Book Review – The Silvered

The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-Pack, including the wife of the were Pack-leader. With the Pack off defending the border, it falls to Mirian Maylin and Tomas Hagen—she a low-level mage, he younger brother to the Pack-leader—to save them. Together the two set out on the kidnappers’ trail, racing into the heart of enemy territory. With every step the odds against them surviving and succeeding soar…

I love our friends at Titan Books. They are polite, helpful, awesome to talk with and have an eye for talent. However! Whenever anyone sends me a werewolf novel written by a woman, I’m afraid I go typecast and start ripping up copies of Mills and Boon and hurting people who even whisper the word Twilight near me. But Titan are friends and I’m sure they wouldn’t send it just to cause a mental breakdown in the office, so try it I will.

Hold on a moment….

The Silvered is intelligent.

Um…

…well crafted.

Wait…

Nope, it is in fact a joy to read.

Yes, there is a tad bit of romance in The Silvered between Mirian and Tomas and there is even a gay wolf and his partner but at no point did I feel like purchasing a – Team [Insert name of character involved in love triangle] T-Shirt or putting posters on my wall.

The use of elemental magic is a new concept to me and seeing different controls for fire, water and the rest was incredibly interesting. The more power you have the more your eyes turn different colours, a colour for each element. Those with the power of more than one of the elements? Well, their eyes turn silver.

There was no melodrama, no teenage angst, no over elaborate plot, no endless descriptive narrative. This was just good storytelling. The score is not reflective of how well written the novel is just the fact that werewolves and magic aren’t my thing, if you like that element of fantasy writing, feel free to add a few more points to the score.

Steve Taylor-Bryant

Twitter: @STBwrites