Lore of the Wilds (Lore of the Wilds #1) by Analeigh Sbrana -- Starting July 1st 2024

[Jenn]

A stunning Romantasy debut about an enchanted library, two handsome Fae, and one human who brings them all together.

A library with a deadly enchantment.

A Fae lord who wants in.

A human woman willing to risk it all for a taste of power.

In a land ruled by ruthless Fae, twenty-one-year-old Lore Alemeyu’s village is trapped in a forested prison. Lore knows that any escape attempt is futile—her scars are a testament to her past failures. But when her village is threatened, Lore makes a desperate deal with a Fae lord. She will leave her home to catalog/organize an enchanted library that hasn’t been touched in a thousand years. No Fae may enter the library, but there is a chance a human might be able to breach the cursed doors.

She convinces him that she will risk her life for wealth, but really she’s after the one thing the Fae covet above all: magic of her own.

As Lore navigates the hostile world outside, she’s forced to rely on two Fae males to survive. Two very different, very dangerous, very attractive Fae males. When undeniable chemistry ignites, she’s not just in danger of losing her life, but her heart to the very creatures she can never trust.

[As You Wish]

Just started today and I’m noticing the reviews seem either very positive or very negative. Wondering which camp I’ll find myself in.

[As You Wish]

Chapter 9 (view spoiler)[ I am totally sucked in. I can’t wait to find out where this star book takes her. I feel like the fae agreeing to rebuild her village was already too good to be true. Hate being right, though. (hide spoiler)]

[Stacey]

I literally just started this book. So I will come back later with an update on how I feel

[Danique]

I'm hoping to start soon, how am I already behind on my BRs lmao

[Stacey]

Danique wrote: "I'm hoping to start soon, how am I already behind on my BRs lmao"

No worries friend, we are a little behind

[As You Wish]

I just jumped onto your BR, otherwise probably wouldn’t have started on time fr

Chapter 13 (view spoiler)[ I’m so excited she cast a spell! But I’m eager to know how Asher’s magic works. (hide spoiler)]

[As You Wish]

Chapter 19 (view spoiler)[ Do the fae just generally not know how the sentries torment humans? What sort of rumours are there about humans? (hide spoiler)]

[As You Wish]

Chapter 23 (view spoiler)[ I hope the next part is her developing an antidote with the help of the book. (hide spoiler)]

[Stacey]

As You Wish wrote: "I just jumped onto your BR, otherwise probably wouldn’t have started on time fr

Chapter 13 [spoilers removed]"

you are soaring through this book I love that.

[Danique]

@Stacey glad to see I’m not the only one 🤣 I’m excited to start though, especially seeing As You Wish fly through!

[As You Wish]

Big cliffhanger at the end! I won’t spoil anything but good golly I feel set up.

[Stacey]

I'm about to lock in right now. Plus I have off from work tomorrow so I have a full day to read unbothered

[Stacey]

35%

While I am enjoying this book so far, to be quite frank, I feel like there could be more world-building. It just seems to move so fast that I can never fully enjoy the image of the scene the author just created because we are on to the next thing.

[Danique]

Ch 8
(view spoiler)[Another gorgeous edition! Lore is an orphan then? Working in an apothecary for the ward of the orphanage. The fae were already intense, and apparently something happened to her Baba in the past and the fae saved her/used magic on her? I wonder if she’s fae herself then. She has to categorize a library that Fae can’t enter, that’s odd. Why can’t they enter? I wonder if we’ll see what happens ourselves. I already love Asher, and the Lord dude with the wings reminds me a lot of Rhys hm. Not sure what this’ll be about honestly. And she was scarred by other sentries in the past bc she ran. It’s not yet clear to me why fae won’t allow them to leave though, the world is a bit unclear. (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Ch 10
(view spoiler)[I like Asher but it’s odd that he’d join the sentry just to protect a human. That doesn’t add up at all, I wonder if he’s even lowborn or not - and whether he’s actually assigned to her or Elra disappeared/died because of him. So she randomly said astronomy out loud and the books began to hum, it doesn’t seem smart to give them those books at all, there’s a reason they’re in there and not accessible to fae ugh. It does feel like lazy writing/just doing things for the plot without really working them out well but okay.

What makes her think the magical tome isn’t evil -.- she knows there’s dark magic yet thinks let’s not tell anyone and bring myself to use magic I’ve never used before!!!! Her character is a bit bland honestly, mostly in fault of the author. The Fox clearly has a meaning too. It’s kinda nice than no one can walk in on her in the library lol. Seriously she writes in the magical book????? What is her deal ffs how stupid. Tarun and libb seem nice.

Seriously?! This is so fucking annoying, she blindly trusts the clearly evil book (which has been hiding in complete darkness that scares her but conveniently forgot that) yet doesnt believe Syril who has no reason to lie. I’m also convinced he’s somehow Asher since it’s weird how nice he is wtf and she mentioned his eyes seeming familiar. Since we literally haven’t met any other characters in this, it must be him. I dislike where this is going though. (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Finished this ages ago but hadn't had time to post :(

Ch 18
(view spoiler)[Seriously? Ugh I’ve rolled my eyes so many times. She just knows the book is good oh then everything is fine!!!!!! Gosh this is too YA for me. He’s clearly royal or something bc this amount of power isn’t from lowbloods, he can basically control the elements. They’re on the run together now, why would he even go with her? This is so weird, are they mates or something?

They kissed omg that was GOOOD. I’m not sure why but I’m getting bored and it's hard to keep going? Maybe I’m not in the mood idk.

Finndryl seems like trouble. Why on earth would she show them their human ears wtf??? Wait do all the fae have powers? I wonder if they all have one or how it works, the scribe dude we met didn’t seem to have any? I’m starting to skip parts honestly idk nothing is really happening. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 24
(view spoiler)[She went to the market stop💀💀💀💀💀 she behaves like a fucking child, she’s so frustrating I cannot. Is Finn another love interest whut? I think I might like him, Asher was such insta love and is still such a vague character, we honestly don’t know anything about him and it’s frustrating. I still think he’s the other dude, the one who 'hired' her.

Isla’s nice. She still cannot read the book so why does she still think it’s good and not evil?!?!? Arghhh!!!!!!!!! She’s clearly a weak human that is just being used fucking hell she’s annoying. Not telling anyone she’s going out - going out alone into the woods at night while she was just attacked fucking great.

Gryph has never been this happy? Why on earth?!? Because she’s here doing nothing? wtf she’s such a Mary Sue and im not like other girls girl STOP. Why am I so bothered. Apparently only she can pick magical flowers. I need to stop rolling my eyes. Suddenly only Finn is here, the love triangle is fucking weird.

Surprise only she can see magic 🙄🙄🙄 gosh how YA is this stop. Don’t tell me it’s not an evil book and it’s actually good and chose her pls no. It’s cool that her powers only work at night though. And there’s something going on with Duskmere, how is it veiled? Can’t believe she didn’t expect them to take it out in her town though what the fuck?? Grey is with the fae queen huh, of course she’s going off alone to save him STOP UGHHHH!!!!!! (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Finished
(view spoiler)[She immediately forgot about not drinking or eating anything how fucking idiotic is she?!? She’s so frustratingly stupid and I hate it STOP!!!! I need to finish this and get it over with. Stupid fucking bitch. Ah she ate bark because somehow she knew that would contradict the symptoms ok apparently she’s all knowing of fae now. She also easily found the castle bc of course, so easy to find for a fucking human. The inconsistencies I cannot, the author made her such a Mary Sue I cannot physically cope. And she easily escaped almighty fae and probably has a queen after her now but no biggie. Fucking hell.

Did she seriously not think her city would suffer for her insubordination?!?! She’s so naive and stupid af. It’s always so odd to me that people have sensitive ears bc I don’t feel them at all lol wtf. I’m also not enjoying them having sex because she still barely knows Asher and their relationship is just weird. And why are her fingers turning black what the hell? Evil magic? Finn is clearly jealous but idk why he hates Asher so much.

She just blindly believes Asher about a random fucking tower that’s spelled and no one knows about???? He clearly just wants to get in there and knows she can do that, he’s definitely double faced. If not, he’s just a weak character ngl. Huh the steward found them and is evil, so they really are using human females to get children. I also wonder if there’s more to Finn ngl we don’t know anything about these characters ugh. I think I do like him more.

