A shadowed past. A vengeful goddess. What price will Gwyn pay to discover her destiny?

Wrenched from her mundane life as a herbalist’s apprentice, teenage orphan Gwyn learns she is hunted by an ancient goddess.

For seventeen years she’s been protected by her guardian, hidden away like a dark secret. But suddenly, she is thrust into the care of some unlikely companions, pursued by wizards and confronted by the dangerous powers she’s spent her life suppressing…

Now, Gwyn finds herself drawn into a deep and ancient tale – one of lost magic, truths long-buried, and the rising of a war she never could have imagined.

Amazon Link: The Ninth Sorceress (The Price of Magic #1)
Author: Bonnie Wynne
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Rating: 4/5 stars

The story used a split timeline which defused some of the tension because I already knew where the main character, Gwyn, was going to end up. But at the same time, it was trying to keep a twist secret, but it didn’t do a great job. (There are similar fantasy books with plots about the true origins of magic which made it easy to guess.) The setting was a little unique but it lacked in detail. It tried too hard to do multiple new things at the same time and muddied the story. Was the focus on Gwyn learning the truth about the magic gods or on the sorceresses?

Because of the back and forth in the timelines and memories, it was hard to read. I almost quit and didn’t finish at a few points. It got a little better at the end when everything was revealed, so I thought I would give the second book a chance–but it went right back to the same weird structure and I didn’t make it very far.

I wouldn’t recommend this book because it’s roughly done, but I’ll say that it’s similar to epic mythological fantasy like N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy and the Shadow Twins series by Luke Tarzian.