Bumpy Oak Books

**I received an electronic ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

4 stars

Jamie Thomas brings us the first book in a new fantasy series, Asperfell. Asperfell is, first and foremost, a prison for mages. A sentenced mage will walk through the gate to this new world where they remain forever cut off from the world they once knew. Readers follow Briony, a noblewoman whose father is on the privy council to the king.

When the beloved king is murdered by his son, Elyan, the heir to the throne is sentenced to Asperfell. The second son, Keric, takes the throne and wages war on mages. When Briony is found to be an unregistered mage, she is sent through to Asperfell in a desperate attempt to locate Elyan and bring him back. But no one has ever returned from Asperfell.

In general, I really enjoyed this book. I love the magic system and the wide variety of options in the elemental-type magic. There is a mystery that runs through the book as well, which Briony and friends must solve. There are some things that I think were meant to be surprising in the resolution of the mystery plotline, but were very clearly foreshadowed and were not surprising in the least. That being said, the execution of the “twist”s was well done and made sense within the world, so I wasn’t upset about it.

I found Elyan to be the most compelling character, but was also very interested in Arlo and Thaniel. I was pleased to find that none of the main characters particularly annoyed me, as there tends to always be a main character in fantasy books that I actively dislike.

Overall, a solid start to a series with a very clear direction for the sequel. I look forward to reading more by Thomas in the future.