I don’t think I have ever read a book that I enjoyed as much as The Collarbound while having no idea what the world of the book was about. Normally if a book has terrible world-building it’s a huge turn-off for me, and if that’s bad the rest of the book is usually just as bad. However, The Collarbound‘s plot was interesting enough to keep me intrigued, and the characters are absolutely brilliant. But if you asked me to tell you what the world itself was about I could not tell you.

The overall plot of The Collarbound is not anything special. It jumps between being so-so, to being pretty obvious and then quite good in places. The highlight of this book is in its characters and that is where Zahabi shines. Both Tatters and Isha are wonderful to read, and I’ll be looking out for book two because I want to continue their story. I just hope that Zahabi stops being so evasive with her storytelling and starts to give actual answers. One book scattered with hints and discussed theories aimed at gently pointing the reader in a direction is enough for me.

The magic of The Collarbound is another point in its favour. Unlike the usual elemental magic favoured by most fantasy authors, Zahabi has chosen mind magic, and it is a refreshing change of pace. Magical duels take place inside the mind where anyone can become anything they wish, where emotions and memories can be used as weapons. These scenes were wonderful to read and very well fleshed out.

In comparison, everything about the world the characters existed in was very wishy-washy, and it’s a shame because otherwise The Collarbound wouldn’t have been just an interesting novel, it could be a great one. There are these creatures called the lightborn that Tatters describes as a moving ray of light that the Temple worships as gods, yet no context is given as to why they are worshipped or what exactly the lightborns are. The lightborn appear to be very important, to the priests and the mages, yet nothing concrete is ever said about them. Likewise, there is a division between the priests and the mages, with them only coming together for a festival. Again, there is no explanation as to why the two organisations are so divided or when this division happened.

Then there are the kher people, and I’ll be honest, the lack of solid description and background offered about them confuses me the most. The kher are the subjugated people of The Collarbound, they are treated like animals and by that I mean quite literally (they butcher them like animals). They are considered less than human due to their appearance, which appears to be human-like with red skin and large curling horns protruding from the sides of their heads. The humans refer to them as cow people, whether this is due to the colour of their skin and their horns or other cow-like features I do not know because the descriptions are vague.

Zahabi uses the kher to interrogate themes of difference, race and the other in society. The kher have their own customs, and their own language which they rarely share with outsiders, not because they are unwilling to do so but because people don’t want to be associated with them. As the saying goes, people are afraid of what is different and in The Collarbound Zahabi drives the point home by imbuing the kher with a natural power that makes humans afraid of them. They are naturally immune to mind magic. Their horns are used as armour against magic, and there is a very disturbing scene in the book (see content warnings for details) that shows just how far people will go when there is nothing to stop them.

Despite these dark scenes, the kher are a community full of life and family. The scenes of their community were some of my favourite scenes, and unlike the rest of the world-building of The Collarbound, the kher community and related mythology was very well written. Yet there was explanation as to how the kher became to be subjugated by humans. It is very briefly mentioned, in relation to something else, that the kher used to be nomads, and that is the only background we get to the khers. How they came to be a ghetto community, separated from humans is never explained.

The Collarbound ends very abruptly. One moment two characters are having a conversation, I turned the page expecting something to happen and found myself at the end of the book. On GoodReads the synopsis states that The Collarbound has “lyrical, character-driven writing as found in” A Darker Shade of Magic, and I’m sorry to say that is very wishful thinking. While it does have characters as charismatic as V.E Schwab’s series, lyrical is a bit of a stretch and in my opinion the world-building needs a lot of work before it can truly be compared to the Shades of Magic series. What made Schwab’s series, so good was the connection between fantastic characters and mesmerising world-building. The whole concept of a society where the people with magic are the ones in power is something that is beginning to be a little overdone now and without something specific to make it memorable, it just feels like the same old record. Maybe that’s enough for some people; for me, it isn’t.

I have pretty mixed feelings about this book, because there were some really interesting aspects to the world, but the plot itself is pretty standard. We follow two main characters; Isha is a student who has just enrolled in the Nest, which is sort of an academy to learn magic. She has a tattoo on her face that would suggest some relation to the Kher, a non-human race that has horns growing out of their skulls, and who face a lot of prejudice from humans. The other character is Tatters, a collarbound, who spends most of his time in a tavern, gaining coin from Nest students who try to learn magic from him.

