About the book
The Grimoire is an old magical book that answers only to one person and it has chosen Kara Magari, who accidentally stumbles across it during a hike. When she opens the book, she suddenly finds herself in Ourea, a beautiful yet terrifying world full of creatures that all want the book and its secrets. Kara suddenly becomes a most wanted person in this hidden magical world. By chance she meets Braeden Drakonin, a man who’s hiding something and has been looking for the book all his life. He can’t believe his luck when Kara comes into his life. Braeden only has one question for the Grimoire–one question that can fix everything in his broken life–and he’s not letting Kara out of his sight until he gets an answer. For Kara, there’s no way out of Ourea and she has no choice but to trust the Grimoire. — Get The Grimoire on Amazon.
I first found out about this book when I was browsing the giveaway page on Goodreads (awesome way to find book giveaways, by the way!). I saw the book and read the blurb. It had me at book and magic! I was feeling all book-blogger-ish and was interested in a book about a book. Plus it had magic stuff. And the title itself challenged me. Gree-mo-war? Grim-war? Gree-mee? Pronunciation challenge! :D
Okay, I’m rambling, but the above is a true story, I swear. And so I entered the Grimoire giveaway and while I was praying to the book gods to grant me the win, the lovely S.M Boyce contacted me herself and asked if I wanted to do a review! Thank you! And now we’re here to my review, which I have yet to get to. I apologize for dawdling. I’m feeling particularly rambly today. And apparently I’m inventing words, too.
Anyway, I just happened to be struggling with my work schedule when I received this book, so it took me a while to finish it because I couldn’t find time to read. I started reading a chapter for a few minutes every other day. I really hate doing that because I prefer reading books in one sitting and experiencing the full magical reading experience. You know what I mean. I guess that’s why I was pretty apathetic about the book at the start because I was feeling disjointed with the story. However, it became harder to put the book down towards the last few chapters, and when I got to the end I was like, “Noooo!!!” (I sound funny.)
Things I liked about this book
- The fantasy world the author created. I loved the concept of Ourea and the “people” and kingdoms. I liked that it wasn’t a fun and happy place full of shiny happy creatures. Ourea was described as terrifying and beautiful and I liked that. I don’t know, it was just different and I appreciated the author for going in that direction.
- Braeden’s character and his deep dark secret.I like reluctant heroes so I liked reading about his struggle. I don’t want to post spoilers, so I’m going to leave it at that. ;)
Things I didn’t like about this book
- The ending. This is the first book of a trilogy, so it kinda ended with a cliffhanger. Scroll up to the part where I was like, “Noooo!!!” when I read the ending.
All in all, this book was an interesting read. It was hard for me at the start (although I attribute that to bad reading schedules), but the book had a good pace. There was action and adventure and terrifying characters. I want to read the next one just to know what happens next.
I received a review copy of this book at no cost and with no obligations. All opinions and views expressed here are my own.
About the author
S.M. Boyce is a fantasy and paranormal fiction novelist who also dabbles in contemporary fiction and comedy. She updates her blog a few times each week so that you have something to wake you up in the morning. She also has a B.A. in Creative Writing which, naturally, qualifies her to be pompous and serve you french fries. Connect with her on her website, Twitter, and Goodreads.