Reviewed by Marcella
TITLE: As Played by the Gods
SERIES: Briar Constance Series #1
AUTHOR: Tallie Rose
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 336 pages
RELEASE DATE: Dec 6, 2022
BLURB:
The gossip rags’ favorite witch, disaster and occasional historian Briar Constance is hearing voices.
Ever since political playboy, Soren Savros, asked her for help in finding the lost spell book of a Goddess, she’s been hearing the deity’s whispers. Which means she might finally be on the brink of living up to her family name.
Then Briar meets Lillia, who is beautiful, mysterious, and maybe a little dangerous. Briar is immediately intrigued.
But Lillia has a secret, one that frightens the Goddess and leaves Briar questioning everything.
REVIEW:
First of all, I am utterly in love with this book. It’s the first one in a series with the second book already out, and I cannot wait to read it. This book was such a rollercoaster, it made me laugh, cry, and question the sanity of the characters. The story had so much depth that the further into the book you get, the more you start to question everything happening. And when you finally realise what is going on, there are still surprises with every page you turn.
The book is well-written, from the deep understanding of her own characters to the world-building the author has done. This world has its own history, its own religion, and its own races. Humans are no more, there are only fae and witches as everyone has magic, yet no one knows how they got it, and no one knows why the gods stopped walking among the people. This is the main goal for Briar Constance, the main character, to listen to the goddess Eliana to finally get answers to all the questions she, as a historical scholar and one of the famous heiresses to Constance Steel, has been asking all her life.
Then there was the political part of the book. It was cleverly woven through the story, from fundraisers to paying attention to the characters’ public appearances, to their goals to get the recognition they think they deserve. It wasn’t the main topic in the book, yet it was ever present with the campaign for Prime Minister being the timeline of the story.
The book of course had romance as well, both with the female love interest, and the male. Perks of being bisexual, I’d say. Due to the intricate story and intricate storytelling, the whole romance part was a bit complicated, but that made it all the more interesting to read and, to be honest, I think she should just end up with both, that solves the question of who to pick. We’ll see if the author agrees with me in the next book.
Tallie Rose really thought of everything in this world. Everyone’s goals are clear at a certain point in the book and everything makes sense. There is not a single mistake or plothole I could find, making it one of my favourite books so far. I can’t wait to see how the story progresses in the next book.
RATING: 
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