Format: E-Book, 286 pages
Release Date: April 29th 2022
Publisher: HarperFire Source: NetGalley
Genre: Paranormal / Fantasy
The best way to live in the Mage ruled city of Glasgow is to keep your head down and your mouth closed.
That’s
not usually a problem for Mairi Wallace. By day she works at a small
shop selling tartan and by night she studies to become an apothecary.
She knows her place and her limitations. All that changes, however, when
her old childhood friend sends her a desperate message seeking her help
- and the Mages themselves cross Mairi’s path. Suddenly, remaining
unnoticed is no longer an option.
There’s more to Mairi than she realizes but, if she wants to fulfill her full potential, she’s going to
have to fight to stay alive - and only time will tell if she can beat
the Mages at their own game.
From twisted winds and tartan shops
to a dangerous daemon and the magic infused City Chambers, the future of
a nation might lie with one solitary woman.
Hummingbird, by author Helen Harper, is the first installment in the authors A Charade of Magic series. There are three absolutes in Mairi Wallace’s world:
1. The Mages rule every city in Scotland with terrible, violent authority. Mages
control ravens which they use as their eyes and
ears, and if needed even as an attack force. They also control Daemons, a
more or less humanoid race with some extras, like horns.
2. It is not physically possible for any woman to wield magic.
3. Mairi does not have a voice.
For
the people of Glasgow, leaving their houses after dark is dangerous,
because then the Afflicted wander around. Afflicted are people who were
once normal, but who got affected by a disease of unknown origin, after
which they turned into wild savages that will hunt and eat people. Mairi, who grew up in an orphanage, works at a small shop owned by Twister and Belle while studying for her apothecary test. She knows her
place and her limitations. All that changes, however, when her old
childhood friend sends her a desperate message seeking her help - and
the Mages themselves cross Mairi’s path.
After losing her best friend, Mairi decides to infiltrate the Mages as a spy to the rebellion to find out what is happening to babies that have gone missing. Going undercover seems a little bizarre at first, throwing herself right into the lion's den, but this seems to be the only way Mairi can find out what she really needs to know and to learn how to use the magic building up inside her. Magic that the Mages definitely cannot find out that she has! Suddenly, remaining unnoticed is no longer an option, and it becomes dangerous if she is ever caught.
There’s more to Mairi than she realizes but, if she wants to fulfill her full potential, she’s going to have to fight to stay alive - and only time will tell if she can beat the Mages at their own game. From twisted wynds and tartan shops to a dangerous daemon and malevolent ravens, the future of a tattered nation might lie with one solitary woman.
One of the things that makes this a good story is the setting of Glasgow, Scotland where the author says she recently moved to. No spoilers, but Mairi is mute but soon discovers that she has a lot of power stuck inside.Why do you think the book is called hummingbird?
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