Tears of Min Brock - J.E. Lowder This review was first posted on Music, Books and TeaI honestly have no clue where to start my review. I haven’t read a lot of fantasy this year. I’m not a particularly huge fan of the genre, so a book has to sound really good for me to be interested in reading it. Let me say this: reading a book as good as Tears of Min Brock is making me want to grab every single fantasy book I possibly can and devour them.This book gripped me right from the very beginning, and when I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it.The action starts right from the beginning, and does not let up at all. I honestly don’t see how anyone could get bored reading a book like Tears of Min Brock, as there is always something interesting going on. If we’re not following Elabea and Galadin’s journey, we’re travelling with Newcomb and Lassiter, or we’re watching Brairtok receive news that his Ebon soldiers have been defeated once more. Any fantasy novel has a huge cast of characters, and it’s easy to get confused, but each character had a distinctive voice, and the story flowed well.As the story mainly centred around Elabea and Galadin, I became attached to these two characters the most. Elabea was desperate to escape her boring Allsbruth life, and when the opportunity arose, she took it. And Galadin, her loyal friend, accompanied her on that journey to the mystical land of Claire, all on a mysterious parchment shot onto their doors and by the words of Il-Lilliad, one of the last story-tellers ever. I found the concept of the story-tellers to be so cleverly thought-out and executed, and it was easy to see why the Cauldron feared them, because of the power they held by being able to read someone’s heart to discover all their secrets. It’s easy to see that Elabea will continue to grow and be an excellent story-teller, if her progress from Tears of Min Brock is anything to go by. And Galadin’s transformation into Romlin was just incredible. He went from being a boy, fiercely loyal yet still slightly ignorant to being a man, still loyal, but able to see what was expected of him more clearly. I loved these two characters so very much, and I cannot wait to see what is in store for them in the next two installments of the series!There are tons more things I could gush and praise about, but I honestly haven’t got the space to do so in this review. I can only encourage you to get yourself a copy of this book and read it. This has opened me up to a whole new genre that I’ve read very little of in the past, and if every fantasy book is nearly half as good as Tears of Min Brock, then I know I’m in for a treat. And finally, what was up with that ending?! Talk about a cliffhanger. I need the second book. Honestly. I might just have to re-read this one until I can get my hands on a copy! But if you want a fantastically written, well thought-out fantasy book, then this is the one that you want.I received this book in exchange for an honest review.