Both characters are pretty mysterious, and the book takes its time fully unravelling everything we don't know about them. We still don't know everything by the end, but we get enough of the pieces to paint a fairly complete picture. I predicted the reveals about Isha before I was 50% in, so for me Tatters was the more interesting character. I didn't really connect with Isha in general; she made decisions and revealed information that made me seriously question her intelligence. I wanted her to be more clever and more cunning. We're certainly told that she's smart and a quick learner, which holds up when it comes to her studying magic, but not so much when it comes to strategy, which is unfortunate. There's a part towards the end of the book where she has the chance to seize a massive amount of power (which would've been a fascinating twist), and instead of taking a shot at it, she makes the docile and obedient choice, neither of which she was throughout the rest of the story.

My favourite part of this book were the Kher. Not necessarily the Kher characters, but the idea of them, and how humans abuse them. The horns growing out of their skulls are their cause of death, since they loop back towards their heads and eventually end up piercing them. There are also fascinating and gruesome rituals surrounding their deaths, and I loved exploring this aspect of the world.

The other cool thing was the magic system, which all has to do with telepathy and mind control. This means that any magical fights between two magic users don't play out with both parties casting damage-dealing spells towards each other, but by them trying to inflict psychological damage, by using the others' fears to create mental illusions within their minds. I liked the idea of brains over brawn as a magic system. It'll be interesting to see this developed further, since the potential for abuse is really high, and we definitely see hints of that already.

A Novel of Magic and Spirituality!

The Collarbound is a mind-blowing book about magic, mental prisms and the spiritual side of what is deemed to be magic in my interpretation here. This is a novel with a solid concept and good world-building and it is a world built on lies – because people suffer under the abuse of power.

Working within the typical fantasy setting, does give the vibe of a unique world, sometimes scenes did feel stiff, and some aspects of the story didn’t feel that expanded to me. Some parts were too short for me. Without wishing to spoil too much, it has some great writing descriptions for describing some aspects of the world.

This world has vibrant characters and definitely makes me feel like this was a JRPG novel in some aspects. Tatters and Isha carry this story out, but the characters surrounding them hide further. That you will have to discover for yourself! I can’t wait to read book 2! Thank you to Gollancz, and Will for allowing me to participate!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

The Collarbound is a rich and enjoyable fantasy that brought a fascinating collection of characters and cultures to life. I especially loved Isha, one of the two main characters, as she attempts to figure out why she has an enormous tattoo across her face. She was strong and brave, thrust into a world that automatically wanted to make her into a villain. Her journey throughout the book, and her relationship with the mages around her, were some of the highlights. However, where Isha fell short for me was at the ending of the book when she seemingly fell out of her own story a little. Alternatively, the character of Tatters (the mysterious man somehow connected to everything with a magical collar around his neck) became more vibrant as the story went on and I kept reading almost entirely for him. The magic system of the Collarbound is intriguing and different, with battles taking place in magicians' minds instead of physically, and I enjoyed the social system being built up throughout the story. This isn't a long book but there are aspects that I wish had been further explored; I'm hoping that these will be elaborated on in the sequel.

The Collarbound is an imaginative and fresh fantasy story that focuses on intrigue, mystery and confusion. It is a slow burn story that relies on intrigue and atmosphere. When you think you start to understand what is going on, you get a plot reveals leading to even more questions. The worldbuilding and the magic are genuinely fascinating, and the idea of mind based duelling was pretty cool. The main characters were well crafted with sufficient depth, which I hope will be explored further in book two.

My thanks to both Orion Publishing and Netgalley for a free e-arc. All opinions are my own.

Book Review - The Collarbound by Rebecca Zahabi

4/5 stars

I was given an e-ARC on Netgalley in return for an honest review.

The Collarbound takes us to a very strange world; divided in a light and shadow side, circled by an edge, it is very different from our own. This world is ruled by mages, individuals with mindbending powers that subjugate anyone without this gift. This story follows Tatters a mage who has been bound by a mystic collar fleeing from a mysterieus past and Isha a girl with an enigmatic tattoo. Together they find out that the world they knew is ready for change and... war.

Let's start with what this book does best, worldbuilding. Zahabi gives us one of the most unique worlds I've ever seen. From the actual geography to the caste system it all seems very foreign. Which is both a blessing and a curse as I found it a little hard to imagine.

