The Necromancer’s Prison by Alec Whitesell and Craig Bonacorsi Review

Hey Beautifuls, I’m back with a new review for you all! This book was kindly gifted to me by one of the authors in exchange for an honest review, and here comes the time to share my thoughts with you all.

• Title: The Necromancer’s Prison – Bluewater Grover series Book 1
• Author: Alec Whitesell and Craig Bonacorsi
• Paperback: 313
• Publisher: Independantly published
• Genre: Sci-Fi / Fantasy
• My Rating: 3*

Synopsis – From Amazon

She wanted to find her place in the universe. She never imagined it might not be on Earth.When Emily Murphy over slept the morning of her college entrance exam, she thought missing her test was the worst thing that could happen. She never expected she would wind up lost halfway across the galaxy, battling aliens with laser guns and mages hurling lightning.Like most seventeen year olds, Emily’s main concern had been navigating the perils of high school, not surviving shootouts and sorcery. That changed when her school was attacked and a student was kidnapped. While everyone else smartly fled from danger, she recklessly ran toward it mounting an impossible rescue that would lead her on a journey unlike anything she could have imagined.Dropped into a strange world teeming with merciless criminals and ruthless aristocrats, surrounded by violence and betrayal, Emily must untangle a web of intrigue and deceit to solve the mystery behind the abduction, save her classmate, and discover the destiny which awaits her.It is either that, or die trying…

My Review

This book isn’t what I normally gravitate towards, but I have to say when the author contacted me the synopsis sounded so cool I had to give it a go. We follow our main girl Emily on the day of her college entrance exam, and quite honestly it takes off quickly from there. Which I really appreciated. Emily is brave and fierce and passionate, all things that gives for a combination to root for in a protagonist. We are straight away swept into a world of magic wielding bad guys, and portals to other planets. I have to say when Emily (and her tag along friend Mason) slip through the first portal it was giving me such “Nightmare before Christmas” vibes…because of the doors. I loved that.

Things I felt were done well in this book was pacing. I never felt like the book was dragging, there was always some kind of predicament or action going on that was enough to keep me reading. I really enjoyed Quinn’s character, she is the reason Emily dives head first into the chaos, she was really resourceful, and practical minded which was really nice to see in a YA book. It’s no secret that I don’t often enjoy female characters who are annoying helpless and useless, but Quinn even when in the most difficult and tight spots was still practical and focus on her goals; something I really appreciated.

The reason my rating isn’t higher is that the writing style wasn’t suited to me all that well. Whilst I can appreciate it, I personally felt drawn away from the story on multiple occasions. I also felt that whilst some of my small niggle type questions were eventually answered, I felt it perhaps would have been better covering them earlier, so that for a large portion of the novel I wasn’t thinking “but how can that be, and what about that?”. I also wasn’t a fan of the relationship that was developing between Emily and Mason, it didn’t feel natural to me and I could have done without it.

That being said, this book is fast paced, action packed, and well put together. It was definitely a fun and intriguing start to a new series in the space opera genre.

If you would like more specific spoiler content, this review will be posted with added extra’s to my Goodreads which you can find here.