★ Featured by Bustle as one of 15 new fantasies for Game of Thrones fans! ★What does thief with a dangerous past, a Dragon prince, and a trigger-happy gunmage have in common? One dangerous mission to assassinate a king.Arianna is Loom’s most notorious thief. Using magic in tandem with ruthlessness and unscrupulous morals, there’s no job she won’t take… So long as it defies her Dragon oppressors. morals, there’s no job she won’t take… So long as it defies her Dragon oppressors.
When Arianna runs into a wounded Dragon during her latest heist, she sees the opportunity to make a little extra cash. But before she can cut out his heart, the Dragon makes her an offer she can’t refuse: A wish of her greatest desire, if she embarks on the perilous journey to bring him to the Alchemists Guild.
With the Dragon and her assistant in tow, the three are now on the run from the Dragon King’s blood-thirsty riders. They’ll traverse dangerous cities, break into the highest security prison in the world, face off against underground monsters, and battle across the skies. Arianna will let nothing stop her from reaching her goal.
In fact, the only thing that could strike fear into Arianna’s cold heart… is the truth of her own identity. She’s not supposed to exist. And if anyone finds out what she really is, it’ll change the world.
Get ready for dark magic, epic eventure, slow-burn romance, and dangerous secrets in a divided world unlike any you’ve ever read.
“A beautiful merger of fantasy and steampunk fiction”
– Cynthia, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★
“I absolutely love the Loom Saga. It’s teally hard to find unique concepts these days, and yet Kova has managed to come up with a totally unique system of magic that is dark and gritty and beautiful.”
– Cynthia, Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
”…much beloved by fans of the Mistborn series (Sanderson), A Darker Shade of Magic (Schwab), and Six of Crows (Bardugo). If you like incredible world building, small ladies with enormous guns and brutal action sequences (with plenty of heart eating)”
– Kari, Goodreads Reviewer ★★★★★
“This series is absolutely amazing from start to finish! If you liked the Throne of Glass or Six of Crows series, then this series will be right down your alley. It’s packed full of action, adventure, and a romance that will bring you to your knees all set in a fantastic steampunk world.”
– Nhite, Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
“I HIGHLY recommend this and can see it easily placed on anyone’s bookshelf, right next to the likes of Brandon Sanderson or R.A. Salvatore.”
– Emi, Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
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This novel needs more love! I haven’t obsessed over a couple so hard as I have the one here. In fact, I never obsessed over couples. I either don’t like them or aren’t very invested in them. But this novel made me adore them like nothing I’ve experienced while reading before.
I haven’t been this obsessed over characters in so long! This story proved a bit challenging to read in the first chapter given I didn’t understand what instruments she was using. I’d never read a novel set in a steampunk setting before and didn’t get a few things at first. But that aside, this story got better and better until I was just turning pages, unable to stop. What I adore so much about this novel is its characters. I haven’t adored two characters the way I do two of the main characters. And even the third one I really like.
We follow a team that is barely kept together by one of the girls, Florence. She was taken in by her teacher, Arianna, who hates dragons with a raging passion. Guess who’s stuck traveling across the world with a dragon? Yup, Arianna, the infamous Dragon Hunting White Wraith. I really like Florence. She isn’t special, but she isn’t weak. She’s not even the main character, but it’s the best third character I’ve read in my life. She carries her weight. She doesn’t stand helpless in the midst of a fight, and that’s a rare trait for a girl in a novel, especially when she’s not the main focus of the novel.
Now, onto my obsession. Cvaeh and Arianna. Dragons by nature are extremely dominant. Their whole political system is based around that. So when this dragon offers Arianna a boom, a magical wish you could say, she decides to go against her desire to kill him only to get the boon and hence have the power to have her revenge. They both clash, HARD. Cvaeh tries to keep himself in check, but Arianna is hell-bent on making the trip as insufferable for him as she can. This is the best enemies to friends and more I’ve ever read! It was a slow transition. And even as things slowly progressed, they hit a lot of bumps and regressed a few times.
The whole plot is centered on getting to the Alchemists of Loom without getting killed by the dragons sent after Cvaeh. The fights are brutal and fantastic. There’s really no sugar coating the bloodshed that happens here and I love that. I can’t decide if I like the ed Bitch of the King, you’ll see who she is. But I actually lean more into liking this villain. Because she is different from most. She is basically a lap dog to the King. She is completely enamored with him as we see the moment we meet her. She fought her way up class just to be his personal guard. So right now she’ll do anything to ensure she keeps his favor.
