A CURSE OF BREATH AND BLOOD (THE MIND BREAKER 1)
BY K.W. FOSTER
Published: 17th September 2024
AETHON BOOKS
This book has been popping up on my booksta feed for some time, so it’s clear the author has devoted a whole lot of time to getting her debut book baby out there. I couldn’t resist signing up to ARC read it when I read the synopsis and saw the cover and cute character artwork.
Aelia can invade the minds of others, and for an FMC, she’s a little older, which is great. She’s fighting an addiction to fairy dust, having escaped an abusive marriage to Gideon, and is still pining for her previous partner, Caiden; even though she takes dust to forget him, and doesn’t know which way is up half the time.
But…evil Gideon has Aelia’s sister, so she needs to work with Caiden and a few others, including the enigmatic Tharan, to hatch a rescue mission. Still with me?
At the beginning, there are quite a few characters introduced with very little context, which made grasping the story and also getting to grips with who everybody was rather difficult at times. But, from around 20%, the writing becomes more cohesive and comprehensive. From that point, I was totally hooked and found myself rooting for (or loathing!) the characters. Caiden is wonderfully complex, as is Aelia. But it is Amolie and especially Tharan who have stolen my heart.
This book is such an emotional rollercoaster, with the highest of highs (not including those dust highs!), and the most despairing of lows. Persevere, and it will suck you in, fling you around and spit you out at the end. And talking of endings…what an epilogue! I was not expecting that!
4 / 5
A captivating page-turner with wondrous characters