The Rules of Enchantment by Wendy Tardieu Book Review

I recently had the pleasure of being offered a review copy of The Rules of Enchantment by Wendy Tardieu, so I want to thank TCK Publishing for allowing me to construct an honest review.

The Rules of Enchantment by Wendy Tardieu | Buy from Amazon US | Buy from Amazon UK

About The Rules of Enchantment

Premise

An exiled sorcerer named Leith aims to overthrow the magical restrictions put in place by the Academy of magic. The Academy suspects what Leith aims to do and decides to send a beautiful young scribe, named Kyler, to become his apprentice and double as their spy.

Leith tries to scare her away by showing her his dark side, but he discovers that Kyler is more gifted than he ever suspected. As he begins to teach her a thing or two about magic, they become romantically involved and join forces to fulfill a prophecy that will grant them incredible power.

My Thoughts

With The Rules of Enchantment being marketed as a short erotic fantasy, my expectations were a little different going into it. I thought the romance part would be the most prominent piece of the story. But instead, we’re given a beautifully written piece fantasy where the erotic parts are merely a small snapshot of the story.

The book starts with members of the academy voicing their concerns over the powerful sorcerer that is Leith. They believe he spends his days figuring out how to get past the academy’s restrictions and unlock his full power. And they’re right. So they come up with the plan to send in a young, beautiful scribe named Kyler to become Leith’s apprentice. Giving her the plan of distracting him and reporting back to the academy. We also learn here that one of the other members of the academy named Rowan harbors some feelings for Kyler.

What I noticed first, was just how beautiful and precise the prose was. This is a well edited piece of work that feels like a valid piece of fantasy fiction. I could tell it was more than just a short piece of erotic fantasy the moment I read through the poetic descriptions of settings and characters.

When Kyler enters Leith’s premises, she’s quickly shown a cold shoulder by the man. But Kyler’s strength of character, and her hidden talents, soon attract Leith to the point he begins to seriously take her under his wing. They soon cross the boundaries of teacher and pupil, and this is when the romance on the book kicks off.

It takes about 60 pages into this 150 page book before we get the first kiss. And from then on, we get a series of love scenes that seem to come and go fairly quickly. And right after these love scenes, the reader is led towards the final act. By the end of it, you begin to feel like the books length may have made things feel slightly rushed.

As someone who is writing fantasy currently, I know just how meaty a story can be when you’re including so much world-building and so much of the uncanny. And with this first-hand experience of fantasy writing, I can say I’m super impressed by what Wendy Tardieu has accomplished with The Rules of Enchantment. Despite the fact that the end comes quickly after the peak of romance, the author was able to pack in so much detail on the kingdom of Salyndria in 150 pages. I would be very surprised if we don’t see more of this world, and I actively want to learn more.

Verdict

Even though the ending of The Rules of Enchantment is abrupt, this is a pleasant read that should be given a chance, especially considering that it’s short length makes it easy to fit in around meatier books. Wendy Tardieu has also proved that she’s a worthy writer in the fantasy space.