2.75

For me, The Seventh Sister was a case of so much potential but sadly underwhelming. It certainly isn’t a dark fantasy in my understanding but it might be a good read for those who usually like the more cozy books and want to venture a bit.


PLOT
The story started off good and intriguing, had me emotionally invested too. Until around the second third when I suddenly didn’t know what the goal was anymore. There was talk about plans but the FMC never acted as if she actually wanted to pursue them. Instead, the book that started off as fantasy with the potential for dark fantasy, turned into an almost cozy story of book clubs, yoga classes and shopping.

I didn’t HATE the story or the way it progressed, I just really think it missed the mark somehow.


CHARACTERS
I feel like none of the main characters - who admittedly got thrown together in an interesting constellation that made for naturally occurring conflicts - got quite the space and depth they deserved. Because the concept of Ertha and especially the male characters was really good!

Sadly, even though I really wanted to, until the very end, I personally didn’t feel any chemistry between the FMC and any male character. Even those that were clearly placed as potential love interests, even when her words wanted to tell me otherwise.


WRITING
Overall, the book was a case of telling rather than showing, I think.
The lyrical style is one I usually like and is done well most of the time, although it almost felt like it was concealing where the story fell a bit flat.

I did love the world building, the lore and overall construct and I do think that, if the characters get the necessary development in book two, this could turn out pretty good after all.

While I realize that this review sounds rather negative, I really, REALLY did enjoy parts of the story and it started off strong and ended in a way that regained some of my interest. And even though it wasn’t for me, I am sure this is a book that many will love, especially for the vibe.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and M.A. Brown of an ALC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the audio ARC!

This one didn’t land for me. I think the author has a really strong grasp of writing and was often impressed by her prose, however the storyline feels disjointed and lacking a clear plan. Many plot points feel either unearned or pointless to the main story. While there’s good bones here (mainly in the world building surrounding the gods), we are missing character elements that could set this book apart from the mass influx of Romantasy books flooding the market. I also feel that a bit more editing could eliminate some of what is hurting the pace- we could do for a little less about dresses.

The audiobook narrator is fantastic and the music throughout was a nice touch.

Starting this audiobook it felt like I was immersed in an unexpected epic story tale with goddess, angels and demons. And the first chapters where actually providing that same premise, and I was hooked with the story and what it can provide, but as the story progress so did my disinterest with the story.

I think my major issue with this book was they things where happening constantly and yet if felt the story and plot was going nowhere, every plot point got us nowhere and for more that I advance with the story I felt o never was properly introduce with this whole new fantasy world, first book in a series are supposed to gave us the introduction we need to make it easy for the next books to navigate said world, yeah finished the audiobook without actually understanding how it worked.

One of the good sides the audio narration was MARVELLOUS, the narrator did an amazing work not only giving voice to the FMC but all the other characters have unique voices. That’s truly a great work.
The music in the background for specific scenes was a nice touch.

I just finished an ALC from NetGalley of The Seventh Sister by @writer.m.a.brown and narrated by @jaccipriornarrator and honestly I couldn’t pause it. It literally was torture to have to go to bed and then have to work before I could finish it…… because the ending I did not see coming…. Like at all. I ate it up.

This is a book I would definitely recommend to the world building girlies. There is magic, gods, tension that will leave you screaming, and one of my absolute favorite tropes that hit just right 🤌🏻

However - there is a cliffhanger……… and it left me staring at the ceiling wonder wtf I was supposed to do next because I was so enthralled by this book.

I was lucky to get an ARC of this through NetGalley. Thank you to the author and publisher for a chance to read this! I requested the audiobook and I believe that was both a blessing and a curse.

First, the narrator is fantastic. She does an excellent job of changing voices for characters, she was expressive, it was an excellent production. Only portion I did not like was the music between chapters, as it was always the same and did not always match the mood. Hopefully that is not in the final version.

On the other hand, I think i definitely missed something with the audiobook. I have seen other creators talk about a glossary? I think that would have maybe helped?

Whether it was the lack of the glossary or the overly flowery prose, I never felt fully immersed in the story. The descriptions? CHEF’S KISS. But it may have been to the detriment of the pace and flow of this story. Maybe I was so distracted by my mind movie I was pulled from what was actually happening.

That being said, I found myself not being able to care about the characters. The FMC is mature but seemed without flaw and I don’t think I totally felt her development. The MMC had some 🚩🚩🚩 moments that definitely did not help.

Overall, the idea, the cover, the audiobook production were fantastic. I think the story just fell short for me.

Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for an audiobook ARC of this book for an honest review.

