Magica: Lifestone. Deathstone. Godstone ~ Reynar Swan (Mystica #1)

★★☆☆☆

I received this eARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book in any way.

Obligatory Summary

Rufus is an ex-thief whose beloved wife is dying of a mysterious and seemingly incurable disease. Nothing he does stays the symptoms as she deteriorates away before his eyes. And when a high-class doctor arrives with news that a cure exists, Rufus is willing to do anything to save his love. But the doctor requires him to do one more heist, against his dying wife's wedding request - that he give up thievery forever.

Nothing is what it seems, though. Greater elements are at play, and a war between the races of the world hinges on the mysterious stones he is required to take.

The Writing

I have to be honest here - I hated the writing. Its diction and syntax are needlessly pretentious and often downright incorrect. The author was clearly going for a Shakespearean, Middle English merged with Latin style, but what resulted was extreme use of passive speech, unnatural sounding phrases, a lack of articles (a, an, the) and pronouns, and I could go on. It was maddening to read because if I skimmed for one sentence, I'd be completely lost. When the time came for massive plot twists, I was (and still am!) very confused as to what really happened. It wasn't a problem with my comprehension level because I can read the King James Bible and actual Shakespeare and understand it very well.

The dialogue for a certain character who is supposed to be a foreigner did not feel true to what someone coming from another language would struggle with. He dropped entire words irregularly and rarely rearranged grammar rules or mispronounced based on unshared vowel or consonant sounds, which is the most common mistakes non-native speakers make. It felt like he was speaking through radio static rather than a living, breathing foreigner.

Another issue I had was the stereotypical roles men and women held during the course of the story. There are very few characters in this - approx. 6 men and 4 women - and every single woman without exception exhibited some form of tired female stereotype. I am not someone who is offended by damsels in distress, but when no female characters have an ounce of backbone and the men are constantly rescuing, protecting, and presiding over them, it really starts to get on my nerves.

The first two women to be introduced are both sleeping and being gazed at lovingly by their male companions. In separate scenes. The first doesn't come back until the very end of the book and the second is either sleeping or giving sage advice for the entirety of the story. She never once contributes other than to reassure our protagonist constantly. The third female character is a weird witch lady who has one scene. The fourth is introduced as she cleans the protagonist's vomit from the floor, exposing her brutalized back and many bruises (from her evil husband) and doesn't come back until the very end.

It appears that the author attempted to "fix" this by including exposition in the glossary appendix about how women and men hold the same status in society and can wear clothing traditionally for the opposite sex and how women can even hold public offices. And yet none of that was ever hinted at in the book other than having male prostitutes alongside female prostitutes. It was simply awful representation and I hated it.

The Worldbuilding

The worldbuilding was not done well. It flip-flopped between info-dumps via dialogue and showing instead of any explanation (particularly regarding the Latin-heavy diction). I found it difficult to envision the environment or understand the magic system.

The race-war element did not read as intended, I think. What was obviously supposed to translate to a Tolkienian world of many races instead translated to real-world racism, with the "barbarians" on the other side of the wall being vile, purely evil brutes who seek power and corruption, while the other races were peaceful and seemed to be generally accepted by the main race. It lacked nuance and left a bad taste in my mouth.

This last point is a personal opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt. The world itself was fairly uninteresting. It felt like a Dungeons and Dragons game or an online fantasy RPG put to words. Nothing was particularly unique and so nothing held my interest. I was intrigued by the idea of trapped demi-gods in a mountain alongside their enemies but it was barely focused on, and by the time it got more attention, I had lost all interest.

The Characters

Rufus: He's your standard male fantasy protagonist. His backstory was so poorly told throughout the novel that I really felt very little affection for him. I was not particularly eager to see him succeed. I did like his phobia of enclosed spaces and appreciated that humanizing element, but not enough to change my overall opinion of his character.

Patricia: She's endlessly boring. Granted, she spends most of the book dying, but I still really didn't feel anything for her because we get like two scenes about her backstory, and all of them are more about Rufus than about her.

Brutus: I loved Brutus! He's Patricia's father, a man of crime himself, and a foreigner from a farming country. His dialogue was hard to follow but did add a level of personalization to his character. He was a real sweetheart, though. He gave this book one star.

Henryk: He was your standard power-hungry villain. He's the foreigner with the dismal dialogue I discussed earlier. As a villain, he was mediocre. I didn't feel his convictions whatsoever (seemed like he had no convictions to be completely honest) and I found him to be less than frightening.

Avitus: I kept reading this as "Avictus" the entire book. It was a struggle. He's such an icon though. He's the reason for the other star.

Here's a list of his #iconic one-liners:

I hunger for dusty tomes and thirst for the arcane.

Silence amidst shame, the dimwit's response. Good thing fortune coddles the fool.

Had I known you were this slow, I would not have suggested our current path.

Mmm, the scales of knowledge are unbalanced. I satisfied two of your questions. Tits for tats, yes-yes.

I feel low-class for asking, but the ironic crux is I wish you my friend.

A web has ensnared us, and the spider does scurry near.

The arcane, you see, never extinguishes, it self-sustains, but I digress.

Roof - foolish, ill-starred lad - do you not see? Ponder.

No respite for the subjugated. Humph, wonder if servi feel as I do. Fetch this, go here, do that, and natter nary a complaint lest the thongs of a flagrum mar you.

Conclusion

I did not like it and will not be reading the sequel. I appreciate the author for putting so much work into the Latin, and it was clear he has a real passion for it, but I found the story itself lacking because of it.

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