Review--Harbinger by Geneva Lee

 

Arden Icaros was never supposed to matter. From the poorest of five noble bloodlines, she prefers life on the family farm with dirt under her nails over the fine dresses at court. She just needs to get through one boring ceremony, inherit her earth magic, and return home.

Instead, she's handed a dagger and with it, an impossible choice.

Now Arden is branded an omen of war, half the nobility wants her dead, and assassins are tracking her every move.

Her only chance of survival lies with the most feared man in Antares.

They call him Bishop. No one remembers the name he had before he dedicated his life to his order. Empowered to execute first and question later, Bishop is ruthless, terrifying, and utterly loyal to the kingdom that wants Arden dead.

He should kill her.

Instead, he offers her sanctuary.

But the longer Arden stays under Bishop's protection, the more dangerous he becomes. Because Bishop has secrets powerful enough to topple kingdoms...and a need for Arden that could ruin them both.

Another rough week had me slogging through my latest read, Geneva Lee's Harbinger! It wasn't bad by any means, but another heavy "romantasy" read during still busy times at work does not make for easy reading! Harbinger was an intriguing story though and its premise had me immediately hooked with the different types of magic one could have, but naturally, things quickly devolve into chaos at the start of Arden's testing and things only ramp up in the danger from there!

In the city of Antares there are noble families who have a sort "control" over a certain type of magic. Arden is reaching the age where she will be tested to see what kind of magic she will have and upon taking her test, it's revealed that she's a harbinger...pretty much get the idea from there, she's meant to bring about bad things to come and everyone is suddenly out to get her and wants her dead before she can bring worse things upon them.

She's quickly taken in by a man known as Bishop who is a police type figure for the king. But the night Arden's power is revealed, the king is found murdered and naturally, everyone wants to blame her even though she was already under Bishop's protection at the time. Bishop then whisks her out of public eye for her protection until her magic finally comes into play. But meanwhile more murders continue to happen throughout the kingdom, causing a bit of a mystery.

As I said, this was an interesting novel. I felt like the world-building was pretty unique! It's one of those fantasy type worlds where you're not quite sure if it's "past-fantasy" or more "future-fantasy" as I like to categorize them. There were sometimes mentioning of things like plumbing that had me wondering what time period era are we in? I guess my brain automatically puts "fantasy" novels in a past like setting where there's no such thing as indoor plumbing. But I have to say, it does make things interesting when you get the more modern like fantasy settings.

As one might rightly assume, there's a chemistry brewing between Arden and Bishop, but of course it's not an insta-affair. Neither one is quick to trust the other and there are definitely some secrets being harbored here. Ones that were just shocking in some sense, but at the time of the first reveal, I felt like there was definitely something coming because the timing just wasn't right for this event! Lol.

Needless to say Harbinger was not without its surprises! It was an engaging read that kept me guessing and making theories but at times I felt like I was missing other details to get the theory fully formed. But it is only the first book, so there's definitely more to come! 

The ending was a bit surprising and twisted too! I'm still trying to process it as I write this review and I pretty much just need that sequel now so I can dive into the aftermath and see what it all means! I just want answers! Lol. 

Be ready for this book to rip your heart out, but continue to come back for more just to see what happens next! This book put me through the emotional ringer but I am hungry for more!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars