In a world where magic is owned by the rich and spellbooks spawn from wizards’ corpses, one woman has the power to unravel it all . . . if she doesn’t get caught.If you love Victorian stories, magic, or cozy mysteries, this book is for you!Preorder on Amazon: bit.ly/2vVK8s5

Enthralling. I enjoyed Elsie as a character, and Ogden was so sweet! I also hope we get to learn more about Bacchus and his motivations in the next book. The pacing was a tiny bit slow in the beginning, and the climax was perhaps even a bit too fast, but I still very much enjoyed the reading experience. 3.75 stars

A truly remarkable book. I would go as far as to say this is Charlie's next "Paper Magician" series and one fans, myself included, will want more from for years to come.Ellie is a unregistered Spellbreaker working for a secret society of Robin Hood type vigilantes.Bacchus is in England to gain his Master title in Physical Aspectorship (Physical magic)When their world's collide a greater mystery is unveiled. Who can you trust?

A fast-moving story with likeable characters, an interesting magic system, a murder mystery and a budding romance, all set in a Victorian England.Elsie Camden is an orphan, long separated from her original family and rescued from a workhouse by a mysterious benefactor. Elsie works for a stonemason, Ogden, whom she regards as her father, but she has another secret, job. Elsie is also a secret spellbreaker. Spellbreakers can do as their title suggests: break spells created by spellmakers. Both typ...

The gist is - parallel universe Victorian England, but where some of the aristocrats are also mages. You have to be either rich or connected to learn magic, even if you are extremely gifted. Magic is taught at "Atheneums", every magical discipline has its own Atheneum. Training outside of an Atheneum is highly illegal. Spells are represented by runes and can either have a long standing area effect (e.g lock spell on a door) or an immediate explosive one (e.g shooting lightning at someone). The h...

Unexpectedly Good.Love the time period and the socio/political situation. I truly loved the characters and the slow burn romance (so slow we’ll probably get to see something in the second book). The story itself was very intriguing and I was not expecting the way things unfolded. And that ending? What a cliffhanger… I am diving in for the second book in the series!Extra points for the cover that I find simple and stunning!(I see the author had other books about magic and I will probably read the...

Fans of Charlie Holmberg will absolutely love this. It felt very similar to Paper Magician while being something entirely unique. I could not put it down. (Except when I had to take care of my children. How rude of them.)The magic is intriguing, the characters so well developed, and the plot pulls you right in.How Charlie continues to write amazing book after amazing book is mind boggling. I'm sure glad she does, though. The only downside is...waiting for book two. 😭

In the first of a two-book series, Holmberg introduces us to a young spellbreaker as distinguished from a spellmaker. If you are looking for gritty, rough-edged realistic fantasy, this is probably not the novel for you. Geared for a younger dreamier audience, it gives us a Victorian England filled with all manner of magic spells. Just not my cup of tea.

Charlie hooked me on her writing style with the Paper Magician series, which is still my favorite of hers, but Spellbreaker was in the same vein and I really liked it. Maybe it's the Victorian setting and the interesting new magic system, but I enjoyed the plot and the main characters. And as usually happens, the tension in the story keeps ramping up until I can't put it down and have to know what happens. We featured an excerpt of this book in the Winter 2020 issue of Deep Magic. Glad I got to

Hum... I hadn't realised that this might be best described as a YA fantasy in my opinion. Equally there is a fairly strong "romance" thread that increases in importance. Had I known that I probably wouldn't have read it. By the time I'd worked this out I was maybe 10% in and I was mildly interested so kept going. In the end Elsie is a good character and her "spell breaking" is interesting and well used. This really is not a bad story but equally I can't honestly say I would read book 2 I guess.

How do I love Charlie N Holmberg’s writing… let me count the ways. Each one of her stories has a strong female lead who has such impeccable morals and a practical head on her shoulders. They are so easy to fall in love with and root for. I was a huge fan of The Paper Magician series, as well as The Will and the Wilds. She has a way of building a magical world without completely overwhelming you in unnecessary world building. You dive right in with a character who is easy to identify with, and th...

Originally published on The Nerd Daily | Review by Annie DeoSpellbreaker is the first in a new duology by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Charlie N. Holmberg. It’s set in an alternate Victorian-era England where magic is commonplace, although of course it’s primarily only the wealthy white male wizards who are allowed to gain power and prestige through their abilities. Our heroine Elsie Camden is a lowly orphan who happens to be an unregistered spellbreaker and part of a clandestine group...

QUEEN IS BACK!

I know Charlie likes romance in books way more than I do, so I was a bit fearful that this would be nothing but a kissing book. But I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the whole thing.It’s set in alternate Victorian England with magic: the wealthy can purchase spells and become titled this way. They are only restricted by how much magic their bodies can absorb. They’re known as spellmakers or aspectors. But spellbreakers are born — these people can be anyone, and they can undo spells.E...

Thanks so much to the author for sending me an advance copy of Spellbreaker! Charlie has been a favorite author since I read her Paper Magician series. What I loved about that series is her ability to create unique magic systems yet write in a way that’s easy to understand. Though her worlds aren’t complex fantasy, they’re still fun and full of adventure.Spellbreaker continues that, though the magic system in this book starts out a little more vague. In this world, there are two types of wizards...

My biggest issue with Spellbreakers was that the pacing started out extremely slow. Nothing exciting or overly interesting happened until about halfway through. The first half was drawn out and easily could've been shorter. The main characters, Elsie and Bacchus, were… pleasant. While their backgrounds were rather interesting, their personalities were unfortunately quiet and bland. So while there wasn't anything major to complain about, they were also somewhat forgettable. The world is unique, b...