fay wizard. He also casts spells in all the wrong places, talks more than he listens, and manages to get himself arrested. Mara plans to send the incompetent fay packing if he makes one more mistake.

But Mara and Arnesto must team up when a fresh threat imperils both the human and fay realms. Are swords, magic, and a scrap of prophecy enough to save the kingdom?

A dark fay uprising. A dashing fay wizard. And a growing anti-magic movement. Mara’s blades aren’t sharp enough to cut through this tangled web.

By day, Mara runs a clockwork toyshop. By night, she...


Advance Praise

"Brilliant..I loved this book and couldn’t put it down, I’ve read one after another, and will now have to find more." - Amazon reviewer

"Brilliant..I loved this book and couldn’t put it down, I’ve read one after another, and will now have to find more." - Amazon reviewer


Available Editions

ISBN 9781736624463
PRICE $3.99 (USD)

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Average rating from 15 members


Featured Reviews

This was such a great read! I absolutely loved the main characters and the plot of the story. The author did a great job making the story interesting and keeping it moving. I loved how unique the story was and all that the author brought to it. Great book!

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I was provided this book as an ARC via NetGalley and BooksGoSocial - thank you for this!

**This review may have spoilers from previous books, but will not contain spoilers for this installment.**

Lady Spy is the fourth book in a fantasy series, set in a world where three factions - the country of Valerra (humans with some prevalence of Serving Magic), the country of Glenbarra (humans with some prevalence of necromancy), and the fay of Havynweal (a combination plus elemental magic) - are the main players. In the earlier books, Glenbarra took over Valerra, and an underground resistance, aided by the fay, ousted them and ragained control of Valerra.

This book picks up after the war, following the story of Mara, a spy who was part of the main resistance group and played a major role in the defeat of the Glenbarrans. Mara is pulled in to help train a fay scout, Arnesto, brother of a friend and fellow resistance veteran. Mara and Arnesto are quickly pulled into a conspiracy that points towards a new enemy, and must work together with the help of others in the resistance to protect both Valerra and Gavynweal from the new threat.

I have not read the other books, so I approached this one carefully - though I needn't have bothered - everything is explained in due time, and there is very little that occurs in this book that relies entirely on knowledge from the previous books, though I presume they help with context. The information isn't thrown at you either - it comes up when it's relevant, and feels like a natural part of the storytelling. Mara is a strong woman who's using her experiences to be better, though she's caught off balance by the fay and her interactions with Arnesto, who hasn't been in Valerra for very long. She's the kind of character I love reading about - flawed, certainly, but determined, and completely loyal to her friends and her cause.

This book is fun, ultimately - I never wanted to put it down, The only thing I would have liked more of is the ending - parts of it felt a little anticlimactic, though there was a nice reveal at the end, and it put you through the emotional wringer to get there. However, this also feels almost intentional due to Mara's character - she is one to process later and act now, so it almost makes sense that some of the emotional weight isn't there initially. I think I also just really like Mara, and would have liked to have had more pages to spend with her!

There is a romance element to this book though it's a minor subplot rather than being the main plot of the book - I'd fully recommend this to anyone who loves their fantasy and worldbuilding with a splash of romance and feelings, rather than a romance with a splash of fantasy (so, readers like me!). I'm definitely going back to read the rest of the series now.

4.75/5

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Absolutely loved this author's writing style. Didn't realize this book was the middle in an on-going series, just loved the title Lady Spy, but you should probably back up and read from beginning of series if you like strong female paranormal spy books. The series is currently free on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited. The story follows, Mara, a spy located in what feels like a steampunk version of NYC or London wandering around trying to figure out what is happening to her werewolf friends. First, they are being experimented on by a sinister doctor. Then people start turning up dead as the mystery gets deeper. The story is light-hearted and fun, more Sherlock Holmes caper than deep mysteries of the universe, but sometimes that can be a nice break. Perfect for an evening off to relax. Look forward to seeing what the next book in the series brings.

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This was a great book! I did not want to put it down. The characters in this books were really likeable and interesting, and made the engaging plot even more interesting. Overall I would definitely buy a physical copy when I have the chance, and would 100% recommend this book to friends who love fantasy! 5 stars!

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I need to go back and read the first three books in this series because if this is wat the world looks like now I would love to see what it looked like from the first page. You can tell that a lot of care went into making this the series that it is today and I can't wait to read more.

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