Aerulan

3 1/2 stars
Loved the magic in this, very original and fun. I've got a soft spot for unusual magic systems in fantasy books and this one definitely qualifies as different. Liv was a little wimpy and she has some moments verging on TSTL and a few others where I felt she made really stupid decisions for the wrong reasons like when she decides to give up and let the villain take her magic -which would be fatal- in order to keep her from killing anyone else. Because giving someone who has murdered several people already, tried to kill you, and threatened to kill a busload of children and destroy a town full of people, unmatched power and make her stronger than most anybody else... Yeah great idea, because once she has that power she's totally gonna be all fuzzy bunnies and rainbows with her new magic. If you really want to go all self sacrificing a bullet to the head so the villain doesn't get what she wants makes more sense. At least then you don't have a psychopath with phenomenal cosmic powers wandering around rearranging the landscape at whim. But the story was enough fun that I could mostly overlook the dumber moments of the heroine.

While I was reading this one it brought to mind a few other books. Mainly Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold and most of Nina Kiriki Hoffman's books but particularly her House series.