She killed the steward without any regrets ok then. Her character is all over the place honestly. So Asher is Syrelle, I’m not really surprised at all but it’s also kinda unbelievable idk. Guess Finn is endgame then, which I’m happy about. But yeah, I didn’t feel too much for any of them, they didn’t really have much depth or anything. And apparently there’s another book, don’t really get why Asher think he could control that then? And if she could enter the library, doesn’t that mean she’s a descendant of his family? I don’t get it at all honestly, because then he should’ve been able to enter the library too? So vague, many unanswered questions and unclearness. Didn’t love it. I also thought the Fox would be fae, and it can indeed change forms, but I wonder if it’s a person too? Maybe isla? No that’s too weird. (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

As You Wish wrote: "Chapter 19 [spoilers removed]"

I was wondering that too, I feel like the worldbuilding is a bit lacking and I'm still unsure of the human-fae knowledge.

[Danique]

Stacey wrote: "35%

While I am enjoying this book so far, to be quite frank, I feel like there could be more world-building. It just seems to move so fast that I can never fully enjoy the image of the scene the ..."

Completely agree! It could've been a lot better because of it

[As You Wish]

Danique wrote: "Finished..."

Yes honestly I didn't like her falling for (view spoiler)[ Asher and just couldn't buy any of the romantic pairings. I did not anticipate his secret identity. I was totally floored by that. (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 8
(view spoiler)[This doesn't sound super unique at this point, it seems like her romance partner would be her guard. Worldbuilding hasn't been strong: faes despises humans and humans are afraid of faes. Humans are poor and her people are trying to survive after the earthquake at the moment. She is looking for some book, it's unclear what kind of book and why. So at this point I don't have many feelings. I am a bit confused and hoping this would be more intriguing soon. (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Danique wrote: "Ch 8
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Haha, right it was categorizing she was doing - I forgot it already xD They wanted her to bring them some books so I remembered that being her mission xD (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 9
(view spoiler)[It's interesting how the knowledge has been forbidden, only faes has had it. But somehow I feel like this could be more thrilling. I feel like I have been told that but I don't feel how scared and oppressed they must feel. She found some room that suddenly was there and then wasn't and voices promised information against the freedom. Are they trustworthy?! Does something awful happen if she let them free?! (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Stacey wrote: "35%

I can never fully enjoy the image of the scene the author just created because we are on to the next thing"

This was well said!

[Johanna]

Chapter 10
(view spoiler)[She escaped with the book and peomised to do what it asked her to do. The guard is with her now, so let's see when theh start to love each other (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Danique wrote: "Ch 10..."

(view spoiler)[That was exactly what I was thinking too: trusting on some unfamiliar magic is definitely "no no". Haha, wow?! Them being the one and the same. That would be something, I didn't suspect that at all 🤣 (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 13
(view spoiler)[There are some people after her now. And I knew it: they kissed! (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 18
(view spoiler)[She found new friends, but she trusted them pretty quick again :D But she made a mistake and didn't stay hiding (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 19
(view spoiler)[It's strange how fast they learn to fight in these books (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 23
(view spoiler)[Of course she's doing a rescue mission alone🤦‍♀️ (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Chapter 24
(view spoiler)[And there she is: drinking the wine she shouldn't drink 🤣 (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

As You Wish wrote: "Danique wrote: "Finished..."

Yes honestly I didn't like her falling for [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah, it fell a bit flat. I'm glad the reveal surprised you though! (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Johanna wrote: "Chapter 9
[spoilers removed]"

yeah totally agree! (view spoiler)[It was more telling than showing, I didn't really feel the faes surpressing humans because we barely saw anything about it :/ (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Johanna wrote: "Chapter 24
[spoilers removed]"

gosh sometimes I wondered where her brain was at xD

[Johanna]

Finished
(view spoiler)[I am disappointed xD The big twist was something you saw coming xD Maybe I would have been surprised but not now when you had already guessed it (hide spoiler)]

[Danique]

Johanna wrote: "Finished
[spoilers removed]"

Oh no I'm sorry :( (view spoiler)[I've just read too many Agatha Christie's in my past so the big twist is often obvious to me, I'm sorry to have ruined it for you though :( (hide spoiler)]

[Johanna]

Danique wrote: "Johanna wrote: "Finished
[spoilers removed]"

Oh no I'm sorry :( [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[You didn't ruin it! It was just a guess, you didn't know if that was true! It just made sense and got me believing in that too. Ashley was strangely vague character to be something else etc. (hide spoiler)]