The magic system based on mindbending powers, where one individual can enter another's mind and battle them is just as cool as it sounds. I was really expecting traditional mages from the synopsis, but what I got was so much better.

I also really enjoyed the non human Kher. Kher are basically humanoids with horns, think along the lines of minotaur. Their society was so cool to explore and their role as an undercaste really had me feel for them. There was nothing I wanted more than for them to rise up and overthrow their masters. The fact that their immune to the mage's power was also very well done.

Pasingwise collarbound is great for me, I like slower books where I don't go from action scene to action scene. I felt like Zahabi was way more focussed on giving us the best worldbuilding possible. This also brings us to the biggest downside, character building. There are really only two well fleshed out characters Tatters and Isha, with Isha being the most interesting. In a later installment I would love to get a bigger cast and more meaning full interactions

All in all a nice little story in an amazing world! I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series!

A great thanks to Netgalley, Orion and Rebecca Zahabi for the review copy.

7.5 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2022/05/12/the-collarbound-by-rebecca-zahabi-review/

On the dark side of the Shadowpass, a rebellion is brewing. Refugees from the war have been flooding across, even now trickling into cities farther and farther from the border. On the edge of the world sits the Nest—built into the side of a cliff, it signifies the path to enlightenment and transcendence—home to a fortress full of mages, the polar opposite to everything the rebels stand for.

Equality, unity, everyone is provided for and given a voice: something the mages in the city are willing to die to avoid. The ungifted are accepted, though while they are judged according to their wealth, none will ever be equal to a mage. Lacuants—former mages who’ve had the magic burned out of them—are second-class citizens, pitied and tolerated as beggars. Kher aren’t even that much. Treated as animals, beasts of burden, they are despised and mistrusted—while being welcomed by the rebels with open arms. Halfbreeds are something worse.

Isha arrives as a refugee, brought to the Nest by a master mage in order to join the fortress academy. But while she may have blended in with the rest of the rabble, she’ll never fit in with the other mages. Kher tattoos brand her as an outcast, a halfbreed—something barely tolerated—though her magic define her as something else. Fleeing memories as much as the war, her past is a mystery even to her, though she’ll have to confront it sooner or later.

Tatters past haunts him daily. Marked by the golden collar of a slave, he flees something more tangible than Isha. Once a rebel, he knows there’s more to the war than unity and equality. An owned mage residing outside of the Nest, he trains students in mindbrawl for coin while existing in the shadows of society. And in the shadows he plans to remain.

But then Tatters meets Isha.

A human with a Kher brand; another wearing a collar of gold. One destined to be singled out her entire life; the other too far beneath to be noticed. But an unlikely bond forms between the two. Tatters is sure he’s seen her tattoo before, but can’t place it. Tatters is the key to something in her past, and Isha is desperate to learn. But as the rebellion carves its way towards the city, they are faced with an impossible choice between two evils.

—

The Collarbound didn’t start especially well. It was slow, vague, a bit dull really. Featuring a unique take on magic—where mages engage in mindbrawls in order to dominate or control their foes, or even the common ungifted—that was certainly an interesting concept, but never really came together for me. There are no fireballs or explosions. No lights and sounds. Just scenes and images aimed at undermining their opponents’ thoughts. But at least it was something different; a good attempt.

The world is a bit sparse at the outset, as the reader is thrown in and expects to catch up. There really aren’t a whole lot of info-dumps—the lore and world-building simply percolate from the plot as the story progresses. Thus it takes a good 50-70 pages in order for things to really get rolling. About the time that the Kher make their way into the spotlight.

And everything takes off.

I noted at the time that we really should’ve gotten into it with the Kher earlier. As dull as I found the mindbrawls, Kher society was what really made the book for me. While Tatters and Isha were initially brought together by the mindlinking, the Kher are what bind them. Afterwards we really get into the Kher story, the war, the rebels, the bind that ties Isha and Tatters. And the story takes off.

In the beginnings of the text we are presented with some vague notion of the rebels, the war—but these things are harder to care about at the time. The world was still new and vague. The war is far from the Nest. The rebels are small-time, but growing, all the while soaking the fields in blood. Rebels bad, mages good. The further the story progresses, the more interesting things get. The mages are still painted in a pleasing light on occasion, and the rebels routinely vilified. But the mages aren’t the saviors they’re made out to be at the start. Their treatment of the Khers, even the Lightborn—beings made of colored light that flit to and fro from across the Edge to the awe of the common folk—leaves a lot to be desired. But at least they’re not watering the country with the blood of farmers.