The events of this novel keep you on your toes. The number of things that happen, how their plans are foiled or succeed, are all carefully written in a way that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. And the characters, both the main ones and the villains, play a great part on how those events unfold, whether they succeed or not. And that’s another thing that I adored about this novel. The characters are given some pretty defining characteristics, and we get to see them act based upon them all of the time. We see how they can be a strength or a weakness, we see how they deal with compromise, and we see how they affect their journey for better or for worse. It’s such a rare thing to find in a novel. There are no “because the plot demands it” moments where we see our characters act completely out of place.
All in all, even if Steampunk is not my genre, this novel was fantastic. The world building was very interesting. I hope to love the next two books because I already have them!
After reading the Air Awakens series and 3 of the 4 from Society of Wishes (anxiously awaiting the release of the 4th book), I was excited to try another series from Elise Kova, and for the price of the box set, you can’t go wrong.
I found the beginning of The Alchemists of Loom to be a bit tough to get through which I was surprised by since Air Awakens grabbed me almost immediately. That is why 3 stars instead of 4 from me. Closer to half way through the book I really started to connect with the characters and the story, and from that point on, I enjoyed the book very much and will be diving straight into Dragons of Nova.
This is the first book in a new series by the wonderful Elise Kova. In this world two very different species live. Arianna is willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge on the Dragons. This was such a good book. I loved the mix between what was magic and what was science.
I loved this book so much. It’s in my top 10 and I can not wait to read the next one!
Looking forward to read the sequel
Loved the story, it leaves you wondering for quite some time if if people are who they say they are and can be trusted. While the end isn’t a cliff-hanger it does leave me feeling like the story blends into the next book and there is significant parts of the future unresolved. If you can’t stand that stay away. It makes it way too tempting to go right out and buy the next book.
At first I wasn’t too thrilled with it. Lot of holes in the story but they were filled in later. Not all but enough to get through. Still wondering what a dragon looks like and why was Ari so pissed about.
This book was a real struggle for me. Right of bat from chapter one, I lost all intrigue I had for the story. I am not one hundred percent sure what did it, but that interest was hard to find again throughout the book.
I am all for originality and the world of Loom and Nova was for sure unique and imaginative, as well as all the different creatures and races and the book’s concept. Had this been put to use correctly I might have fully gotten behind the story. However, all that was amazing in the story was kind of made irrelevant when the major focus was put where it shouldn’t have been put. One or more pages was used to explain in detail trivial matters such as breaking a lock, stealing reagents or makings of guns. I assume this is to show how skilled the main character is at her job, but it held no weight or interest to me whatsoever. It certainly didn’t help that those pages was used up for that instead of the exposition in the story.
From chapter one and onwards terms such as Rivets, Ravens and Revolvers was used and held a lot of meaning to both the characters and the world. Yet they were never really explained. Even after finishing the story I’m still not sure that I have fully grasped the terms and the difference between them. Hell, it even took me around two chapters to understand that Cvareh wasn’t actually a real live dragon. This was because next to no information was given out about the different races, roles and even the history of the Guilds. They were only mentioned in passing. The “show, don’t tell” rule that every book should have was changed to “mention, but don’t tell” in the Alchemists of Loom. It felt a bit like the author gave the readers unnecessary extra work (almost homework) to understand the world she created by reading between the lines and figuring it all out ourselves, just so that she herself wouldn’t have to. Since I lost the interest for the story in page one I really felt no urge to invest myself in understanding the unexplained world. Even the different territories they traveled through went over my head, having such unimaginable and easily blending names like 5 or 5.2. I just couldn’t find it in myself to care where in the world or the Map of Loom they where even if it made the story very confusing and difficult to follow.
The same could be said for the main characters. A master rivet, a rivet in training and a dragon. There were a lot of room for development, drama and tension here with the enemies becoming friends theme, but the characters were just as dead as the intrigue for the story. They didn’t really have any emotion behind them and certainly no emotional struggles so there was no way I could see any of them come alive or relate to them on any level. Sure, we were told that Cvareh didn’t understand the Fenthir, but came to understand them in the end. We were told that Florence had struggles with her flight instinct and also overcame that in the end. Most of all we were told that Arianna had a tragic past that made her unable to trust and that she hated dragons, but came to like and somewhat trust Cvareh. The keyword here is “told”. I was never actually shown any of this in the story and therefore I could not for one second believe it. To me they were all flat, Cvareh having next to no emotion or personality. Florence was also pretty vanilla and kind of naive. Arianna bugged me to no end being a typical Mary Sue with a racist streak and expected the world to apologize and bow to her at every turn. The only character I actually somewhat liked was Petra, the character that was least in the story, and that was only for her devious sass.
