LUMINOUS By Mara Rutherford

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Luminous by Mara Rutherford
Published by Inkyard Press on 10/5/21
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Liora has spent her life in hiding, knowing discovery could mean falling prey to the king’s warlock, Darius, who uses mages’ magic to grow his own power. But when her worst nightmare comes to pass, Darius doesn’t take her. Instead, he demands that her younger sister return to the capital with him. To make matters worse, Evran, Liora’s childhood friend and the only one who knows her secret, goes missing following Darius’s visit, leaving her without anyone to turn to.

To find Evran and to save her sister, Liora must embrace the power she has always feared. But the greatest danger she’ll face is yet to come, for Darius has plans in motion that will cause the world to fall into chaos—and Liora and Evran may be the only ones who can stop him.

Short and Sweet Review

Liora is a witch and she’s different, she glows. Her father has kept her hidden away but when Liora catches the eye of the King’s warlock Darius trouble ensues. Darius ends up taking Mina, Liora’s younger sister back with him to the palace and Liora becomes her neighbor Margana’s apprentice. During Liora’s apprenticeship she learns that Margana can weave things that will take life after she cast a spell once she is finished. Margana works for Darius and has been working on a tapestry for him, but after an argument Darius pushes Margana’s son Evran into the Tapestry and Liora goes in looking for him, after leaving the tapestry some of the creatures from that world also escape and now Evran and Liora are tasked with stopping them.

I feel like the pacing of the book was kind of slow and then it picked up when Liora had to go in the tapestry but then it slowed down again. People with powers had to basically stay hidden because Darius would use them to grow his own power, but he had his own villain backstory that Liora had to work to get. Liora and Evran had a cute romance but at times it was annoying how often he would push her away. This was an interesting book it reminds me of some other young adult books but it’s different in its own way. My only problem was the pacing otherwise a good story.