OCULTA By Maya Motayne

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

OCULTA By Maya MotayneOculta by Maya Motayne
Series: A Forgery of Magic #2
Published by Balzer + Bray on 4/6/21
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 541
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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After joining forces to save Castallan from an ancient magical evil, Alfie and Finn haven’t seen each other in months. Alfie is finally stepping up to his role as heir and preparing for an International Peace Summit, while Finn is traveling and reveling in her newfound freedom from Ignacio.

That is, until she’s unexpectedly installed as the new leader of one of Castallan’s powerful crime syndicates.

Just when Finn finds herself back in San Cristobal, Alfie’s plans are also derailed. The mysterious organization responsible for his brother’s murder has resurfaced—and their newest target is the summit. And when these events converge, Finn and Alfie are once again forced to work together to follow the assassins’ trail and preserve Castallan’s hopes for peace with Englass.

But will they be able to stop these sinister foes before a new war threatens their kingdom?

Short and Sweet Review

After the events of the first book, Alfie and Finn haven’t seen each other in months. Alfie is preparing for a peace summit with Englass, a place where magic has been outlawed and their citizens are treated as less than. Meanwhile Finn is enjoying her freedom, but unbeknownst to her she becomes the new leader of a powerful crime organization. Alfie and Finn are brought back together when there are multiple murders occurring in the city and they seem to be attacking people related to the summit.

Alfie has a lot on his plate, the summit is actually something his brother Dez wanted to happen and Alfie feels an obligation to make sure everything goes right. It doesn’t help that there are murders occurring around Castallan during the time of the summit. Alfie and Finn try to find out who is calling the shots when it comes to these murders and they’re doing a lot of digging and at times I felt that this changed the pace of the book and things were moving so slowly. It doesn’t help that Alfie has to try to make the Englassian Royals feel welcome, he tries to make sure Prince Marsden feels the most welcome because it seems he’ll be the hardest to convince, Princess Vesper on the other hand seems to try to help Alfie with convincing her family that the summit is a good idea. Finn is on the other side working with a crime syndicate and she knows she needs to succeed in finding out who’s in charge so she can pass on the title of leader. Finn and Alfie obviously like each other, but they try to fight their feelings for whatever reason. They both know that they basically complete each other so this ridiculous take on we should fight our feelings didn’t work for me. The ending was intense and a lot of great stuff happened there, but I think it took way too long to get there. This book could have been 100 pages shorter.

This book had such a different vibe from Nocturna. I was waiting for more magic and fun but I think this book took on a darker tone. The ending was great the twists and turns were unexpected and I’m interested to see what the last book has in store.

NOCTURNA By Maya Motayne

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.

NOCTURNA By Maya MotayneNocturna by Maya Motayne
Series: A Forgery of Magic #1
Published by Balzer + Bray on 5/7/19
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Young Adult
Pages: 480
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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ReviewedbyDani

To Finn Voy, magic is two things: a knife to hold under the chin of anyone who crosses her…and a disguise she shrugs on as easily as others pull on cloaks.

As a talented faceshifter, it’s been years since Finn has seen her own face, and that’s exactly how she likes it. But when Finn gets caught by a powerful mobster, she’s forced into an impossible mission: steal a legendary treasure from Castallan’s royal palace or be stripped of her magic forever.

After the murder of his older brother, Prince Alfehr is first in line for the Castallan throne. But Alfie can’t help but feel that he will never live up to his brother’s legacy. Riddled with grief, Alfie is obsessed with finding a way to bring his brother back, even if it means dabbling in forbidden magic.

But when Finn and Alfie’s fates collide, they accidentally unlock a terrible, ancient power—which, if not contained, will devour the world. And with Castallan’s fate in their hands, Alfie and Finn must race to vanquish what they have unleashed, even if it means facing the deepest darkness in their pasts.


Short and Sweet

After the murder of his older brother, Prince Alfie is next in line for the throne but he doesn’t feel like it should be him. Alfie will do anything to bring Dez back even if it means using forbidden magic. Finn is a thief and one of her powers is the ability to change her appearance which comes in handy, but when Finn comes in contact with a mobster who takes her power she has no choice but to do her bidding to get her power back. Now Finn is tasked with breaking into the palace and stealing a treasure. Finn and Alfie’s fates collide when Alfie ends up setting an evil force free and now both of them have to stop ii or watch the destruction of their home.

Characters

Alfie: Alfie has been through a lot, he’s still dealing with the loss of his older brother and at the beginning of the book he’s coming back from a trip away. Alfie knows that people are relying on him to be the leader they need and he’s not sure he can live up to their expectations. Alfie has also developed a bit of a drinking problem to deal with his emotions and sometimes he does have a small anger problem. The one thing I truly loved about Alfie is that he know what kind of person he didn’t want to be and he never wanted to go to far, so if he did get angry at people he would stop himself before it got too far. He was a good character he tried to do what he felt was right and owned up to his mistakes and tried to make things right.

Finn: Finn is a thief and she can change her face, she hasn’t seen her own face in years and she likes it that way. Finn’s past was pretty mysterious and we don’t find out what happened until later about why she likes to change her face. Finn was pretty guarded and mainly cared about herself and getting her magic back. I did like how Finn does end up helping Alfie, she’s snarky and definitely able to stand her ground and I loved her for it.

Luka: Luka is Alfie’s cousin but they’re more like brothers. Luka was upset when Alfie left and felt like Alfie was abandoning him. He cares about his cousin a lot and he plays a very pivotal role in helping Alfie when they’re trying to stop the ancient power.

Ignacio: Ignacio is like an adoptive father to Finn. He felt betrayed when she left him and now he wants her to either join him or die. Ignacio likes to hurt everyone that Finn gets close to and its pretty sick how much control he wants over her.

Romance

Alfie and Finn: Well this is more of a friendship, a friendship I feel that could possibly blossom into more if these two wanted it to happen. I liked the dynamic between these two they had to learn to work together. Alfie was the more caring one in this partnership while Finn was a little more realistic about everything.

My Thoughts

~ Let me just start off by saying this is a Latinx inspired world, and it wasn’t like things were just sprinkled in but it felt very authentic, from the settings, the words, and characters names. Honestly the writing is amazing and it makes the imagery seem real.

~ I loved our characters, I’m sure Alfie and Finn were never supposed to meet but it just so happens they were at the same card game. These two don’t have the best first encounter, they end up fighting and in a few days are reunited again and have to learn to work together to stop the magic they unleashed.

~ I realize I haven’t talked about Dez much, but he was important to his family and his kingdom. Alfie was with Dez when he was taken from him and Alfie felt like Dez was still alive so he spent most of his time looking for ways to get his brother back.

~ I liked their adventure to stop the magic, they even broke into a prison and had a very elaborate plan. The magic was a dark force and was looking for people who could sustain it and act as a host. Alfie had a bit of it with him and it took a toll on him to use it.

~ Alfie was able to control water while Finn is able to control stone. It’s interesting because characters also have propios which I want to describe as like their shadow, each one does something different, Alfie’s is able to see the color of other peoples magic, Finn’s allows her to change her face, and Ignacio’s gives him control over people.

~ The ending was great and I think that this is going to be a series so I can’t wait until the next book is released to see what’s going to happen to these characters.

Overall

This book was magical! I loved the Latinx inspired world it was different, and I haven’t read a book like it. The characters are what really make the story it was nice seeing two people from different worlds having to learn to work together for a common goal. The magic elements were a nice touch and our characters learned that sometimes magic comes with a consequence. I thought this book was great and once I really got into it I couldn’t stop reading! Definitely read this book if you want to get swept away into a world full of magic!

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