Relic is an amazing novel that needs more attention. On the one hand, this was quite an amazing experience to read through. I liked Kaylon’s ability to use her powers to help in her when trouble came, but I felt she did not take enough ownership of the consequences of her actions as much as I would have liked to. The prose, the dialogue, and the pacing are all well done.
I also loved Rover 🙂

This novel is quite complex in its characterization. I felt Markus was a good love interest but he did not know enough about Kaylon. The two needed more scenes to get in touch with each other, and to develop the chemistry between them. While I liked Kaylon I wanted her to take more action and be less hesitant. Rennard may have been a man that over time has become corrupt, which is true in history, but I would use the example of Empress Theodora. She was a prostitute yet the most powerful man in all of Byzantium fell in love with her. Kaylon would benefit from some inspiration from her. I felt Rennard was under-used as well as Jespar. Clearly, there is a hidden history between the whole basis of the conflict that envelopes the town.

I like the concept of feudal lords utilizing people to work. This was what the Samurai Warlords did to their populations, and they killed unproductive workers. If you’re in the UK and on KU, it's free for what I believe is a limited time. Do not miss this at all. I def want to read on this exciting trilogy and see what comes next. Thank you so much to Shealea for allowing me on this blog tour.

3.5 stars

For me, the characters were the stand out part of this book. Marcus is a proper cinnamon bun of a character. I challenge you to read the book and not think he’s the perfect love interest. His sister is a darling I want to see more of, while Jesper is so complex. She’s a great friend, but there are so many layers to her personality that slowly unfold. Even by the end, it feels like there’s so much to learn still.

The world is interesting. It doesn’t stand out particularly from any other walled city with a semi-caste system, but I love magic that has sever health implications – and this magic affects those around it rather than the wielder.

The plot is a very slow-starter. Not until 64% did it feel like there were events happening around Kaylan, the first half of the book dealing with her settling in, making friends and getting ill. Even then, she’s pretty passive – watching and reacting.

I’m not sure what her goal is, what she’s working towards, as she’s so resigned to her death. Her lack of future dreams is completely understandable – pretty hard not to give up in her situation. I think a clearer desire to strive for would have helped her feel more active – and the plot like it kicked off sooner.

It’s very hard to predict what will happen next. In some ways, I really like this. Jesper and Rennard are unpredicatble characters, which keeps you on your toes – not sure what they’re going to do and what this will mean for Kaylan.

However, because there a hard to discern through-line for the book, the unpredictable characters added to the sense that there wasn’t a strong plot.

Relic for me was an original and emotionally gripping adventure. Kaylan lived in a kingdom divided into groups led by rulers who are in possession of magical relics. These relics protect the wearer’s bloodline. Unfortunately, the magic is poisonous to anyone else in the wearer’s vicinity. The magic acts like a sentient form of radiation. The ruling family decided to ease the burden for the other household staff. There would be a drawing to choose one person who will become the ruler’s shadow. A personal servant who takes the brunt of everyday contact. Once that servant succumbs to the effects of the relic, which is a long painful death often involving insanity a new peasant is chosen.
Kaylan is living a simple life as a blacksmith’s apprentice when she is chosen to become the next shadow.
There was a lot that I loved about this book. It was a real page-turner and kept me engaged from start to finish. It even had me close to tears once or twice. That is rare for me.
There were some holes for me though. Kaylan starts to learn about a group of rebels who are trying to overthrow Lord Rennard by killing off his entire family. Only then can the relic be claimed by a new ruler. What I didn’t understand was if the relic protects his entire bloodline how can the people in his family be killed off with such little resistance?
There were other questions I had too where things didn’t quite make sense but because I don’t want to give spoilers I can’t get into them here. Feel free to contact me if you want more details. They weren’t big enough to make me enjoy the story less.

I also must give some love to Markus. Oh Markus, Master Of The Hunt, how I love you! I was hoping somehow that he and Kaylan would find a way to run away together. But things are not that easily resolved in this book. There is quite a dramatic ending that will leave you thirsty for book 2.
There was a lot of gray in this book. Meaning no one was all good or all bad. Lord Rennard was a beast but you even learn some of his backstory so you come to understand that he wasn’t always evil. All of the characters seem to have this give and take. My lovely Markus was everything that was good and kind but even he had his weaknesses. There were times I wished I could learn a little more about some people’s intentions or thoughts but that would have made the book ginormous. I have my fingers crossed that we’ll see more of the people we can care about in the following series.

Here lies the tale of Kaylan Rove, blacksmith’s apprentice who kind of nihilistically just goes along for the ride when she is conscripted to a fatal new occupation. There’s the potential for intensity, horror, and intrigue, but if Kaylan can’t make up her mind on how she feels about dying, then I guess I’m also fine either way. Her ambivalence aside, the story itself pulled me in with likable characters, a slow slide into existential dread, and a brewing rebellion.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Four Stars
The star of the show here was defiantly the characters. I’m not going to spend to long elaborating, so here’s a few bullet points:
- Plot was SLOW, SLOW moving. At least at the beginning—it just takes a while to get into the action, but then it’s pretty darn good
- The world building was cool, but I’m selfish and I wanted to know more!!!
- The romance...Bronwyn Eley, you are an evil person to leave us with such an ending! Ahhh, I’m being tortured! I need morrrreee
- Would I read it again? Mhm, I liked it but it wasn’t good enough to warrant a reread. And if I did, I would need to do some serious skimming.
- Would I read any sequels? Yeah, I think so. Do I have a choice though when the book ended like it did? No. I’m too curious for my own good

With thanks to BooksGoSocial and Bronwyn Eley for an advanced readers copy of this book.

