A Cure for Magic Review Spotlight

We're celebrating the release of A Cure for Magic this week! Make sure you get your copy on May 28th!

A Cure for Magic is the first book in Talia Greer’s The Ardor Magic Cycle series. Author Greer will endeavor to take readers on a journey as a young woman discovers that consequences of a traumatic experience that unleashes magic in her veins. A power struggle is ensuing and it is up to Marika to not only survive, but reclaim what is rightfully hers.

A Cure for Magic will draw your attention with it’s beautiful cover. A hand, palm up with magic appearing to stream up out of it in wisps of varying colors. It’s quite beautiful to look at it and it draws you in. You can’t help but wonder what will the story held within these pages detail? What appears to be purple water drips down, and it raises the question...is the primary power of the main character water-related? Well, the only way to find out...is to take a dive into this story.

A Cure for Magic details Marika’s story. Marika is a princess living in the royal compound. Life appears to be good for her. She has her family, her privilege, and all the comforts she can benefit from. The only fly in the ointment? Her uncle Juri. You’ll witness his abuse of an ardor, a magic weilder. It seems strange, right? That a non-magic user is bringing harm to a magic weilder. It seems like it should be the exact opposite, but that is the twist that this story carries.

Immediately you’re getting red flags from Juri. He’s unsympathetic. He’s callous, and cruel. He’s not the one in charge, yet his behavior makes it seem like he holds more than power than appears on the surface. What is going on here? When Marika dares to speak up concerning the ardor’s situation and forced endurance of cruel subjugation...no one really does anything. Why? Marika’s father is the king. Is he really that powerless?

The dynamics in this story aren’t as black and white and straightforward as they might appear. You’d think that magic should rule, yet it doesn’t. You’d think that king holds the power, but it appears that the uncle is the one with the power since no one really wishes to stand up to him. Why? But even that is not the full extent of the truth. So, what is the truth concerning all of this? Well, the good news is that answers come, but they are slow in coming.

The next thing that you know in A Cure for Magic, Marika and her brother are on the run. Why? The royal compound is on fire. It is made to appear that it is a group of rebels who have instigated this attack, but the red flags still wave. Why? Well, you’ll see when a particular character joins Marika and her brother. It’s a bit too convenient that things are playing out the way that they are. But this is the flashpoint for Marika as well. This incident...the hints of loss...will be what awakens the ardor in her own blood.

The storyline for A Cure for Magic holds a many interesting elements and aspects. It’s enough to keep readers coming back for more of the storyline. However, Marika as a main character is a mixed bag. Marika is shown as a character who has been coddled  and pampered. She’s had to lack for nothing, and pretty much wait for nothing. Now, all of that has changed. Now, she is a young woman on the run, with a price on her head, and she’s having to go through an adjustment period.

It’s a tug of war to get to a place of liking her as a character. There are moments of where she shows some strength of character, and then she immediately turns around and assumes a royal’s attitude. She reflects quite often on how things were for her when she was entitled princess. She wants to fade into the background one minute, then when no one acknowledges her, she gets an attitude about it. It’s like...pick a lane princess. Either you want to be noticed and possibly exposed...or you don’t.

A Cure for Magic is fantasy storyline forward which is nice. There are hints of romance scattered here and there throughout the story, but the romance is secondary. So, for readers who want a more focused story, without all the romance muddying up the story, then this book is for you. For readers, who want more romance...well, you might find some disappointment, but you could still find that you enjoy this book.

Marika gradually develops as a character through the pages. There are some surprises mixed in here and there. Remember, this is the first book in a series, so there will be no conclusion when you come to the end of this book. Is there a major cliffhanger? No. It’s a soft ending with little tension or drama to speak of honestly. It would have been nicer to have a moment of tension or drama to leave readers eager for more, but this is what you get. But it will be interesting to see where Marika’s story goes from here.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to the author, Talia Greer, and R&R Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. We look forward to what comes next.

A Cure for Magic (The Ardor Magic Cycle Book 1)

Publication Date: May 28, 2024

Genre: NA Fantasy Romance

💜 A Messy Bisexual Princess

👑 Black Royals

📕 Dark Academia

🔥Elemental Magic

💖 OT3/Throuple

🔮 Magic Training

🏕️ Only One Tent

🙊 Hidden Identity

Marika Cyran is destined to rule, if she survives her own power first.

When rebels attack the royal compound, Marika learns the true price of her family’s legacy. The same deadly magic her ancestors outlawed now runs in her veins, and her royal blood paints a target on her back.

Desperate to learn her powers before they destroy her, she takes shelter at Nella University, hiding her true identity. But it’s not quite the sanctuary she’s hoping for. Argent, the roommate she’s paired with, is a prickly woman who seems to despise her. The same rebels who want her family dead flourish here under the guise of a student society, and their most popular member, Harland, seems a little too interested in her dangerous power…and Marika herself.

When a spark ignites between all three of them, it complicates Marika’s quest for control. To stay is to spit upon her family’s memory. To leave is to forfeit her once chance to corral the unruly magic. And to do nothing is to risk being consumed by the very forces she seeks to understand.

A Cure for Magic is the first book in a New Adult romantic fantasy trilogy featuring dark elemental magic, hidden royals, and a medium-heat romance that is secondary to the plot. Perfect for fans of dark academia and the Netflix adaptation of Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow & Bone.

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