As the text progresses, the waters muddy. And the story impresses more and more. After the 30% mark I was fully invested. Despite that I never warmed up to the mindbrawl magic-system, I never had one more thought of abandoning the book. Like more than a few debut fantasies, there’s a good story within, it just takes a bit of time to get to it.

I hope that the sequel will get going from the outset, and that we warm the mindbrawl concept up a bit. With these two changes—we’d be looking at a much more immersive, interesting, and engrossing tale. The story continues in Book #2—the Eyas, currently TBA.

EVERYONE STEP BACK, NEW FAVOURITE BOOK COMING THROUGH!

I believe it was the cover of this book that caught my attention first, then the description and the comps (The Poppy War and The City of Brass), I just knew I had to read it.

I do see a tiny bit of the first comp in it, but instead of the second I'd say The Farseer Trilogy fits much better.

There's something about the writing style that reminds me of Robin Hobb, while also being entirely unique and captivating. It's also very easy to get into, and I wasn't confused for a second.

When I started reading I felt like I knew these characters already, and I was invested in their lives from the get go. Of course, Isha and Tatters are my favourites, but I love everyone else too (Sir Daegan not included).

The world building is phenomenal, all the characters and their races have a proper backstory/lore. I loved learning about it all.

One of the best things about The Collarbound is that it doesn't info dump. The reader is fed information one nugget at a time so it's easier to process, and makes it a lot more fun to follow the clues.

Out of the two main characters, one of them has a slightly more prominent romantic subplot than the other. I won't say which, but rest assured that it's sweet and feels real.

I can't find a single flaw, so I won't even try. The only thing I can think of is that I wish it was even longer, because I haven't had enough. I have no idea how I'm going to survive until the next book.

I'm also hoping that book boxes do special editions of this book/series, because it deserves all that and more. It's truly a gem, one I can't wait to have a physical copy of (or multiple physical copies if my special edition agenda happens).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go pester my friends to read The Collarbound so they can suffer with me.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The cover of this caught my eye and I was lucky enough to be chosen for an arc.

There are two main characters, both have mage-skills and both are outcasts in their own way.

Tatters, my favourite, hides out in a tavern, earning money by letting students practise their magics on him. Hides out, because he appears to have escaped his owners. He wears a gold collar, an expensive symbol of servitude. He still has layers of mysteries and I can’t wait to discover more of his sister.

Isha is a new student, her face marked by a black tattoo. Only kher bear tattoos, why would a human be marked so? She is missing memories, unable to recall her life and seems overly skilled for a novice.

The world building is revealed little by little creating a fascinating background. The supporting cast is fleshed out and I have favourites and ones to dislike! The ending is clearly set up for at least another book.

I loved it and read it over the weekend, enjoying the deepening of some mysteries and flow reveals of others. Totally can’t wait for the next.

Thanks you to NetGalley and Orion Publishing group - Gollancz for providing this E- ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5

The Collarbound is a very intriguing and almost amazing book. It follows two characters, Tatters, a collarbound and Isha, a mysterious refugee who arrives in the city. I enjoyed both of the two POV characters. Tatters is my favourite of the two. There’s a mystery about him that isn’t completely explained in this book but it makes me want to continue the series just to find out. I really want to know what happened with his sister, for example. Isha is also very interesting. She has a tattoo on her face which humans aren’t supposed to have, they belong to another race called the Kher and, again, I really want to know more of her story.

The world Zahabi has created is very interesting indeed. There’s politicking, rebellion, growing tensions between two races and lots of magic. It has pretty much everything I want in a fantasy novel.

I do have one issue with the story and that is I think it is too short. I was reading up to a point that felt very solidly like the middle of a novel and then the novel finished. It just felt that it came to the end point a little too quickly and there could have been so much more included in this book to give it a much more natural cliff hanger than the one that is actually in the book. That’s my only real complaint, though, and it is otherwise a very good book.

Zahabi’s novel is very good. I enjoyed the way it was written, I like the magic system, especially how mages can enter the minds of other mages and the characters are interesting, I very much enjoy the air of mystery they have and I want to know more about them. However, I do feel that it could have benefitted from being a little bit longer than it is, it does move from the middle to the end of the book rather abruptly and there are just a few too many questions that needed a little bit more work before they are ready to be answered. Overall, however, it is a very solid book and I am interested in continuing with the series.

