Venators: Magic Unleashed by Devri Walls (Blog Tour)

Hi Blisses,

TITLE: Venators: Magic Unleashed
BY: Devri Walls
SERIES: Venators #1
GENRE: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
PUBLICATION: April 10th 2018 by Brown Books Publishing Group

BLURB

Welcome to Eon. An alternate dimension where fantasy and paranormal is reality, and humans sit at the bottom of the food chain. In this world of unadulterated power and ability, the innocent suffer greatly. The ruling council of Eon has selected two humans, born of the Venator bloodline, and brought them through the gate—wishing to manipulate their strength and special abilities for the council’s corrupt purposes. But, Grey and Rune have very different ideas.

When their college dorm is infiltrated by creatures from another realm, Rune Jenkins, her twin brother Ryker, and old friend Grey Malteer are thrown into unexpected, twisted chaos. While Rune and Gray are able to escape, Ryker is kidnapped away to Eon, the alternate world from whence these dark beings came.

With the help of a supernatural guide, Rune and Gray must now travel to Eon to save Ryker, and discover the illuminating truth about their ancestry. In this new world of fae, vampires, werewolves, and wizards, power is abundant and always in flux. Rune and Grey are being set up as pawns in a very dangerous game and must find their way through – and out of – Eon before it consumes them.

REVIEW

When I was reading, I felt like I was watching a movie. It’s so intense and it’s so vivid.

Venators: Magic Unleashed surprised me. I was expecting it to be good – it exceeded good. The book introduces Venators, beings who have specific abilities, and reintroduces every paranormal and magical being we only read and see on TV. This element of the story alone is enough for me to pick up this book, but I didn’t know this because I decided to dive into the story knowing nothing. And imagine my surprise when little by little the fictional world and its magic system is introduced to me. Especially when I learned what “Venator” means, it added to the appeals of the story for me.

I really liked how the world-building is handled. There is never an instance that I found the author info-dumping, and every time, new information is introduced, I feel myself getting excited to learn more. Our main characters might be hesitant to stay in Eon but as a reader, I’m happy to be there. Eon has all the charms every fantasy reader loves. Its beauty equals the danger it offers which is perfect. Sure the concept of Eon is not new, the magical beings aren’t new as well, but that’s the thing. To use an old concept and reintroduces them into a new way and make them interesting and fascinating to read is a hard thing to do for a writer (I’m an aspiring author myself) and Devri Walls did a good job.

There is no single dull moment in this book. There is always something to excite the reader. In every turn, in every step, the characters are doing either something new or something intense — usually a matter of life and death. I didn’t read Venators in one sitting – which is rare for me – but it was only because I had to write an urgent blog post but I would’ve read it in one sitting and never notice the time passed. The pacing is perfect.

When I was reading, I felt like I was watching a movie. It’s so intense and it’s so vivid.

As for the characters, I love our hero, Grey and our heroine Rune, even though Rune appeared as whiny to me at first. But she grew on me and justifies her fears and concerns. Because I must understand, she’s thrown into this strange world and there are markings on her body. Most of all, she knows her twin brother Ryker is in danger. She’s also fighting a battle within her, which I know is one perfect element to show her character arc in the next books. I’m so excited to see more of Rune. Grey, on the other hand, what appeals to me about him is not his calm demeanor but rather the depths of his character. It’s hinted all throughout the book that he’s had a terrible past and I won’t say it here to avoid spoiling it, though I will need to add a spoiler alert at the end for a trigger warning. There’s so much more to Grey. He is a guy who’s been hiding so much since he was a kid and since he was attacked and learned the secret of his identity.

I would love to spend more time with Ryker. Obviously, he’s not just the bully he was introduced in the beginning. There’s so much more to him. I want to hear his side of the story, but sadly there aren’t many scenes with him here. It just made me more excited to read the next book.

Aside from our three Venators, there are so many interesting characters in Magic Unleashed. There are Tate and Verida, Rune and Grey’s kind of guardians and trainers. The members of the council are also intriguing. I just love it when politics is an element of a fantasy story. And I love morally grey characters. There are a lot of them here and I’m pretty sure, I’ll learn more about them in the next books. For now, my favorite is the shapeshifter, Beltran.

RATING: 4 blissful pages with lilies

Yes, I love the characters and I love to learn more about them as the series progresses but they’re also the reason why I don’t give Magic Unleashed five stars. No matter how intriguing they are, I still find Rune, Grey and Ryker’s characters a little cliche, especially in the beginning. Reading about them, in the beginning, felt like reading about characters who I’ve read already before. Thankfully, the plot itself made them interesting to read. I think the author did a lot for the plot and world-building and too little for the characters. This is maybe her own writing technique, I will make sure in the next book. Also, this is just the first book which means I can’t possibly be so sure about Rune, Grey and Ryker’s characters.

And oh the cover. Usually, I don’t mind the cover, unless I’m buying a physical book, then it needs to be beautiful to look at on my shelves. The cover of Magic Unleashed is pretty and badass but when I read about the markings, I instantly swiped back to look at the cover and I looked for the markings. I don’t know what other readers prefer but I was expecting to see the markings. 🙂 🙂

Finally, I highly recommend Venators: Magic Unleashed to everyone who loves Urban/Paranormal fantasy. you won’t regret picking it up.

— Spoiler Alert —

Trigger: Just one. Grey hinted about a sexual abuse. It was just hinted and there are only mentions (more like Grey’s internal monologue about it) but I think I need to mention it.

LINKS

AMAZON: purchase it HERE.
GOODREADS: Add it on your TBR HERE.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Devri Walls is a US and international bestselling author. Having released five novels to date, she specializes in all things fantasy and paranormal. She is best known for her uncanny world-building skills and her intricate storylines, and her ability to present this all in an easy-to-digest voice. Now gearing up for her first national release, Devri is excited to introduce her sixth novel, book one in the Venators series. She loves to engage with her loyal following through social media and online sessions she organizes for her readers. Devri lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband and two kids. When not writing she can be found teaching voice lessons, reading, cooking or binge watching whatever show catches her fancy.

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