A Touch of Magic by Nessa AlvieraMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars
🌶️🌶️ 2 Spice
Not sure how I stumbled onto this book, but I was not going to say no to what seemed like a spicy Shrek homage. Like, sign me right up, thank you very much.
Now, getting into the story, for the most part, the book was easy to read and follow. The book jumps right into setting us up with a great start, getting to know our lead female Fiona and the nightmare that is marrying someone who has all the personality of drywall. But her reasoning was clear and sound, and you get to see her family and kingdom set up, and a glimpse of the workings of the world in a small window at this time, and that pulled me in. I was invested from the point Merith came into the book and all but turned everything on its head, and our lead was left reeling with the outcome…
I love the bones of this story; loved the whole way it moved, watching the growth of our female lead and her blooming into something so much more than what she started as. I felt a deep sense of belonging that grew in her over time. She grows stronger with hard work, and I loved that about her and that the story gave her that room to grow and become.
But here was my problem. The moment the orcs came into the story, a lot of their own language started being used. Now, I read the story from mostly Fiona's POV, so I understood that I would not know it, and it made me feel much like she would have in that moment. But as she grew to learn it and understand it, which was great, at some point there were no translations from her, so I didn't know what the words meant. And I know there is a glossary at the start of the book (I'm reading an ebook), but if I'm reading a book, going back and forth from the start to what point I am currently reading totally pulls me out of the book. I guessed a few of the words at times, but it was a hurdle and sort of annoying trying to play orc translator while also trying to enjoy the book.
I also had a bigger problem with the ending, or last half. I understand there was a war that raged between the orcs and the fae, that there was hate between the pair and all that, but I was like, OK, totally on board, let's learn the why… and how and so on. And I was left disappointed and totally underwhelmed, really. I mean, I felt like I asked, "Why did the fae kill the orcs?" and the reply I got was "They're ugly and… smelly beasts" or "Mindless monsters, they are not pretty like us" sort of feel to it all.
I honestly started to dislike the whole lot of 'em. It felt like schoolyard bullying but on a worldwide scale. The fae are long-lived, like, they can get old. Does no one fact-check the truth if a race is being gaslit? I would have LOVED to have seen that can of worms being blown open, and I thought I might, but the end was sort of lacklustre due to the fact Fiona's father was not pulled up on his longstanding behaviour. The end felt sort of rushed and fast to put things to bed, to give it a nice, tied-up ending, but for me, I am sitting here left questioning EVERYTHING, like I am trying to work out the meaning of life.
The harder part is I can't really hate the book because there were a lot of things I really loved, from the growth of our female lead to learning that our male lead Malek was so far ahead of the game from the beginning and still let our female lead in. But this also left a massive story hole where two points clashed…. Someone can't react and not know a thing, only for the story to later add that he knew a thing from the start. That makes no sense, but for me, I like him knowing because it showed he was a good leader but still saw good in those not like his own kind.
I really liked the world that was created, and the spice was fun, the book easy to read, but there were some big old problems too. Due to all this, I have to say I have to give it three stars, but it could have been so much more.
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