“‘A princess on the run? These are dangerous times, Isa. Getting hurt is an inevitability.’
After turning against her brother—her only ally and trusted confidant—Princess Isa flees the palace of Taban Yul. Though she has escaped his claws, many of her followers have died, and she is far from safe.
Exiled to the outskirts of Linaria, Isa must restore her people’s faith in her if she is to overthrow her brother and become queen. But her attempts to persuade others to join her cause are met with defiance and aggression, and Isa is one misstep away from losing everything.
Hunted by her family and hiding among thieves, Isa must do more than stake her claim to the throne—she must try and restore balance to a world corrupted by greed and ancient magic, before it is doomed to burn.”
Title: Seekers: Isa
Series: World of Linaria #4
Author: L.L. MacRae
Page Count: 639
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Date Read: June 10th 2023
| Since Isa is the fourth book in the series, you probably already realize that I’ve been enjoying this series and know it’s clearly planted on my radar. I truly appreciate the fact that the author included a nice brief recap of things up to this point since it has been a couple of months now since I read the last installment. I wanted to share a highlighted section literally to start the first chapter. Reading this simply slammed me right back into this beautiful world of Linaria. “In the wetlands of eastern Val Sharis, crisp, cold mornings usually belied rain to follow. Lingering mist often meant a frost that refused to life, which would turn the muddy waters into cold sludge. Today’s dawn was still. Calm. Even the ocean waves seemed to lap gently against the shore. As if all of Linaria held its breath, waiting to see what secrets the new day would reveal.” I couldn’t help but highlight and pause after reading that. Then shared it to my social media sites. Once again this story and its characters sent me on a wild ride of adventure. As usual we follow a couple different arcs that do drift together then apart throughout the book. I’ve come to really like this style of storytelling. One thing I’ll say about L.L. MacRae from what I’ve read to this point, she is NOT afraid to give her characters flaws and many struggles along the way. We’ve seen many of these characters grow on so many levels through four books now. That growth isn’t always a happy go lucky kind either. This story isn’t for the reader looking for that kind of fairytale throughout. I’m not saying it’s always dark and ominous but we have our moments for sure. I will apologize now for a bit of gushing with my three usual grading topics. The worldbuilding continues to be top notch. We haven’t really been given a lot of new regions in the fourth book. However, we continue to learn more details about those regions, cultures and histories. It makes the world just seem that more real and in depth. The pacing was smooth. Even though a lot of this book and series in general keeps the reader on edge and perhaps suffering from a bit of anxiety, it just continues to help us feel like we are there experiencing what these characters are while it’s happening. I believe this is what helps make this series such a page turner for me. I really devoured the fourth book in just a few days. Even as high a praise I have for the first two mentioned categories, the character development is where this one really shines. Our characters (Isa, Amarah, Kohl, Palom, Morgen and others) go through so much in the fourth book. We definitely begin to see Isa coming into her own. Rightfully so, since this is her titled book. But Kohl is also going through some eye opening changes in this one. Most of all I believe Morgen may have even stolen the show in this category. I even had a brief chat about him with the author. I can’t wait to see what happens with him next. This story continues to captivate me and I can’t wait to see where things go from here. It’s starting to look like we may not have heard the last of some characters as we get into the second half of this series now. I’ve already got the next two books on my watch list waiting for their release. The author also has another series that I already own that I want to give a try and see if it clicks with me just as much as the World of Linaria has. If you haven’t heard mention of it yet (Dragon Spirit’s) be sure to check it out as well. I’ve heard great things about it so far. I will continue to recommend this series to epic fantasy readers. It just seems to have so many of the elements someone would be looking for. Just keep in mind this isn’t that happy fairytale story. Be prepared to see our characters struggle. Sure they have their shining victorious moments here and there but I feel those struggles take up far more of our story making those victories all the sweeter. World Building 5/5 Pacing 5/5 Character Development 5/5 |
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