Title: Truest Mage
Author: May Ridge
Genre: Fantasy World
Length: Short (69pgs)
Publisher: Less Than Three Press (21st November 2012)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3 ½ Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: When Arion’s church gets one of the famed statues of judgment, the last thing he expects is for the statue to disrupt his life by activating his mage potential, and then telling him that the statue is actually a unicorn named Zephyr. Spurred on by the need to train his now active magic, and also from a sense of compassion, Arion lets Zephyr into his head, offering him a chance to find a way to free himself from his stone prison.
Purchase Link: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106_109&products_id=371
Or the Bestiary Vol 03 collection: http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=106_109&products_id=397
Review: Arion is an altar boy in the Truth Temple when the church receives one of the rare statues of judgment, Arion’s mage potential is activated, and he begins to have strange conversations with the judgment statue, a statue that believes it is a unicorn called Zephyr. Zephyr convinces Arion to help in releasing him from his stone prison, but the solution is harder to come by, and they have to turn to the mage Danel and his familiar partner, Sekani, for help with a spell.
This is a good fantasy that begins the world building of a series involving the capture and enslavement of a family of Unicorns. Arion is a good solid character who manages to fall in love with a Unicorn before he even truly meets him, he takes Zephyr into himself to help Zephyr get his horn back and to remove the spell on Zephyr, and falls in love with Zephyr’s essence. Zephyr learns about human emotions from Arion and in turn finds himself falling in love with Arion, but they have to escape from an assistant mage who wants power and money.
I quite enjoyed this short story and was very interested in the background building that I saw, I would have liked to have had that background more fleshed out, i.e. how the priests first became involved with the statues? Why are they hiding the truth? How have they kept the truth hidden for so long? but I have a feeling that we will get more information in future books. I must admit that at first I thought that there would be a love triangle. But, I discovered even though Arion did have an attraction to Danel, Arion had already fallen for Zephyr. Yes, I know, it leaves you in confusion as to why Danel had a large part in the story, but upon further investigation, I discovered that Danel will be appearing in future stories with the Unicorn brothers, so I expect that we will see his story at some point.
I will recommend this story to those who love fantasy, secrets hidden, a really good storyline, great characters, betrayal, freedom, and a happy ending with the promise of more to come in the future.