Maddie Fisher's Reviews > The Blessing Giver

Note: this book was sent to me by the author as a gift, with no requirement or expectation of a review.

To be honest, the title of this book gave me some trepidation. “Blessing” has a specific connotation to me, and I didn’t want to read something with overly religious messaging or overtones. Instead, the book explores the distinction between religion and faith, doctrine and truth. Secondarily, the story wrestles with the theme of integration: light cannot exist without dark, all power has potential for good and evil. These are ambitious themes, difficult to ground. I think the series can nail it with enough time and attention.

While I found the plot to be predictable, and the pacing to be inconsistent at times, the characters, world-building, and magic system hooked me, and I flew through this! This world’s political religion was well-developed and explained, and I’m interested to continue reading the series to find out more about the factions, herbalists, and areas in this world. The elixirs, fount, and auras are also fascinating. Rayelle and Paladin are a couple you can really root for, and the forbidden aspect of their love made the ride so fun.

I found the villains to be truly despicable, and frighteningly capable, which is what we want as readers! As the series continues, I’m excited to see both the heroes and villains engage with higher and greater stakes beyond the personal. These greater stakes are hinted at in book one, but each character was pretty insularly focused in this first book.

Overall, without spice, I think this book may appeal more to fantasy romance readers that love the YA genre, or fantasy readers that like the romance to be more of a subplot.