League of Liars | ARC Review

Ever since his mother was killed, seventeen-year-old Cayder Broduck has had one goal–to see illegal users of magic brought to justice. People who carelessly use extradimensional magic for their own self-interest, without a care to the damage it does to society or those around them, deserve to be punished as far as Cayder is concerned. Because magic always has a price. So when Cayder lands a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to apprentice under a premier public defender, he takes it. If he can learn all the tricks of public defense, the better he’ll be able to dismantle defense arguments when he’s a prosecutor. Then he’ll finally be able to make sure justice is served.

But when he meets the three criminals he’s supposed to defend, it no longer seems so black and white. They’re teenagers, like him, and their stories are . . . complicated, like his. Vardean, the prison where Cayder’s new clients are incarcerated, also happens to be at the very heart of the horrible tear in the veil between their world and another dimension–where all magic comes from.

League of Liars is a dark and twisty mystery set in a richly-drawn world where nothing is as it seems, rife with magic, villains and danger.

Astrid Scholte is one of my favorite authors and this book has all the twists and turns I’ve come to expect (and love) from her book. With a cast of characters who are all lying and all have agendas of their own, this is a must-read!

As usual, let’s start with the things I loved about this world. First, the world was unique and so intriguing. Scholte introduces things early on so I had a good idea of what the world was all about, but so much of it stays a mystery for most of the book. The reason for this is that a lot of this world is a mystery to our main narrator, Cayder. We’re learning the secrets of this world alongside him which is fun.

I also thought each of the characters was interesting. As I mentioned, each one is lying or is hiding some secret so figuring out which ones can be trusted is a challenge. I loved that Cayder, the lawyer in training, was the main narrator. He had a unique outlook on life, crime, and justice. Seeing his interactions with criminals and the shift of his mindset is really interesting. I was intrigued from the start by his character.

Also, I liked how things were worded in this book. If I just took the words at face value and made assumptions based on them, my assumptions were usually wrong or led me to wrong conclusions. Scholte does a great job of wording things in a very specific way or skipping over certain details or timelines to lead the reader into a false entrapment. I loved it.

I didn’t hate anything about this book, but there were a few things I didn’t love. The biggest thing was that there really isn’t much action in this book. There’s a lot happening, but not much action. We don’t really even get into the main plot of the book until probably 30% in. And we don’t see any action until about 80% in. I expected more in this area based on her other books so I was a bit disappointed by that.

As well, there wasn’t anything too shocking that happened here. There were some surprises and twists I didn’t expect, but I wasn’t shocked. Again, I expected more shock based on my experience reading her other books.

Overall, this was a great book! I don’t know how Scholte comes up with these ideas, but I’m happy she does. Keep them coming!! Also, I really hope there’s going to be a second book because that ending…

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed a gifted and advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Astrid Scholte, go to her GoodReads profile or her website.