I wasn’t completely convinced by Spellbreaker and deducted a star because the info-dumpy worldbuilding at the beginning made it hard to become fully invested in the story. But this book got off to a running start and didn’t stop until the end.
I love the characters and their troubles and motivations. I love the romance (despite a few cringe-y lines). I especially love the magic – Spellbreaking especially is fascinating, as is Master Spellmakers turning into Opuses in death – and the fast-paced plot. This duology is closer to the Paper Magician trilogy than any of Holmberg’s other books, and so I liked it a lot more. Not quite as much as Paper Magician, but close. I would definitely read more books about Elsie and Bacchus and Ogden and Emmeline and Reggie.
I would definitely recommend this duology to anyone who enjoyed the Paper Magician series.
*Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for providing an e-arc for review.
Whimsical Dragonette 