Title: Rulers and Mages
Author: Daley Downing
- Date read: December 26, 2017
- Rating: 5 stars
- Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
- Age: YA
- Year pub: 2017
- Pages: 204 (paperback)
- Series: The Order of the Twelve Tribes: Volume 2
- Fave character: Alex, Avery
- Source: Barnes & Noble
- Notes: I beta-read an early version of this book, then bought a paperback of the final version which I read before writing this review.
- Links: Goodreads • Barnes & Noble • Author’s Blog
Another lovely tale of modern fantasy from author Daley Downing! This book was great fun. ^_^
Masters and Beginners, the first book, introduced us to protagonists Sophie and Flynn Driscoll, and their family and friends, part of the Order of the Twelve Tribes which deals with the existence of Fey and other magical beings in our modern world—protecting the knowledge. I loved getting to step into that world in the first book and meet the characters, and this second book takes us one step further into their lives and adventures.
Once again, the mixture of modern everyday life with the secrets of Fey and artifacts and shapeshifting cats and so on, was fascinating, and so was the element of Nephilim and Biblical mythology which was gone into a bit more. Occasionally a bit odd, but interesting. XD I LOVED seeing more of Faerie and the Fey, just a bit, and some of the new characters were fabulous! But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I enjoyed getting to spend more time with the characters I’ve grown very fond of from the first book, such as Sophie and Flynn, and their parents James and Kate, and the half-fey neighbors including Alex, who’s my favorite! (I do want more of him!) Emma was… interesting. She was a little hard to like through part of it, having gained an attitude; I liked her more in the first book, though I DO appreciate that she’s having a hard time and stuff in this one, which of course can do things to people! And twists… And I still love Jules the cat sith and other characters. Some newer ones, like Prince Crispin (very brief, but he was so cool!) and Avery, were fantastic! Avery’s another favorite—she has such spark to her, and she’s basically a really cool aunt. 😉 I’m excited to see more of her in her new role! (No spoilers. :P)
There’s also a lot of character growth going on, and I really appreciated how the book dealt with the aftermath of the memory charm from the end of the first book! You don’t often get that, seeing what happens after a bunch of people forget everything… That was fascinating and well done. 🙂 I love the Archives, too! And I continue to love the film and book references, and the little snatches of articles and things after chapters, which add depth to the world.
It’s a little hard to talk about most of the things in the book because spoilers! Sooo many spoilers. And villain MEEPery. O_O But the story was definitely interesting! (One tricky thing for me was that I kept having phantom memories of different or alternate scenes because I read an early beta-version first, but that’s my own problem. XD) There’s adventure and secrets and discovery and betrayal, and joy and heartbreak and tears and love. I have a complicated relationship with a few of the twists, especially near the end, because on the one hand I’m not sure about them, but on the other hand, there ARE two more books in the series! 😉 And notoriously, one of my main issues with Volume 1 was resolved in this one… So I will look forward to seeing how some of that turns out.
There are definitely threads hanging and little hints that leave me going “WHAT??? IS THAT WHAT I THINK IT IS?? TELL ME MORE. O_O” so I’m definitely awaiting more books rather anxiously! Overall, this book is on a slightly larger scale than the first one, with more going on and more things for me to be not sure about but also more for me to go “AWESOME!” over. 😀 The first one was such a fun romp and a delightful introduction to this world/characters, while this one is going deeper and giving me feels and… yes. Anyway.
All of that to say, I may be on the fence (for now) about a couple of things, but on the whole I really enjoyed this book! It’s unique and fantastical and really well done. I definitely recommend giving the first book a try if you haven’t, and if you love fairy things and modern stories mixed (like I do!). Now I’ll be putting this lovely book on my shelf to look pretty next to the first volume and await more. 🙂 I’m rather addicted to this series and this world, and I love most of the characters, and I’m just basically FOND. ❤
~ ~ ~
The Page Dreamer (Deborah O'Carroll) 
Ahh, yes, I did wonder if there would be “phantom” moments from beta reading – as there were several changes in the end – when I was on my final edits, I’d sometimes have to go back a few pages, because there was a scene or article that I didn’t recall seeing… And then I’d realize, “Oh, yeah, I decided to move that/scrap it.” 😛 🙂
And, yes, trust me, there will be more reveals in Volume 3! I promise I won’t drop any bombshells in that installment without wrapping them up pretty quickly, since Volume 4 shall be the last novel focusing solely on the Driscolls/Torringtons. (Nobody start yelling at me! In the immortal words of the TARDIS, “Everything ends.”) By the way, there will be some fun stuff with my mains of this series in the companion books, so hopefully this news will keep the wolves at bay. 😉
And I also think you’re going to be happy with where I’m ultimately taking Emma’s character; from the time I decided to concretely have *spoiler* (I know you’ll guess) happen in Vol. 2 (it was almost going to be later on), I knew it would work best for ensuring Emma doesn’t stay petulant or a whiny “why me” teenager too long. I picked on her to be the example of: You’re 15 and your life turns to hell — how do you handle it? And I purposefully had her making some bad choices *while* her friends are still rallied around her, so that she has the chance to pull herself up in a supportive environment. (Since this is how most families operate in real life, but YA fic is sadly bereft of it, I wanted to include the discussion about making bad choices doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.)
Thank you for the review, Deborah! As always, I’m so glad you enjoyed!
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Haha, perils of beta-reading. XD It’s all good though. 🙂 I liked most of the new stuff you added!
Aaaall the teases about Volume 3! But thanks for your assurances! 😉
I’m definitely intrigued to see where it all goes. 🙂 It’s always neat to see how you juggle things in a different way than most YA fiction.
You’re so welcome! Thanks for writing fun books. ^_^
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I simply MUST jump on board with these books. They sound just up my alley! I love magic-in-the-modern-day-world type of books. So…yeah. NEED! And all the characters and fey and such sound too fun!
Loved your review! You’re seriously the master at reviewing books with no spoilers, even sequels! #SKILLS
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They’re definitely unique and fun! And different because they’re modern but I enjoy them. XD FEEEEEYYYY THIIIINGS! 😀
Aww, thank you so very very much! That makes my day! 🙂 Reviewing sequels without spoilers is haaard, so I’m so glad you think I’m succeeding! ❤
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