I was asked to review this book by NetGalley

This book follws Kanadra a muse as she goes on her first musing to impres Ariyah who is from earth. There is one life in Callodon and the other on earth.

This story explores grief, loss, love and happiness

Interesting story

I appreciated the world-building that went into this, but unfortunately, it wasn't for me. I had difficulty following the writing, and I wasn't really sure what was going on most of the time. I couldn't connect with any of the characters.

A wonderous tale of unicorns, fairies, and other mythical beings. The reader follows a muse, Kanadra, who enters on a quest full of mystery and adventure.

This story has amazingly developed characters and is chalk full of fantasy.

Grateful to have received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley & Matador

‘An obedient muse can never lose. An obedient muse is a good muse’.

This book follows a muse named Kanadra as she embarks on the wild journey that is her first musing: to inspire Ariyah, a girl from earth, to "make peace". It is extremely well paced as it's two narratives are interwoven beautifully. One paints the frame of Kanadra's life, telling the story of her life on Callowdon, while the other follows her assignment on earth.

She struggles with her powers, as well as with what it means for her to be a muse and to help Ariyah navigate her mother's death. This story describes grief, love and rekindled happiness masterfully, and it also incoroporates wonderful descriptions of characters, feelings and stricking landscapes.

I always hate not finishing a book. But I couldn't do it. I'm sorry.

I liked the idea of the interwoven stories, jumping between Kanadra's past & present, and what was happening with her first ever 'charge' as a muse, Ariyah. But I just found it so messy! I couldn't tell you how, but i really felt like there was a better way to weave the stories together, but as it was i just found myself being thrown about a bit, with too many characters to keep track of in each time line...it was just a bit much. I felt like every time there was a memory, we got at least one new character. I couldn't keep them straight in my head.

The, i guess you'd call it 'main' storyline, where Kanadra is meant to be helping Ariyah seemed interesting enough. without giving too much away, her mother is sent to an institute because she's stopped taking her meds. But then suddenly she dies. It's claimed it was a suicide. But some things aren't adding up, so Karandra decides to look into it and see what happened.
I kind of feel if this alone had been the main storyline, I'd perhaps have been more interested. I think this could partly be because I really did not like Kanadra as a character at all (yey, another rebelious, fight the system lead female...) But it felt at odds with the magical story around Kanadra's past (and present).
Now, don't get me wrong! I'm a fantasy fan! I have no problem with fantasy and real world meeting, sometimes these stories can be fantastic. But for me, this just wasn't one of them.
Perhaps if i'd read on, things would have come together more clearly. But I was just not enjoying the main character or her storyline, and I just couldn't bring myself to keep reading. I'm really sorry.

Kanadra comes from a place where unicorns, trolls, nymphs, fairies, mermaids, griffins—and many other legends, are very much real. Ariyah comes from earth where magic is rarely believed in. Kanadra age 16 and a muse, and Ariyah nearing 16 and your typical teenager, would unexpectedly end up on similar paths. These paths would be full of love and loss. Happiness and anguish. Life and death. Murder. Mystery. Pain. Redemption.

We first meet Kanadra as she wakes up in an unfamiliar area. She was dismayed when she learned she must travel through the Great City to arrive in her home of Grutean, in Callowdon. Aside from being on the run from people who wanted to force her into a life that she didn’t want, she was also searching for someone. During her search, a woman stepped into the pub where she had found a lead. This woman was part of the Inspiriti who had been searching for Kanadra. Kanadra was forced to go with this woman to face a council of muses. Once there she was told her first assignment was to be sent to earth to help inspire someone there to make peace. Failure or fleeing meant death. Soon Kanadra found herself on earth. She was able to seek out her charge, a teenage girl named Ariyah. Everything seemed fine with Ariyah on the surface, but Kanadra soon found out that this girl might actually need the help of a muse.

While with Ariyah, Kanadra would be faced with her own demons and destiny. Each time she learned something new about Ariyah, Kanadra remembered some unhealed trauma of her own. Soon both girls would find themselves coming face to face with their own history, as well as their destiny.

Woven together in this novel are two stories of two very different girls, and yet somehow they are very similar.

I love this book and I couldn’t put it down. The interwoven stories are brilliantly captured. Intertwining such different worlds into one novel is absolutely brilliant. I look forward to many more books by this author, and if they are reading this, PLEASE WRITE MORE.