Clare L. Deming

House of Blight is the first book in The Threadmender Chronicles by author Maxym M. Martineau and will be published on April 8, 2025. I received an advance copy courtesy of NetGalley. I previously read part of this author’s earlier series – Kingdom of Exiles – and you can find my review of that book here (paid links).

Here is the blurb:

Edira Brillwyn is a threadmender. She holds a rare, lifesaving power that can cure disease and heal injuries in the blink of an eye. But magic always comes with a cost, and saving anyone sacrifices a sliver of her own life. She’s always kept her abilities hidden…until the powerful Fernglove family discovers her secret.

The Ferngloves are charming and beautiful, possess powerful magic, and don’t take no for an answer—especially Orin, the head of these ruling elites. When Edira’s brothers unexpectedly contract blight—an incurable virus killing people throughout the town, and an illness too strong for her to heal them both—Orin offers to help. Together at his estate they’ll research a cure while Orin slows their sickness and Edira hones her magic. His kindness and honesty surprises Edira, as does her undeniable attraction to him.

But the other Ferngloves are suspicious of her power and may be more dangerous than the ever-present disease. The longer Edira stays within the confines of the Manor, the more the family’s pristine exterior begins to crack—until Edira discovers a terrifying secret and must choose who she can save and at what cost…

I found many aspects of this book to be promising, but overall it didn’t come together for me. I loved how the author portrayed Edira’s threadmending magic, and how she had to hide herself from everyone except for her family at the opening of the story. I found the Blight to be a terrifying affliction at the outset, but as I learned more about this world, the Blight made less sense to me. It was presumably a very contagious magical infection, but it didn’t seem to behave consistently. I did love the cover design and felt like it fit the story and atmosphere of the book well.

The Evers struck me as an elf-fae hybrid, common to much of the current romantasy genre. The author gives them a unique creation mythology and I liked how each family had their own form of magic. However, as Edira adjusted to her new role among them and acknowledged that Orin seemed attracted to her, I found this reaction from the Ever to be unconvincing. Other than giving the Evers some attitude, I wasn’t sure why she was “different” to him. I don’t want to say more on this aspect to avoid spoilers.

I didn’t feel like the other characters were very well developed either. The two younger Evers act out like spoiled teenagers and bully Edira when she first arrives. But after their punishment is over, Edira seems to earn their friendship too easily. The Evers have human servants, but the one who helps Edira tries to communicate danger by giving her mysterious looks and gestures, leaving Edira in a frustrating situation which could have been easily solved with a few words.

The pacing of this novel was also uneven. I felt like Edira pondered her situation and didn’t do much for most of the book. In the last 20%, things finally started to move along.

I though this was a stand-alone, but it looks like the first book in a series. It does wrap up enough of the story in this first book that you could be satisfied with the ending without reading more. However, I don’t think I’ll be continuing with this series. I do still plan to finish reading the author’s other series.

You can find more of by book reviews here.