Improvise. Overcome. Adapt.
Only five days have passed since Jade was brought to a distant world and a new life. Mobile for the first time ever, Jade is given the chance to do something she’s always wanted: attend school.
Dracona isn’t your typical school, however. In Andara she needs to learn all the skills an adventurer needs. For her, that means how to cast magic and use weapons without hurting herself. She’ll have to learn fast because the obstacle course isn’t the only thing challenging her progress; she’s racing against the clock to learn how to beat the Mesmer before they find her.
With both enemies and allies all around, Jade must hit the ground running, because what’s chasing her may be worse than the hospital bed she left behind. Turns out that adapting to a new world is only the first step.
My Opinion: 555 pages, $4.99, Available on Kindle Unlimited
Full disclosure: I received an advanced copy for review. I purchased a copy when it became available.
This one is kind of a disappointment. The story is still slice of life, but it has even less conflict than book 1. Instead, it’s more of a magical academy story with the main character (MC) breezing through every class, being liked by everyone eventually, and expanding her magical powers. There are some really minor social conflicts, but everything in the story goes really easily for the MC and there are no challenges for her. I mean, everything goes easy for her. She picks up a weapon for the first time and she’s magically good at it. Tries a new kind of magic no one has ever used before? She’s using it like an old pro. There aren’t really any antagonists either. A few snooty nobles who immediately suck up to the MC when they learn her identity and a couple monsters, that’s it. There are a couple of action paragraphs, where the MC faces off against the Mesmers or Doppelgangers from book 1, but they’re really small sections.
What really disappointed me was that for most of the book, the MC is supposed to be training and preparing for this big monster hunt and it’s emphasized again and again that the longer the wait, the more the people taken by the monsters will be tortured and eaten alive. But the MC takes time to go to class and even advance her business instead of hunting down these monsters. Then the entire plotline of the monster hunt is never resolved in this novel. It’s talked about for most of the book, but then never materializes. Disappointing and a bit frustrating.
Overall, the slice of life stuff is ok and the MC is still well written with a bubbly personality and she sings pop songs. However, the magical academy stuff just didn’t work for me. It was nice to see the MC experiment with magic, but there was zero tension in the story. Unlike book 1, there was nothing that the MC couldn’t do and no challenges for her. Couple that with almost no action and disappointment at some unfulfilled plot and I just didn’t end up enjoying this.
However, if you love magical academy stories, or you just really loved book 1, you might enjoy this one more.
Score: 6 out of 10
Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2) (April 12th, 2019)