House of Blight

"House of Blight" is the first in the "Treadmender Chronicles" by Maxym M. Martineau. After loving "The Beast Charmer" so much, I knew I definitely wanted to read the new series from the author! Edira Brillwyn has a rare gift that allows her to stitch life's threads back together - but she always has to give up a small part of her own life to do so. When her brothers fall ill with the insidious blight, she has no choice but to make a pact with the powerful Fernglove family. In order to save her brothers, she becomes increasingly entangled in a maelstrom of secrets and intrigue. The magic system is innovative and has been described by the author in a very tangible way. Once again, I can praise the vivid and fluid writing style, which made reading easy for me. The story mostly takes place on the Fernglove family estate. Even though the plot has some quieter scenes that create authenticity and shed more light on the characters, it never gets boring. On the contrary - the search for a cure for the blight turns out to be a race against time and uncovers more and more secrets. In the last 100 pages, events come thick and fast - if you thought you finally knew the truth, you now have to realize that this assumption is simply wrong. Edira is a strong female protagonist who, despite foul play, pulls the right strings to save the ones she loves. "House of Blight" is a successful start to the series that I can only recommend.

Edira is a threadmender, a magical healer that can see the Lifethreads of other people and - you guessed it - mend them. However, everytime she mends someone's threads she looses part of her own lifespan, which is why she rarely uses her power and keeps it hidden, especially nowadays when a blight is ravaging through the people. when Edira's brothers contract the blight, she is discovered by Orin, the Ever (Fae) Patriach of the powerful Fernglove family. They strike a deal - her power for the lifes of her brothers - but Edira could have never known what this deal really entails. I liked the gothic atmosphere, Matineau's descriptions are very vivid and poetic. Personally, I thought there was no chemistry whatsoever between Edira and the two love interests, except Edira's ridiculous ability to detect even the slightest emotional shift in the faces of others. I thought the Romance part was, therefore, flat and I was unable to really sympathize with the male love interests.