It is never good when a book becomes a task you have to fight to complete instead of an enjoyable read. It’s even worse when said book has homework inside it, almost as if you are expected to struggle with the story. For having written such a wonderful series (Air Awakens) before Elise Kova missed the mark with this one. At least for me. Alchemists of Loom seems to have a lot of positive reviews after all, so maybe there are a lot of readers out there who enjoys the extra work and investment. I am not one of them and I will therefore not continue with the next book.
I couldn’t get into the book maybe for younger readers
I received an Advance Reader Copy at no cost from the publisher/author.
This review MAY contain spoilers.
I admit to being a little nervous before reading this. Elise Kova’s Air Awakens series was her first series, and it holds such a special place in my heart. I feared that because of Kova’s change from young adult fantasy fiction to adult fantasy fiction with this series that I would somehow not get the same spark that I got with her first series. I feared for naught. That spark was there and more. Go ahead and declare me a phoenix because I feel like that spark will continue to delight me and then make me reborn with everything that Kova writes.
If you are familiar with Kova’s young adult books, the first thing that you may notice is the different feel of this book. I definitely felt it. It was something new and curious and absolutely enchanting. This series really is adult fiction….and what is this…I like it! A lot! I am a woman in my early thirties that reads primarily young adult fiction. I love it, so I read it. (No matter how much my husband teases me. =P) I have always wanted to branch out more and read more adult titles, but I hardly ever do. At least not as much as I would like to. This book really opened my eyes to the plethora of possibilities out there in fantasy fiction. I have been limiting myself to mostly young adult, but I could be experiencing so many more epic stories. So that fear that I was talking about in the first paragraph…it’s gone! I now embrace adult fantasy fiction.
One of the things that made the adult label stand out more to me is the incredible world building. I mean, really, this world building is boss. I admit that I had to reread the first chapter three or more times before I felt like I could go on because there is so much world building to grasp on to before moving forward. Once I got that first chapter down and got used to it, I was golden. The world building just flowed off the page after that. And it is so impressive. I love the dragon and chimera aspect. The dragons have magic and different kinds of magic is housed in different organs. So there is a black market organ trade for dragon parts. The dragon blood and organs also help them to refine metal with magic in it. It’s really complex. So not only can you buy dragon organs and have them implanted inside you so that you can have magic, but you can also have magic objects made from gold- which is made from dragon blood/organs. The emergence of dragons has really made this steampunk world evolve. It’s amazing. And the distinction between the different races is so well written. The way they dress, their names, the dragon hierarchies, the way that dragons challenge one another to gain rank in society, the guilds and the way that the Fenthri are made to wear their guild tattoos on their faces. Everything is so perfect in the world building and so completely original.
The writing itself is magical. I was invested in the story from the very beginning. I love the way that Kova grabs your attention and keeps it honed in on the story. This book seems more fast-paced than her other books, but it certainly doesn’t lack anything for it. The writing is beautifully constructed.
These characters had to grow on me a little, but in the end, I loved them. The way that Kova writes her characters is incredible. You get to know them right from the start and it keeps building up as the story progresses. There are small details about their pasts or their personalities that all adds up. The relationships that are formed by the characters as the story goes on is amazing too. There are so many emotions and Kova makes you feel all of them along the way. The way that the characters come together and learn to trust one another is invigorating. I especially loved how Ari and Cvareh come together in the end.
There was not really much romance in the book, but I actually didn’t like the book any less for it. Which is rare for me. Normally without some romance, I won’t like a book at all. But I think that the way Ari and Cvareh go from hating one another to trusting one another to pretty much being friends was such a journey. It really felt like the start of what could potentially be romance, and it was awesome! I have high hopes for Ari and Cvareh in this series. I may be wrong, but grinding gears it feels so right!
Overall, this is another epically fantastic release from Elise Kova. She has proven that she isn’t tied down to a single genre and can conquer the mountain of any genre he brilliant little mind can conjure a story from. I really am so impressed! I recommend this book for any fans of Kova’s previous works, and anyone that loves a good fantasy story. I think that steampunk fans will love it as well! This is another home run for you, Elise. Congratulations!
Could of been a good book is not