Review by Bianca @the_books_and_cats_life/ – 6,000 followers…
The story is about:
Leaving Blackwood is a story is set in a fictional version of Australia (and Europe), where there are real supernatural beings such as werewolves, direwolves, witches, elemental magic, people with psychic & psionic abilities and everything in-between.
The story continues to follow our favourite Syphon Freya as she delves into her powers, trying to understand them more with the help of the video diaries her father left for her, the only other Syphon she has ever known.
Her ambition to become not only magically strong but physically stronger & more capable to protect herself, all while she learns to adapt to her constantly evolving powers & changing surroundings; with the added stress of a not so little voice (& memories) of a centuries old sarcastic serial killer for hire stuck in her head made me admire the heck out of her.
My star rating:
I would give this five stars just for Freya. I absolutely loved her.
Her ability to continually adapt & refuse to give up despite the challenges she constantly faced throughout this story had me rooting for her, despite (or perhaps even because of) some of the morally grey choices throughout it.
Her realisation that nothing is ever black and white, the evolved understanding that everything and everyone is different shades of grey was a great perspective to have her come to realise.
Even the paranormal can make you laugh.
The fact that it’s anchored in our world with its own twist in mythology and lore’s from different continents & histories/faiths was excellent. One of the other things I particularly liked was the magic system.
It was fascinating because Freyas magic is so incredibly unique compared to the other forms of magic in the book, and yet hers is inextricably linked in at an almost cellular level with every other kind of magic that exists in this universe.
Leaving Blackwood’s characters get the thumbs up.
The characters are likeable, neither perfectly good nor bad.
Beau frustrated me in this book, communication is all it would take to clear stuff up, but yet like an arrogant alpha male he took it upon himself to assume he knew what was best for all involved, much to the frustration of Freya & everyone around her.
I can’t say more without risk of spoiling it but you’ll know exactly what I mean when you read it. The new characters in this book were enjoyable, multifaceted & unexpected in so many different ways.
Their interactions with Freya were fascinating to read & try to unearth their actions & motivations was a lot of fun, I also loved discovering their different magical powers. The twists and turns were not what I was expecting, every time I thought I knew where the story was heading it veered off in a completely different direction.
Endings that lead to new beginnings.
The ending had my head exploding with so many questions & frustration that I will need to wait for the third book to find the answers.
I found myself finishing this the same day I picked it up due to being so enthralled throughout the whole story, there isn’t one boring chapter.
This is such a great fast read for anyone who enjoys magic, conflict, badass females, and slow burn romance stories.
