3.5 stars. I'm quite conflicted on this one. It has an interesting premise and did keep me hooked throughout. I unfortunately was able to call the 2 big twists quite early on in the story, which made their reveals lackluster. I could never really pin Hanna's personality. She was quite confusing to me. Other than that, though, I did enjoy the characters and their dynamics. The story is well paced, and I did greatly enjoy Mellody's writing style. Ultimately, if you fantasy, i would give it a shot! I will be reading the next in the series when it comes out, and I'm intrigued to see how the story unravels.1 Dillon Highsmith1 review

DISCLAIMER!!!!!

I received this book ahead of publication, for free, in an ebook format. A review was not required in exchange for this early copy.


Should you buy, and why?

Quick easy answer out of the way, YES. This book was an easy read (I literally finished it in a day) that kept my attention, had me invested in characters, and left me with just enough questions at the end to have me coming back for the eventual second installment. After completing my initial read I can confidently and honestly say that I fully intend to purchase a physical copy for myself. That being said I would rate the book at a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Spoiler free review!

The opening of the book can be very jarring for inexperienced readers, as it dives you head first into the action with little to no explanations given. The author expects the reader to take a lot of information within the first few pages that you don’t fully understand the relevance of until you start to get into the full swing of the story.
The setting of fall//winter 1995 London, and New York, seems very arbitrary. The year and locations hold almost no significance to the plot outside of the fact that Merlin is a part of British Folklore. This story could have taken place in 1895, or 2095 and it would have little to no difference. The Merlin tie in also feels shoehorned in. There doesn’t appear to be any actual connection to Merlin/Arthurian lore other than a couple of names. I get the feeling the author wanted something familiar to a wide audience to help connect to their story, but I would have preferred it had they come up with some other basis for their magical world.
The magic system is very loose. Certain rules are defined, while others are not. There are four classifications for magic, and a majority of people in the setting can use only one of them, while naturally there is a rare group of people who can use/learn all of them. It is refreshing that the protagonist is not one of these special “I can use all types of magic” individuals.
The general pacing of the book is very good. The author never lets the story go into a lull for too long before there is some tense action scene to break things up. For a debut novel this author has a firm grasp on tension building, and scene structure. They allow just enough downtime for exposition and character development without you getting bored before they get your heart pumping again.
Despite the arbitrary nature of the setting, the world building is quite strong. The author masterfully weaves together modern and fantasy elements without anything feeling too out of place or strange. The world feels so natural and believable you’ll start questioning whether or not it is real.
The characters for the most part are fairly well fleshed out. Their actions, motivations, desires, all feel valid and warranted. Throughout the entire book, there was really only one scene where I had to ask myself “why is this character doing this, where is this coming from”. Outside of that one scene the author did an excellent job of portraying each of the characters individual personalities, and emotions. The romance in the book didn’t feel forced, although it did feel extremely obvious. I especially loved the interconnected relationships between multiple characters and how that affected each individual characters’ feelings towards one another.
Parts of the plot felt kind of forced and unnecessary, but overall it was an engaging story throughout. The “mystery” is fairly easy to pick up on if you’re paying attention, there are a lot of clues, but also a lot of red herrings. My first note I had where I felt I had uncovered the mystery came in right about the 25% mark of the page count maybe a little sooner. That being said the eventual reveal was still very satisfying especially because I was able to shout “I KNEW IT!” when it finally happened. The author does a very good job and getting you to second guess yourself.
All in all I think this is an excellent debut novel, and expect the author to grow and learn as they continue the trilogy. I would definitely recommend picking up this book if you can. It is a fun, engaging, light read, that will work your detective brains. It does suffer slightly from the fact that this is the first book in a planned trilogy, meaning that it ends with the expectation that there is more to come. Obviously I would have preferred had it ended in such a way that made it feel a sole complete story, but alas I have my fingers crossed that the next two books come as quickly as possible.









SPOILER REVIEWS!!! SPOILERS!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!! SPOILERS!!!!!!

Spoilers include: plot points, character backstories, specific scenes, magic, ending. If you do not want this book spoiled and you are still reading this, this is your last chance to turn back now!

Ok so first things first is the fact that most of the character relations are extremely obvious from very early on. From the very first introduction of Killian it is a huge flaming bat signal that he is ending up with our main character Hanna. This draws a lot of the tension out of the several times the author tries to get you to believe that Killian may be the secret bad guy. The relationship does follow a very natural course however so I cannot fault the author for that.
In this magic system there are destroyers (who basically have fire magic), healers (pretty self explanatory), and creators (who can harness all the other elements besides fire, meaning water, earth, and wind). It is stated that a vast majority of magic users fall into one of these categories, and they can only do that kind of magic. However there are of course a small number of special people who can for whatever reason use all the different types of magic. On top of this there is then another category of magic called soul magic, which does not seems to have any users outside of the prodigies (which are the avatars of this world who can use all the magic). Then for some arbitrary reason even though all other types of magic are clearly separated, every magic user just randomly has the ability to not only teleport themselves, but small objects, anywhere in the world. Part way through the book there is a scene where it is explained to us how Merlin initially got the first three sets of powers, and how Morgana got the soul magic powers, but it is never explained where the teleportation comes from.
While I appreciate the fact that the author didn’t make Hanna a prodigy (because that trope is kind of over done) they still couldn’t stay away from the whole chosen one, prophecy, my magic is randomly better than everyone else’s and no one knows why, stuff. It will come as no shocker from the title of the book, that Hanna is in fact a descendant of Merlin (which also implies she’s a descendant of Morgana), and it is prophesied that only a descendant of Merlin can kill Morgana, because of course. Then not only is she the strongest destruction mage (who can summon freaking lightning, which don’t get me wrong is really fucking cool) but both her cousin and love interest are prodigies. Oh and also the prodigy love interest can just casually do soul magic sometimes which doesn’t seem to be a thing many people can, or should be able to do.
Let’s talk about the big bad evil guy in the room. As mentioned in the nonspoiler review the big reveal that Alesander is the Pied Piper is extremely telegraphed. There are so many clues from waaaaaaaayyy too early on. The author does their best to try and throw you off the scent but it mostly felt too little too late. There definitely could have been some more subtle ways to hint at the reveal, while seeding more doubt about other characters. I really don’t think the author made Hanna paranoid enough. 1 K.c. NortonAuthor 25 books19

Descendants of Merlin is a great series kickoff and a wonderful debut novel. It took me a little while to find my footing, but once I did, I whipped right through it. Smart birds! Dangerous magic! Teens who are two smart for their own good! Family tension! EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE! I approve.
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