From the author of Through Hell and Highwater: In university Volo Noscere, located in Rome, the new academic year brings forth a lot of new challenges and questions. When the world becomes increasingly unpredictable, are humans the reason for it all, or is there more to it? Evyline and Lisanna believe there must be magic behind the changes. Tylon doesn't care about what doesn't affect him, and RocTar just wants to make it through the year without failing class. Like it or not, they get pulled into discovering what the world has in store for them.

Through Hell and Highwater is an imaginative fantasy story about a group of students studying magic at a university in Rome. Even though the university is set in a real place, the students are far from ordinary; for one thing, they aren’t human. Each character belongs to a different category of mythological creatures such as elves, shifters, orcs, and vampires. This presents a lot of interesting challenges as they live together at the university, but it also makes them a fascinating team.

The story is told from multiple points of view, with each section identifying the narrator. I liked meeting all the characters this way, but it was difficult to keep track of them at first! Once I got to know them better, I enjoyed how their names seemed to fit so perfectly with their personalities. Also, learning about their different motivations made them relatable and gave them depth. I appreciated how magic isn’t used in this story to make the characters all-powerful! They still have to confront their fears (allow me to direct your attention to the dragon on the book cover) and use their brains. Of course, magic plays a big part in their pursuit of their goals.

The plot of this story was interesting because it mentioned problems in the real world, which a lot of fantasy books obviously don’t do. I thought the story was fairly slow-paced in the first half of the book, mainly focusing on the interactions among the characters and their experiences at the university. Still, this laid a good foundation for the more action-packed second half of the book. At first, I thought the story was written with a young teen audience in mind, but some of the language was definitely for older readers. Also, the vampire romance subplot was kind of gross, but that’s just my personal opinion! I suspect many readers would find it intriguing.

Teens of all ages would probably enjoy reading Through Hell and Highwater. The overall message I got from the book is that everyone can contribute to solving problems if they’re willing to learn how to work together. I was happy to see there’s a sequel in the works. It will be interesting to see where the story goes next!

FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of the book reviewed above.

Born in 1995, Tallinn, Estonia. On a frosty winter day. A spark of joy in the midst of the darkest season.

Victoria is a second daughter to her mother. She and her sister had adventureful childhood, with lots of camping in the forest, running around like witches and faeries in nature and simply coming up with the silliest things to spend their time with. From her childhood, she got a deep connection with a forest and finds peace and joy in taking a walk among trees.

There were always two things she was passionate about: writing and architecture. Her mother was the one to say: "you can't make a career out of writing" so she had her education in architecture. After her studies she moved to the Netherlands, where her heart was calling out to her - she had met the love of her life through an online game she had spent a lot of her university time playing. Now they are living together in a big house, with a lovely garden, just a walk away from the forest. Victoria might write fantasy, but he is her magic.

You can learn more about Victoria’s writing on her blog and on Instagram.

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Help Me is the prequel to the Silvertree Series, now available on Amazon!