I went into this one pretty blind and was blown away! What a brilliant debut.

This is a very character driven fantasy with, minimal world building, and at times a slower plot pace. You can really feel a lot of build up that I hope to see in the sequels. But this instalment is very much lead by the MC, Kaylen is an easy character to like, her bad luck and her being chosen as a shadow helps the reader to instantly route for her. She is a reluctant heroine, who although tries to push everyone away can't help but pull characters closer to her. Secondary characters, and friends, Jesper and Markus help to flesh out the plot and keep the pages turning.

I'm looking forward to reading the next books, as I'd like to see what this author can offer when it comes to action. If her plots are as good as her characters I'm sure we'll all be in safe hands.

I was hyped to get a free copy of the Relic from NetGalley. I kept seeing people post photos of the cover on the media so I was really eager to get my hands on it. But, I did not love it or was obsessed with honestly.
It is a great and interesting read with some ups and downs. The plot focused on the magic of the lord and how it affects the protagonist, Kaylan. The magic, so-called relic, was a different type of magic than I am used to reading about. I mean, the lord is flourishing while everyone around him is slowly dying? I never heard about anything similar! I wanted to learn more about the relic. There was a lack of background for the magic. As well as some description for the characters. Don't get me wrong, the author did a good job helping me visualise the character which I 'met' but at one point I just got lost. There were so many characters, which were mentioned only in the beginning or middle that I just couldn't keep with it. It could be my fault for getting distracted I guess?

My favourite character was Markus. I loved the way he was presented. I did like him from the first chapters he was mentioned in. His relationship with Kaylan? Can I have something similar, please?!

Kaylan. Hm. I have mixed feeling about her persona. Yes, she is an amazingly strong protagonist who despite her dying, still fought the war between herself and the relic. She was always there for her friends, helping or saving them. I did not like that she kept who she was from Markus for so long. Plus, it was strange that he did not found out sooner that she was the new Shadow. He found out secret information about Kaylan's friend in the prison but no one told him who she was? Seems a bit weird.

Overall, the world-building is great. I really enjoyed the way the story is written. Despite being quite a long book, it was easy to read which is always a big plus. I'd say, a new reader needs to give it a go and see for themselves. And of course, the good news is that there are 2 more books in the series!

I did leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon and I will post a post on Instagram tomorrow, tagging the author. I cannot provide the link for the Amazon because I am not sure how to show only my review.

This was awesome! I absolutely loved it! The story was so good, I couldn't put it down! Kaylin is an awesome character. A female blacksmith who has to take the place of the shadow, the one who does the ruler's dirty work. She's not happy about the situation but she can't escape it.
This story has magic, a quest for a relic that could save her and lots of action. I thoroughly loved this book and I can't wait to continue on with the series.

Relic
By Bronwyn Eley
A new aspect of fantasy this book looks into our impression or ideal of history. Every thing can be seen within shades of grey. The idea that we don't always see the world as it really is.

In this story, a relic is a magical stone that protects a Lord and his bloodline, but it slowly kills anyone else around it. Lord Rennard has a specific way of handling this problem: Shadows. A person is chosen to be his personal servant and slowly dies from the effects of the relic. The idea is that this servant will do anything that needs to be done in Lord Rennard’s presence to save everyone else from the effects of the relic. This book follows the story of Kaylan, who is the newest Shadow. She is forced to leave behind her family and her life as a blacksmith for certain death.

I had a hard time getting started with this book. There are a lot of characters introduced early on, which was a bit overwhelming. Once I got into the story though, I understood why the character focused opening was important. The glimpse of Kaylan’s life before she becomes the Shadow helps the reader understand her thoughts and feelings as the book progresses.

Kaylan is a wonderfully complex character. She starts out the book as a strong blacksmith, but she has to face her own weakness as the relic eats away at her mind and body. I loved the way Bronwyn Eley used a fantasy story to dig into what it is like when your mind betrays you. I was brought to tears multiple times throughout the book, because I could truly feel and relate to the struggles Kaylan was facing.

This book is the first in a trilogy. Eley has done a good job introducing some big questions in this book, and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy to get some answers.

Relic is a very interesting read. It follows Kalyan through the streets of the Slip into the castle. This is a dystopian, coming of age story. It’s full of intrigue and unanswered questions. If you enjoy stories like the Hunger Games and Graceling, you should give this story a try.

This book was such a surprise for me!

I found myself enthralled in the writing style and how smart plot points had been thought out. While there are some common tropes within the story, I wasn't discouraged at all by them because of how the plot points had been covered. I found myself grinning every time I picked up the book, because the characters were so interesting and fascinating to read that this 500 page book just flew by.

AND THE ENDING. OOF.

Basically now I have to go out and somehow find the next two books somewhere, because I need to read them asap.

Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for providing me with a free e-copy in return for an honest review.

This story seemd to take a while to get going but was worth the wait. Kaylan must serve as a shadow, meaning death as the relic will slowly poison her and all who are close to it, whilst plot is uncovered to overthrow the ruling powers. The world building is on point and the story is decently emotional! Looking forward to the next book. Will definatly be interested to see where we go from here!!

Relic was highly recommended to me by a fellow book blogger and I am very grateful! Relic was exactly my style and I’m very glad it will be a series!

This was a terrific debut Novel. Kaylan, was living her life in relative happiness, she loved her job as a blacksmith and was happiest supporting her family and spending time with her best friend. This all changed when she was called to be the Shadow of Lord Rennert. This position involved being tied to a magical item that painfully and slowly killed her. Kaylan becomes increasingly unhappy with the state of the territory she lives and, and when she uncovers a rebel plot, she slowly becomes involved.