The Goblets Immortal

December 16, 2019
Overmyer (Circus in a Shot Glass) fails to deliver on the promising premise of this slow-moving series opener. Six goblets grant magic powers to anyone who drinks from them. Once protected by a group of magic users called the Circle, the goblets are now lost. Aidan is one of the Blest, the revered offspring of former Circle members, but he lives with the crushing guilt of having unintentionally used his powers to make his family disappear when he was a child. Aidan’s seemingly impossible hopes of getting his family back are kindled when the dangerous mage Meraude appears to him in a dream and offers a bargain: if Aidan finds her the Questing Goblet, one of the six, Meraude will return Aidan’s family. Aidan embarks on a wild-goose chase while skirting another enemy, Lord Dewhurst, who has put a price on his head. Overmyer’s plot is dense and well-constructed, but a sluggish opening makes it difficult to invest in the characters and will lose impatient readers before the story picks up. The conclusion, meanwhile, leaves too many threads dangling. Epic fantasy fans will be disappointed.

December 1, 2019
Years ago, Aiden Ingledark lost his family in troubling circumstances that still haunt him in adulthood. Aiden is Blest, and therefore has magical abilities that even he does not entirely understand. Magic is rare and feared, making any information about the Goblets, the source of magical powers, tough to come by. Aiden will stop at nothing to get his family back, even aiding a mysterious mage who promises she can help him if he does what she wants. But as Aiden journeys through strange lands, he gains new information that makes him question everything. Overmyer has written a strong series opener with a strong supporting cast of characters; in fact, one of the novel's strengths is that the secondary characters are just as engaging as Aiden. Readers will want to discover more about Slaine and her background as well as about the seer and how she obtained her knowledge. Packed full of adventure and ending with a cliffhanger that leaves readers anxiously awaiting a sequel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)