Review: Die Young by Morgan Shank

Blurb:

Magon Dross graduated his mage school, the Tower, with flying colors. Then his old schoolmaster burned his runebook and stole his magic. Now the Tower wants him dead.

To spare himself, his family, and his people from danger, Magon must find help and answers. His country is on the brink of war, and a school of rogue mages could topple everything.

Powerless and on the run, he'll find help through his childhood friend, his estranged sister, a tribal exile, a violent priest, and the daughter of King Terrus, Freytilia's most hated man. This makes for a precarious alliance, but it must hold.

The Tower's pursuit spreads collateral damage, and as war approaches, it grows apparent that if the Tower isn't stopped, every country will fall.

Review:

Die Young is the first in a new series titled ‘The Runeborn Trilogy’ and was also my first taste of Morgan Shank’s writing! I have to say I was very impressed with his writing style straight off the bat. The writing is clean and his descriptions and prose have a nice flow to them which is always a plus for me when reading. The story follows a character named Magon Dross (which, I must say, is such an awesome name!). Rather than your typical rise to power trope where the character gets stronger and stronger as the story progresses, Shank starts his story with Magon already being super powerful, then rips that power right from under him and strips it all away. Magon then has to learn to accept a new life without it. From there he has to grow and find a new path. 

At first I was sceptical of this because (if you know my reading taste) I like my books magical, however, I found Magon’s journey to be very entertaining and found his unwavering determination to be the highlight of the novel. He could have just given up at any point, but he was resolute in his goal, and that is the characteristic of a strong character. The magic did come, however, in the form of his companions! Joska is Magon’s best friend and remains loyal to a fault the entire time, even at the cost of his own reputation, which I found really endearing. With Joska we get to see the power of rune magic and how ‘burning’ runes from their runebook can cast certain spells and grant various healing effects etc. I thought the magic was unique and more importantly, it was limited and finite, which always creates a sense of immersion in my eyes as it’s more realistic. 

I found the other characters quite entertaining as well. We had the religious warrior type in Oath and then the sort of lost soul in Itula. Between Magon’s smart mouth and Itula’s ability to shift into a giant bear, there was plenty to keep me interested throughout the slow-burn narrative, all of which concluded in an epic battle with plenty of magic and character moments to satisfy most fantasy readers!

If you don’t have this one on your radar, I highly recommend it!