Hello and welcome to this stop of the Blog Tour featuring Knightmare Arcanist by Shami Stovall (pronounced sha-me), who I believe is a name you should keep an eye out for moving forward. This post will contain no spoilers so have no fear as you read further.

Knightmare Arcanist is book one of The Frith Chronicles which follows a young man named Volke who wants nothing more than to become an arcanist. Arcanists are those who have bonded with mystical creatures, can use magic as a result, and are highly respected in society. Volke lives on the island of Ruma, which was named after the famous arcanist who founded it, and will likely live his life as the town outcast unless he can bond with a mystical creature. The island is known as a location where phoenixes breed and the islanders hold a ceremony every ten years to determine who will bond with the fledgling phoenixes and become arcanists. Will Volke be able to obtain his dream? If so, what adventures await?

This book hit many of the “fun fantasy elements” for me. Mystical creatures and magic of course capture my interest. The bonding of mystical creatures creates a unique magic system where the arcanists are able to use magic related to the creatures they bond. For example, phoenixes allow the use of fire and healing magic, an undine would allow their arcanist to wield water magic, and a hydra allows the use of poison-type magic. Not just anyone can bond with a mystical creature though. The creature must accept the bond and the bonding is for life.

I’m usually not a huge fan of books that include talking animals, but for some reason I consider this story an exception. Perhaps it is because only the mystical creatures can speak and they are technically not real animals but creatures of legends and myths. The plethora of possibilities created from the variety of creatures makes the magic even more interesting.

Within this fascinating world we follow a group of interesting characters who struggle through interpersonal conflict often created through implicit misunderstanding. These struggles will make you love or hate certain characters, but in the end they must all face, together, the real dangers they knowingly are ill-prepared to confront.

This book was released in June of last year (2019) and lucky for us there are already three more books in the series bringing The Frith Chronicles total to four books so far with the most recent being released this past May. It will be interesting to see what comes next for our adventurers after the events of this book. The four books are:

1. Knightmare Arcanist
2. Dread Pirate Arcanist
3. Coliseum Arcanist
4. Plague Arcanist

If you are a fan of fantasy then definitely give Knightmare Arcanist a try. It is a fun, swashbuckling tale that takes place in an ever-interesting world of magic. I want to thank Dave at TheWriteReads for including me in this tour, and a big thank you to Shami Stovall for providing this great story.

Happy Reading.