3.5 stars.

I loved how Zahabi narrated the story that tackles oppression in a fantasy world. I also liked the concept and premise of the story.

The main characters are somewhat appealing but I don't really care with other characters.

A 'magic academy' style book set in a world where rebellion is brewing and refugees have begun to trickle into the city where there is a strict hierarchy based on magic abilities, and the oppression of the Kher community.

Isha can't remember her past or why she has a large face tattoo that ostracises her from the other apprentices. Tatters, who wears the golden collar of a slave, was once one of the rebels, fought beside them, and technically, they still own him.

I love the premise of this book and I am all for a rebellion story with some magic thrown in. I thought that there were some really interesting ideas weaved throughout the story, such as Kher's being naturally immune to magic as well as the use of mindbrawling.

Whilst reading this book I got Trudi Canavan's The Black Magician Trilogy vibes which is a favourite series of mine so I was excited to keep reading. I enjoyed the world building, which is extensive, and finding out about the characters, however I did find that this book is a really slow burn. Really slow.

My main gripe with this book is that it feels like I walked into the middle of a story, nothing had really changed from the beginning of the book except that some setup had been done and for a 400+ page book that is a lot of time spent getting nowhere.

If there had been some more action scenes then I think I would have given this a higher rating, but as it was I found myself unfufilled at the end, which is a real shame because as I said I really enjoyed the story/world.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for my advanced reading copy.

An overall solid and very interesting read. I would say that this story is more on the slow-paced side. But I did not mind this at all because I feel like this just sets the proper foundation for the upcoming books. The book's unique magic system and world-building still make this a fascinating and enjoyable read. The author’s writing is very descriptive and has created a world filled with magic, religion and politics. Apart from this, I would add that this is a character-driven book since it is more focused on the characters' lives and secrets. I did feel at times confused when it came to the overall world system, and I think this was the main reason I gave it four stars. Thus I think it would not be that suitable for people who rather enjoy a fast-paced, action-packed fantasy. Nevertheless, this book surprised me in a good way, and I am very intrigued to read the sequel.

Huge thanks to Orion Publishing Group for the eArc.

This one had a very interesting and unique magic system with a decent amount of world building. Sadly, that was the only part of the story which I truly enjoyed.

The plot relies heavily on certain mystery elements but it also suffers because there is no tension or a sense of urgency to it. The writing was okay and easily readable but again the bland plot killed the vibe of the story for me.

I liked the characters fine but I don't think they had a lot going on for them. One of the characters, Isha has holes in her memory so for most of the story she spends trying to understand why she bears the tattoo of another race. While this did lead to establishing/ explaining the world culturally, I don't think it led to a lot of personal growth for her character. Tatter on the other hand was a fun character to follow and I enjoyed reading from his perspective.

Overall, I do think that this one plays with some really cool concepts but I am used to reading more action packed books so that definitely prevented me from enjoying the story fully. Nonetheless, I would recommend this for readers who enjoy their fantasy books on a slower side.

Thank you Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for the e-arc of Collarbound by Rebecca Zahabi in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

The Collarbound is one of those books that lays the foundations for the books in the series to come. Rebecca Zahabi crafts a masterpiece of incredibly detailed, and fantastic world building, so much so that it’s possible to see the gigantic Nest atop the edge of this world and feel the wind as it blows amidst the cliff tops. The Nest sits on one side of a world divided, ruled by Mages who oversee and dominate the magically ungifted and Kher.

This is a world of magic entwined with a whole religion, with division between believers and non believers, and magic as the political strength that determines status, achievement and opportunity. And this is just the top of this world, there is so much more…and of course I’m hoping for a most beautiful map in the finished edition.

Amidst this world we meet Tatters, a lot of his origin story is, as yet unknown. He has been Collarbound by a magical gold collar, that enslaved him to his master, from whom he has escaped. Tatters is in his own words unreliable and carries many secrets, some of which he shares, including Lal and their amazing relationship, but many more are there waiting to be discovered.

Isha is a mage apprentice, newly arrived to the Nest and it us through her perspective we learn about the innermost workings of the Nest. However, like Tatters Isha carries her own secrets and hidden past, in memories that have been hidden from her…will these memories come to the surface? Will she discover more about the tattoo, similar to the tattoos worn by the Kher, that marks her face?

