Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Axbridge
SERIES: Morcia #2
AUTHOR: Sasha L. Miller
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 65 pages
BLURB:
On the trail of a dangerous, violent mage, Tannis and his partner, Beck, fall into a nasty trap—and it’s Beck who barely survives, losing blood almost faster than Tannis can get her to the nearest village for help.
Help proves to be Isani, a curt, mercurial healer who wants nothing to do with Tannis, and even less to do with the mage they’re hunting—a mage Isani knows far too well, and had hoped would never return.
REVIEW:
When Tannis’ partner, Beck, is hurt by the mage they are tracking, Tannis has no choice but to bring her to the nearest village and beg for help. Luckily the villiage healer, Isani, is also a mage. Unluckily, the village and its healer are the reason that the dangerous mage was in the area in the first place. Cut off from help by the weather, and with so few to defend the village, it will be up to Tannis and Isani to try take down the man that has already put Beck at death’s door.
Oh this was lovely. Just lovely. Nice and short and sweet. And while I dearly wish it was longer, and that we get to see more of Tannis and Isani’s lives, I’ll take what I can get. And what you get out of this story is a good fantasy with a sweet romance thrown in.
It also certainly doesn’t hurt that it was well written. Axbridge was very much the warm blanket that soothed the wounds from the last story I read (not for review, but just for ‘fun’). Finding someone with even a passage grasp of the English language was bound to make this story good for me. Having a good story as well–one that I might be willing to beg more of, if the author is so inclined–was just icing on the chocolate cupcake.
While this is technically the second book in the Morcia series, it is very much a standalone story. In fact the two really are not all that connected, except by the world in which they inhabit. I will however be going back to read the first one, Battle of Will, if only because I am now curious about this world and would love to know more. It doesn’t hurt that that story is full-length, either.
There is not much of a romance in this short story, in fact it doesn’t really come into play till the last quarter of the story, but there is some lovely chemistry between the two MCs and I just enjoyed the story for what it was, even if I would have loved to see more action between the two protagonists.
If you have an hour to spare I would highly recommend this story. I deeply enjoyed it, and hope that the Battle of Will will be just as enjoyable.
RATING:
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