The Anatomy of Magic
by Alexis L. Menard
Blurb:
Nina Veyr has a dangerous secret—illegal magical abilities she cannot explain. If the city of Valveron’s enforcers found her, she would be executed . . . or worse. For years, Nina has stayed in the shadows, picking pockets and smuggling enchanted relics to get by. Then she steals from the wrong man.
Max Antonin is the most powerful crime boss in the city. Cold, deadly, and breathtakingly attractive, Max has his sights set on Nina, and nothing will stand in his way. But when Nina is framed for a shocking murder, Max offers to help her find the true killers. She knows she can’t trust him—that deals with a devil always come at a cost. But there’s no way she can survive on her own.
As they follow a trail of bodies into the city’s underworld, Nina feels a dangerous attraction pulling her ever closer to him. But can she trust her life and her heart to the city’s most ruthless criminal?
My Review:
Let me tell you where I was at four o'clock
this morning. Wide awake, completely incapable of sleeping, because Max was
living rent free in my brain and I needed to know how everything was going to
snap into place. That is the kind of book this is. The kind that hijacks your
sleep schedule without a single apology and somehow you are grateful for every
lost minute.
I almost skipped this one through my
Allurial subscription, which in retrospect feels genuinely absurd. And then the
audio ARC showed up on Netgalley and something in me said yes, without
hesitation, and I have never been more glad I listened to that instinct.
The audiobook is extraordinary. Two
narrators who kept every character distinct not just by voice but by feeling,
pulling you deeper into the story rather than out of it. Get the audiobook.
Full stop.
The world building here goes so much deeper
than your average romantasy. Magic is outlawed, power is hoarded by the elite,
and the people at the bottom are kept deliberately afraid and small. Nina is
hiding both her own power and her mother's, doing everything she possibly can
to keep them alive and undetected. She is the kind of character who builds
safety out of whatever scraps are available and never once asks for applause
about it. I loved her completely.
The romance never swallows the plot whole,
the magic system is genuinely well constructed, and there is not a single dull
moment from the first page to the last.
Pick this one up. You will not sleep either,
and it will absolutely be worth it.
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