by
Priya Ardis
Priya Ardis
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GENRE: YA Fantasy Paranormal
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BLURB:
Foster kid and
occasional shoplifter Eowlyn Patience just wants to fit into her Boston high
school. When the Sword In The Stone falls out of the sky like a meteor into the
middle of London’s Trafalgar Square, everything changes. Then, an enigmatic
golden-eyed man arranges for her to attend a school for the gifted in England,
and the irritatingly perfect Matt Emrys from science class turns out to be
Merlin—the Merlin, King Arthur’s greatest wizard.
Frozen in a cave for
fifteen hundred years, Merlin has woken to find the next Arthur. Eowlyn
Patience’s mysterious admittance to Avalon Preparatory was not something he
foresaw…a disturbing aberration when his most powerful gift happens to be
visions of the future.
The race to find the
rightful heir rages between deadly gargoyles, wizards, and Regulars, but
figuring out the troubled Eowlyn might be by-the-book Merlin’s hardest job yet.
She’s altogether the wrong girl. Torn between what is right and what saves
lives, will Eowlyn do what it takes to win—even if it means sacrificing Merlin
to a god?
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EXCERPT
A gorgeous underwear-model of a man in a black suit cleaned
his sword with a tissue. He threw the bloodied rag on top of the half-man,
half-beast. I tensed as he reached inside his coat pocket, but he only took out
a clipboard and black sunglasses. He put the sunglasses on. “Eowlyn Patience?”
A little dumbstruck, I nodded at the beautiful killer with
blood on his face.
“Pretty name.” He smiled wistfully. “I once knew an Eowlyn.”
The comment knocked me out of my trance. “No one has ever
heard of the name Eowlyn.”
He shrugged. “Surprise. Now, you have met me.”
I put my hands on my hips. “What do you want?”
He gave me an amused smile. “I will be your driver today.
Don’t forget to grab your bags. We should leave now before you have any more
visitors.”
I pointed to the corpse on the floor. “I am not going
anywhere with you, serial killer.”
“Is that so? Let me be clear—I just saved your life. More
hunters will be coming.” Black-Suit tucked a pencil behind his ear and the
clipboard under his elbow. He stepped to the side and pointed at an idling
black luxury sedan. “I’ll be waiting in the car. For when you change your
mind.”
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Priya Ardis
loves books of all kinds--but especially the ones which make your nose leak and
let your chai go cold. Her novels come from a childhood of playing too much
She-Ra and watching too much Spock. Her bestselling series, My Boyfriend
Merlin, about Merlin going to high school is a YA contemporary fantasy and
romance for those like road trips, wizards, Greek gods, and gender-bent quests.
Talk to me!
My website.
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The tour dates can be found here
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My review:
3.75 out of 5 stars
Gods of Merlin by Priya Ardis is a young adult fantasy
story that introduces the series of the same name. Eowlyn Patience has finally
found a foster family that she is comfortable with, but she still doesn’t quite
fit in with her peers at school. When she is forcibly recruited to join a quest
that takes her to a magic school in England, she discovers that some of her
classmates have more in common with her than she realized. Unfortunately, there
are many forces at work, and discovering her connection to the stuff of legends
embroils her in a struggle for the legendary sword Excalibur while trying to
stay alive. Identifying foes and allies is virtually impossible when nobody is
who they seem and she doesn’t even know why she’s in the middle of a
world-changing conflict.
This engaging story was a nice twist on Arthurian legends, bringing
many of the major characters into modern situations but keeping a magical twist
to their trials. The hints of interference by gods from mythology add an
intriguing dimension, and I hope subsequent stories in the series untangle some
of the dangling threads that were established in this story. There are teen
angst issues alluded to, including the awkward dance of attraction complicated
by sibling (however old they may be) rivalry, and it was difficult for me to
establish a connection to any of the characters at first, but that gradually
changed.
I think it can be difficult to start a series because there
are so many details that have to be established, but I’d like a little more
depth to the characters so that I have a better idea of their motivations. There
is apparently another series that came before this one, so it is possible that
a lot of the backstory was presented in those books.
Those who enjoy magic or tales of King Arthur and young
adult fantasy stories should give this a try and get to know these remarkable
youngsters.
A copy of this title was provided for review
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, can't wait to check this one out! Thanks for the wonderful tour :)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really interesting! Can't wait to read it! Love the cover! ❤
ReplyDeletei agree, starting a series can be filled with a lot of details in the first book, laying the groundwork for future books, but if i am going to read the entire series, that's just fine with me
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental