While in attendance at the university, a series of seemingly natural disasters have occurred in their homes. The band of students has set off to embark on a deadly journey in hopes of solving the mystery of the attacks.
–from the blurb about Through Hell & Highwater
The journey is very dangerous and their lives are at stake, but if they don’t try to do something, the lives of the entire world that they know could meet destruction. Of the group of students, Evyline initially turned out to be the most overlooked among the group because of her petite stature and mild-manners, but they, and many of the professors at Volo Noscere, are learning that little Evyline is more powerful than anyone anticipated.
Thank you so much to Victoria Liiv for providing me with a digital copy to review! You can check out her website here or find her on Instagram here.
Honestly, I absolutely love the “magical school” trope. A lot of my favorite series over the years have featured or still do feature it in some way or another. That’s why I was excited to read and review Through Hell & Highwater by Victoria Liiv; it takes place in a magical university, and I just couldn’t say no to that!
And, in the end, this book didn’t disappoint me! It was a fun, enjoyable read that I blew through in just a couple of days. But keep reading to find out more about why I liked this one!
Review
Firstly, I really liked all the different perspectives throughout the book! We got to see into the minds of so many different characters, which I loved. I definitely had my favorites and ones I didn’t like as much, but overall, I enjoyed most of the perspectives. There are a lot of different magical beings in this fictional world, and I think Liiv did an amazing job of bringing as many of them as possible into the central cast.
Honestly, the only character I disliked was Lisanna; I didn’t enjoy her brash, reckless personality, and I thought her story was the least interesting. But even then, I enjoyed the insights into shape-shifters she brought; so, she did have her positives.
This, I suppose, brings me to the topic of world-building. I genuinely liked Liiv’s portrayal of the different magical creatures. I think that’s something that’s difficult to manage when there are so many different books out there featuring vampires and werewolves and so forth. But Liiv kept a great balance of subverting and adhering to common tropes.
Though, I do want to mention that I think some of the long-winded descriptions could have been cut down. Although a lot of them had to do with describing the magical world, there were also some lengthy descriptions summarizing the characters’ actions. A lot of them were at the start of the book, though; so, it wasn’t a huge problem.
As for the plot in general, I definitely enjoyed it. It kept me interested and invested in the characters’ stories for the entirety of the book, so I really don’t have anything negative to say, here. Admittedly, it was a fairly basic “first book” plot, without too many complications, but I still enjoyed it. So, again, I don’t have any real complaints!
TL,DR Recommendation
All things considered, I recommend reading this one! It kept me interested and entertained, and I didn’t have any real issues with it. And if you do choose to give this one a chance, drop a comment down below and let me know your thoughts! I always love to hear them.
Also, if you enjoyed this review for Through Hell & Highwater, check out the recommended posts below or my full library of reviews for more similar content!
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