Release Day- REVIEW- The Wrong Familiar: Carnival of Mysteries- Megan Derr

by
The Wrong Familiar Book Cover The Wrong Familiar
Carnival of Mysteries
Megan Derr
LGBTQ Fantasy, Fantay Romance
Multi Author- Independent
July 17, 2024
Kindle
202
Amazon

Welcome to

Carnival of Mysteries 2024

Ninos has been training all his life to be a sylvan mage. Trees, plants, herbs, flowers, fruits, berries, nuts—he knows them all, and he intends to use that knowledge for the good of his home, a village he has not seen in more than a decade.

The final step to becoming a full-fledged mage is the conjuring and binding of a familiar, a faithful companion and guide who will supplement his power and remain at his side the rest of his life. Instead of a sylvan familiar, like a unicorn or stag, however, something goes horribly awry and Ninos finds himself bound instead to Sinn, a raven familiar meant for dark magics.

Neither is happy about it. Ninos wants a familiar who can help him with life, with growing and restoring a place destroyed by fire and plague. Sinn should be helping to raise the dead or cast blood workings. They were never meant to meet, let alone be bound.

Bindings are permanent, however, and cannot be broken. Their only chance at setting this wrong to rights is to locate the dark mage that Sinn was meant for, hope they in turn have Ninos' true familiar, and perform a rare but not impossible switch...

Reviewed by Linda Tonis

Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

Ninos is a student at the Havenbright Academy of Magic and has been there since he was five. He is a Sylvan mage and is finally preparing for graduation and conjuring up his familiar. Ninos is prepared for everything except his mentor, Professor Brandor being murdered. His final presentation was already done but there would be no reveal. Professor Brandor was like a father to him since he barely saw his own since he was five and his death was devastating to him.

When the headmaster calls Ninos into his office it is to reveal that the professor left his entire estate, money and house to him. Speechless Ninos accepts what the professor left him but the sadness of not being able to say goodbye or thank him is overwhelming. Finally, it is his turn to get his familiar and he is joined by his best friend Kina who’s familiar turns out to be a poisonous snake.

When it is Ninos turn something goes wrong and his familiar is a raven indicative of black magic not Sylvan. The headmaster reveals that someone sabotaged his conjuring with the intent of killing him but now with no way to reverse what happened he has only one recourse to find the black magic mage who probably has his Sylvan familiar and hopefully switch with one another.

It doesn’t take long before the killer of the professor and attempted murder of Ninos to be discovered and it was a shock to everyone, but I won’t reveal it in this review. Now Ninos and his Raven, Sinn are on their way to find the mage that belongs to Sinn but along the way they run into danger. Ninos is shot with an arrow, robbed and left for dead, and it would take Sinn to save the day and Ninos’s life.

The trip is long and hazardous, and Ninos comes close to death twice. Although Ninos’s first thought was to get rid of Sinn as they travel together, he wants him to stay but is hesitant to voice it out loud. When they finally arrive at their destination they are met with hostility and secrets about Sinn are revealed. Fortunately, with Ninos’s ability to control plant life they are able to escape.

On their way home they visit a carnival where the unbelievable occurs. Of course, anything can happen when you enter the Carnival of Mysteries.

This was a story filled with lies, secrets, betrayals and a Sylvan Mage with a love of plants who has ivy and begonias growing from his arm to save them. A Sylvan mage and a mischievous raven work together and form a bond but the question is do they belong together and will they stay together.

I recommend this book and all the books in the Carnival of Mysteries series, and this is a new year and new stories by multi-authors and well worth the price of admission.

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