Genre: YA Epic Fantasy
Published: September 2022
Print length: 377 pages
Links: Goodreads | Direct Sales | Amazon
Kindle Unlimited? No
Series: Enchanted Book #1
Warnings: Incidents of child abuse, sexual assault, and birth trauma.

Synopsis:

If there’s anything worse than being expelled from school, it’s being expelled from school… on your birthday… by your own mom. On the day of a critical test to determine her magical specialty, 16-year-old Elena is abruptly kicked out of the Harbor Ridge academy for enchantresses by Madame Beatrice LaBelle, the headmistress and Elena’s mother. Accompanied by her weasel-like familiar Agon, Elena heads off into the Dark Woods, where she encounters Quinn, a 17-year-old loner who has his own animal companion: a fox named Lyra who starts fires with his tail.

Elena and Quinn get off to a rocky start; he finds her sleeping by the road and, thinking she’s dead, tries to rob her corpse. Elena and Agon zap him with magical lightning and tie him up. Gradually, though, Elena and Quinn begin to trust each other. He takes her to the nearby village of Andover and introduces her to a local innkeeper who gives her a place to stay and a job at the inn. But just when Elena seems to be settling into a new quiet life in the village, she’s assaulted by a group of belligerent farmworkers. Defending herself with magic, Elena attracts renewed attention from Harbor Ridge Academy. As Elena, Quinn, Agon, and Lyra flee across the countryside, they realize they are key players in an ancient prophecy that could bring about the end of all magic in their world–unless they somehow manage to prevent it.

What I thought:

I loved the world, the main characters, and the relationships among Elena, Quinn, and their familiars. The setting has a fairy-tale feel to it, with a castle, Dark Woods (yes, that’s the literal name), and a witch in a fog-shrouded cottage. But the details of the world are intriguing. Supposedly only women (enchantresses) can wield magic; they typically have no lasting relationships with men, using them only for reproduction in essentially one-night stands. That Quinn, a male, has a familiar and some magical abilities of his own signals this isn’t the whole story, and sets up a nice mystery that gradually unfolds throughout the book.

Elena and Quinn have naturally clashing worldviews, as she had a relatively sheltered upbringing in the magic school while he was an orphan who fended for himself from a young age. This plays out nicely as they bicker but ultimately care about and support each other. (To be clear, there’s no romance in this book, which I personally found to be refreshing. Apparently there may be some “low spice” romance in later books in the series.) I’m a sucker for good animal familiars, and the two here–Agon and Lyra–are perfect with just the right amount of sass. They start out distrustful of each other and fiercely loyal to their respective humans but end up helping each other keep the quarreling humans in line. A scene where they jointly tell Elena and Quinn to shut up and get over themselves is priceless.

It's no spoiler to say there’s a very strong “found family” theme throughout the book; it says so in the subtitle on Amazon. Elena and Quinn both come from, shall we say, less than ideal family situations (Quinn’s was outright abusive while Elena’s was simply neglectful) but overcome their backgrounds and find support from others they meet along the way in life. I love this message and feel like it’s badly needed in today’s world.

Minor quibbles: Madame LaBelle’s decision to kick Elena out into the world seems baffling at the time and is never really explained. Her reasons may become clear in later books, but not having a clue about why this pivotal event happened was a bit of an irritant. Occasionally some of the classic fairy-tale tropes and names seemed a little too “on the nose” and took me out of the story briefly.

Fair warning: The ending of the book is a huge cliffhanger, so go into this with eyes open. Thankfully the trilogy is complete (and there’s a fourth extra book in the universe as of this writing) so readers won’t be left hanging.

Overall, Storm and Flame provides appealing characters, a world with unique magical twists, and a classic fantasy story with enough mystery to keep me turning the pages.

Who will love it:

• Young adult fans of epic fantasies and fairy tales who are mature enough to handle some darker scenes and themes.
• Fantasy lovers of any age who enjoy coming-of-age stories with young protagonists.

Favorite quotes:

Lyra (to Elena): “The fact that you just referred to any enchanted cloak as ‘normal’ should be indicative of how abnormal your entire life is.”

Quinn (to Elena): “You are not cursed. No more so than I am. Bad shyt has happened to us, but that isn’t our fault. We didn’t ask to be put in these situations. We are strong because of the things we’ve had to endure, and we will only get stronger.”

Elena (to Quinn): “We’ve all made bad choices because of our upbringing. We need to learn to trust each other. It’s going to take all three of us to fix things.”

About the author:

Mallory lives in Texas with her husband and their two young boys. She spends her days homeschooling and full-time parenting. Her nights, and any free time she manages to carve out during the day, are devoted to reading and writing.

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