A Drop of Dream (Talented series #1)
Author: Amy Hopkins
4.5 out of 5 Stars
In a world where the Talented (those with magic) and non-talented live separately, Emma is a half-blood who just wants to sell her enchanted teas. But someone is killing half-bloods, and Emma is soon targeted. Knowing the police won’t put much effort into solving the murders, Emma will have to solve it herself. Soon after, she meets Harrod and Martin, two brothers who are also trying to stop the killer. Will they succeed, or will Emma’s weaker magic fail her when she needs it the most?
I really liked this book. It was very well-written with a good pace and flow. And I was easily drawn into it. The world-building was very well done and avoided too much info-dumping. A lot of it was done naturally through learning about the characters. The world is also in a moment of change as the Talented are becoming more open to the non-talented and half-bloods, so it’s more natural to describe how things have always been in comparison to how they’re now changing. The overall plot was intriguing, especially when Emma is targeted and we learn more about how the victims have been killed.
The characters were very well-written. Emma connects easily with people. She has a lot of determination and is easy to root for. Her anxiety about getting involved in the talented community as a half-blood and her fears about being targeted are realistic. She’s protected by Gibble, a boggart who’s bound to her family, but he’s especially attached to and protective of Emma. Harrod is sometimes arrogant, and Martin can be a bit oblivious, but you can tell they care and just want to help stop the murders. The side characters were also well-written and interesting.
There were some minor editing mistakes, including misspellings and a formatting error in one chapter. There were also a few instances where things were worded in a confusing way. However, these mistakes were not enough for me to take more than a half a star, and everything else was so good that I’m rating it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Current price through Amazon Kindle: $3.99
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DKCCYNT
(I do not benefit from the use of this link.)