I suspect that this book will be divisive, as there are overall no events of great significance in the first 2/3 of the book. The pace feels quite slow and measured as the foundations of the world building, the socio and political landscapes are laid. It is only towards the end that events pick up and you get that feeling in your gut that you’re heading towards a cliffhanger, which definitely left me demanding book 2,The Eyas NOW!

I really enjoyed the complexity of the world building, the development of relationships, the examination of the politics in this book and I look forward to reading the next layer in what I hope will be an epic fantasy to remember.

I loved all of the characters in this one, and the world-building was incredibly detailed. The setting has so much depth to it; I can easily envision an encyclopaedia of information being available about the various species, religions and geographic regions. The mystery behinds Tatters past, and how he became a collarbound drew me in, and I loved his connection to Lal. I loved the Ker species and their dynamics (they reminded me a lot of the Qunari from Dragon Age), and I thought all of the female characters were great. Isha was a clever window into the world of The Nest and I was interested to see how she connected to Tatters, and Passerine, and how her memories would resurface. I was gripped and things just seemed to be falling into place and… then I noticed there were only three pages left?! I knew I was about to be slapped in the face with a cliffhanger.
Now, I’m usually okay with a cliffhanger, but for me this one felt like it came out of nowhere. It really felt as though it were only the beginning of a story and I can’t understand why it’s not longer. I couldn’t quite tell what the ‘arc’ was supposed to be, as nothing was resolved. I have no idea of Passerine’s motivations and I just wanted so much more. Obviously this means I’m desperate for the sequel and I will 100% be checking it out, but I can’t really give anything more than three stars because it doesn’t feel complete.

Rebellion is brewing on the other side of the Shadowpass but here in the Nest it’s safe right? Isha a human girl with a tattoo that belongs to another species and no memory of where it or she came from has been brought to study magic. Tatters is a man with a past and memory gaps of his own, he also wears the golden collar of the slave but who is his master if he even has one. This is the first in a series and there is A LOT of scene setting. There is a lot of establishing the hierarchy between the mages and the Kher and slaves. The plot itself is slightly muddied because of this nothing much seems to happen and I could have done with a map showing where the Shadowpass is in relation to the Nest. I do love a map. There was enough plot to keep me interested and hopefully it will tighten up in the next book.

I was initially intrigued by this story, We have an imaginary plot and characters designed to be liked but eventually the story led to confusion. The chapters felt like they were starting to meld together and wasn't managed as well as I'd hoped.

1,5 stars

THE COLLARBOUND is one of those books where very little happens, and what does happen mostly feels like the two narrators are observers to events rather than being involved.

It was a very disappointing read. I never really knew what the characters <em>wanted</em>, what was driving their actions. It felt like they were just wandering around between meals and classes, without anything pushing them onwards. The lack of goals linked to a lack of stakes, and both meant there was no reason to engage and connect to the characters. A robot programmed by someone else could have replaced them in the story with no change to it at all.

I've just re-read the blurb and I honestly can't say I recognise that as the book I've read. The book I read felt more like a slow, gentle walk around a magic school and a city, introducing you to the outcast race and seeing them be treated badly. There are hints of <em>something</em> happening elsewhere, but it doesn't feel integrated int the story.

This made the ending incredibly unsatisfying. It didn't feel set up. It was hard to follow (a guy turns up, makes a speech and then???) Or and neither narrator are really involved in it at all. It feels more like a very very long prologue setting things up and now I'm expecting the actual book to happen, except it's the end of the book.

I didn't actually know it was the first in a series until the end of the book (it's not on GR, or obviously on any of the promo for the book), where I was expecting things to <em>finally</em> happen, but instead got a "continues in b2" message. I'm guessing things, therefore, might actually happen in the next book, but I'm not going to keep reading.

A rebellion is brewing. Mages can control human minds. The Kher are a tattooed people immune to this, but are repressed as a lower class. There some who dispose this. Isha. an untrained mages, arrives at the Nest, human but tattooed and therefore an outcast. She is searching for her past. Tattors is a collar bound slave, trying to hide from his past and owner. They have never met before but have more connections than either could imagine. The beginning of the book caught me up in an imaginative story set in a well developed unique world. The characters are engaging. The story pulled me in. But only 4 stars because the final third is obviously leading to the next book in the series. Thanks to Orion books and NetGalley for sending me an ARC. The review is my freely given personal opinion.