The Relic Spell (The Phyrian War Chronicles #1) by Jimena I. Novaro

"Magic rolls through Orion Tamura’s history classroom like a tidal wave of golden light that only he can see. The spell is deadly, and Orion has no idea who cast it or what they want.

Answers are scarce—all of Port Monica’s sorcerers vanished fourteen years before, including Orion’s father. Armed with his limited knowledge of magic, Orion is the only one left in the city who is strong enough to investigate the origins of the spell.

But the city’s leaders will stop at nothing to censor and sabotage anyone who gets close to the truth. Invisible otherworlders watch every move Orion and his friends make, and a mysterious sorcerer who knows the answers haunts Orion’s dreams."

I loved this book! It had such a great cast of characters! The MC is a bisexual Argentine-Japanese American sorcerer. The side characters were also awesomely diverse, and there was even non-binary rep! I really loved that this book jumped right into the middle of the story. It took me a minute to figure out the world-building. But I really appreciated that this was a story about a teenage sorcerer and we didn’t have 5 chapters of set up and world-building at the beginning introducing you to the world.

The magic in this story was really beautiful. You had to work to be able to use it. Orion talks about learning how to meditate as a child was necessary before he could start casting spells. And the magic energy for his spells was all around in the world in the form of golden light. This magic system was such a beautiful and believable form of magic, I just loved it. And I really can’t wait for the sequel to come out!

I read this book as a free digital copy from Book Sirens in exchange for an honest review.

The book will be available on December 17th, 2019.

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Genre: ya, fantasy, lgbtqia+

Representation: gay/queer

Content Warnings: fantasy violence, kidnapping, serious injury, demons