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Stephanie Cotta hails from beautiful Southern Oregon where she resides in a quaint, historic mining town. Growing up, she spent much of her time delving into every new Star Wars book she could get her hands on, which all began at age nine when she bought The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton at a garage sale for a quarter. Her love of Star Wars and Sci-Fi/fantasy has been undying ever since. A fine arts major in college, she first embarked into the literary world as a children's book illustrator, then leapt over to the realm of storytelling when she could no longer repress the urge to write the fantasy stories running wild in her imagination. When she's not steeped in writing, she's launching arrows at hay bales, drawing with pastels, reading fantasy, playing an immersive RPG, or watching the latest BBC historical drama.
Reviewed by Nicholus Schroeder for Readers' Favorite
The Conjurer's Curse is a fantasy by Stephanie Cotta. In the village of Karahvel lived a boy with skin as pale as the moonlight and with eyes as crimson as a raging inferno. Rowan was an outcast because of his unique appearance but his guardian mothers cared for the lad, regardless of his appearance. They taught him to weave, hunt, and most importantly, to love instead of giving in to blind hatred. Rowan had to endure the stares, ridicule, and discrimination all his life. At the age of 17, however, he had to endure a pain far worse than what being an outcast threw at him. His guardian mother had passed away, whilst he had been toiling away in the fields. Naja was his fourth guardian mother to die before her time, and that detail didn’t escape the villagers. The villagers wanted Rowan to be banished from Karahvel as they claimed he was cursed. The chieftain had to fulfill their request because those close to Rowan kept dying well before their time. Rowan then left the village he called home and set out to seek his true mother who had abandoned him as a baby and to find a way to break the curse. Join Rowan on his journey to break free from his curse at any cost.
I enjoyed The Conjurer's Curse wholeheartedly! What I found remarkable about Stephanie Cotta's story is that it could stand on its own without the fantasy elements, even without the magic, lore, and the alluring world that Stephanie had created. The fantasy elements served to complement a well-written and gratifying story. The plot was polished and the consistency between the events was present throughout the book. I liked Rowan. He was the type of character that you simply can't dislike. He had his hilarious moments and was, overall, a kind but also flexible character. He wasn't a cardboard cutout or one-dimensional at all. The other characters had depth to them as well. The fight scenes were incredible. Their choreography didn’t come off as half-hearted and Stephanie described the various battles clearly. Overall, this book was well worth my time, and I recommend it to readers who long for a fantasy with a memorable plot. I believe such readers will love this book as well.
