(The Guild Codex: Spellbound #1)
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Broke, almost homeless, and recently fired. Those are my official reasons for answering a wanted ad for a skeevy-looking bartender gig.
It went downhill the moment they asked me to do a trial shift instead of an interview—to see if I'd mesh with their "special" clientele. I think that part went great. Their customers were complete dickheads, and I was an ***hole right back. That's the definition of fitting in, right?
I expected to get thrown out on my ***. Instead, they… offered me the job?
It turns out this place isn't a bar. It's a guild. And the three cocky guys I drenched with a margarita during my trial? Yeah, they were mages. Either I'm exactly the kind of takes-no-*** bartender this guild needs, or there's a good reason no one else wants to work here.
So what's a broke girl to do? Take the job, of course—with a pay raise.
This book was so much fun! I read it twice, first the paperback and then the audiobook, which I never do. There is a strong, independent heroine with a motley crew of awesome characters and great world-building with enough explanation so you know what’s going on but also plenty left to be discovered in future books. I’m adding all of Annette Marie’s books to my TBR. I seriously enjoyed this book, I thought it was really well written (though I didn’t like the narrator for the audiobook, sorry), all the characters have strong, individual personalities and I can’t wait to read more of their shenanigans. We learn a little about the MC’s past and there is room for further character development for Tori and the guys. There’s just the right amount of magic and action, the plot is well-paced, and I love the cover!
Tori is fiercely independent, contrary and stubborn, but she works hard and doesn’t like accepting help. Due to a troubled childhood she has trouble trusting others to have her back. I didn’t relate that much to Tori at first, she’s the classic redhead with a fiery temper, and I’m the opposite, but she’s still a really cool character who can hold her own, even though she’s a human playing with powerful mythics. She is totally unfazed by bartending for a guild full of rowdy magic users whom she has no defense against, and knows very little about. Getting involved with magic at all is almost definitely a bad idea for a human - she is either incredibly brave, or very stupid - but she needs to pay her bills somehow, and her temper and don’t-take-shit-from-anyone attitude makes her a good fit for the difficult and mis-matched members of the Guild.
I think the world-building is really cool. The mythics are split into 5 different classes: Spiritalis, Psychica, Arcana, Demonica and Elementaria. These include mages, witches, telepaths, sorcerers, alchemists and all manner of different types of magic user. Mythics have to be a member of a Guild, to make sure they are following the rules set by Magipol, the organisation that regulates mythics and whose main goal is to keep the humans from finding out about them. Any mythic not in a guild is ‘Rogue’ and generally has a bounty on their head. The main type of mythic we learn about in this book is mages (elementaria), because the three main guys in the book are all mages. This leaves plenty of further world-building to be explored, including vampires, werewolves and demons, which are all mentioned but not in any great detail.
The three main guys in the book are all super hot badasses, as well as being powerful mages. Aaron, an impulsive pyromage who’s hot in more ways than one; Kai an electramage, the brains of their team and a chick magnet with ninja swords; and Ezra, a mysterious aeromage with a secret past; any one of which could be a love interest in future books (there is a teeny tiny bit of romance in this first installment, and I'm interested to see where it goes, even though she doesn't choose my favourite guy #TeamEzra). The three of them are best friends and they work together to hunt and catch rogue mythics to get the generous bounties offered by Magipol. They make friends with Tori and look out for her, explaining about mythics, but there’s still plenty that she’s in the dark about. Which doesn’t help much when she and Aaron get attacked in the street by a group of rogue mythics. Tori, wielding her trusty umbrella, bravely/stupidly runs into the fray, and saves Aaron’s ass.
Of course, no good deed goes unpunished, and Tori gets drawn into a plot to kidnap Aaron. But why are they targeting him, who is the mysterious mage that attacked them in the first place, and can Tori survive working at a Guild of mythics?
Again, this book was so much fun I read it twice, and I can't wait to read the next one in the series. If you've read the book what did you think of it?
Check out my review for book 2: Dark Arts and a Daiquiri
Happy reading!
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