The Seventh Sister may appeal to people who like the tone of Bridge Kingdom or are looking to cross into a romantasy with more lore that roots with the world’s gods. The first person POV gets us in the head of our protagonist making the exposition pretty legible and easy to take on as we learn her biases, and her place as a disguised healer in this religious society.
I like a lot how she loses time while she’s healing, it’s an interesting catch to her gift. It’s also different that she is a healer instead of a soldier/trained assassin. The all powerful, very combat skilled plot armored fmc is someone I easily come to love, but this reworked angle is appreciated. I think unfortunately the atmospheric descriptions and settings are a bit generic throughout and not super specific to this world especially. It could be any magical world.
Additionally, though this is an adult fiction book, made clear with its darker tone in the way men objectify her and the explicit nature of the relationships, some of it reads like YA. I think the parts where Ertha is very blatantly in denial remind me of the beginning of a teen novel where the 16/17 year old is just learning of societal ignorances and denial of how they do or do not fall into that pattern.
The jailer/prisoner thing going on here is, maybe just not fully my thing. I love a defiant girl in the face of just a dude acting like a regular modern guy. There’s something silly about it that can be charming. I can also get behind an enemies to lovers , forced proximity trope combo if done in a compelling way that creates tension. However, this felt more like a bully romance where the man had more power like in all ways and felt a little less of an organic connection and more like a real power imbalance. It’s not instalove which I appreciate! But the minute Fenris started flirting, Ertha had reactions to his tones in voice and winking and all that. Which wasn’t super unrealistic but also I don’t think I believed for a second that he was repulsed by her despite her inner monologue. I also do not completely understand Fenris I think. He is supposed to be extremely opaque and mysterious but I was left wanting when answering the question “why does she feel drawn to him?”
The book focuses on beginnings of this new world and then a series of “a day in the life”s, almost making it paced like a cozy romance, but some really harrowing moments make it quite dark. I can’t say I’m always into a huge moving constant plot, but if the plot is going to be a more inconsistent, I really need a unique character that involves emotional stakes, connection, making that character deserving of their main status. For a large middle part of the story, this violent world felt removed, granting less context and urgency to Ertha’s small bubble. And the things that move the plot forward kind of drag with a lot of things being hinted at and starting without many things getting accomplished.

All in all it was a pretty standard romantasy from my perspective. A lot is set up in this book for presumably a sequel that might follow through more thoroughly. 3/5 stars

Review also posted to Goodreads, StoryGraph, and Fable

Oh wow! This was a fantastic fantasy filled with unique world building, captivating magic, engaging characters, deceit, and mystery.... I didn't know much about this story, only that Jacci Prior was the narrator and I have always enjoyed the books she narrates. Besides the story being excellent, the narration pulled me in, making me feel like I was there. All of the different characters and their accents were done so well, I didn't realize it was all the same narrator.
Overall excellent story, excellent narration. I Can't wait for book 2.

Starting with what I liked: The world is rich with unique elements, and it’s clear the author put a lot of thought into the lore and deeper themes. There’s a complexity to the setting that makes it stand out in the fantasy genre, and the way certain ideas are explored hints at a well-constructed backstory.

The narrator absolutely delivers, switching seamlessly between character voices and bringing a lot of life to the dialogue. Her performance really elevates the listening experience and helps anchor the story even when the pacing wavers.

That said, now the parts I didn't enjoy: the same song playing at the beginning of each chapter quickly became distracting and repetitive. It pulled me out of the story more often than it enhanced the atmosphere. On top of that, the pacing felt uneven throughout. Sometimes, the overly detailed description slows the narrative down considerably. It seems like the writing leans hard into worldbuilding at the expense of momentum.

Genre-wise, although it's marketed as epic dark romantasy, it doesn't quite get there. It feels more like a traditional fantasy with some dark moments rather than a true dark fantasy. And as for the romantic subplot, I was hoping for more emotional tension and build-up. There are a few open-door scenes dropped in, but without the yearning or chemistry leading up to them, they felt more random than rewarding.

Overall, there's potential here, and the audiobook has strengths—especially the narrator—but the story itself felt a little uneven and didn’t fully deliver on what the premise suggested.

Thank you to NetGalley, M.A. Brown, and Victory Editing for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. The beautiful cover drew me right in followed by the description.

The narrator did a wonderful job! She speaks clearly and the emotion in her voice fits the story well. As a neurodivergent person, I found the periodic music a little distracting. This didn’t occur too often, thankfully.

Overall, I really enjoyed the plot and many interesting characters. I especially loved many of the side characters. I appreciated the immersive world building and fairytale vibes. I was addicted pretty early on and continued guessing what would happen next throughout the book. I cannot wait to read the second in the series when it’s released. This was a great start and I need to know what happens next!

Publication Date: August 06, 2025
#TheSeventhSister #NetGalley

Link to review on Fable: https://fable.co/review/957a9e51-ade0-4841-9a26-91b92f81abf1/share

Link to review on Goodreads: Check out this review!

Thanks Netgalley for the audiobook for me to review.

First off, I love the female narrator. She has such a pleasant voice to listen to. However I do wish this was a dual narration for there is lots of characters within this story with similar accents. Especially when it came to the men. So a male narrator would have benefited the story.

For the story itself, I was skeptical in the beginning just because it seemed like this was going to be not that many twists, but I was gladly wrong! The ending very much made me interested to see where this story will go in the next instalment. I am very likely to re-read this though before reading the second book since I was lost on a few things in the middle just simply because I work while I listen and got a bit distracted. But thats a fault on my end.

There is some spice in this, but not a lot and it is mostly near the end. I do think, and hope, that there will be a lot more spice in the second book given that this book gave the reader a lot of start up to the world and its plot.

This book started out strong and immediately pulled me in with an intriguing premise and vivid setting. The initial chapters had a great sense of mystery and tension, and I was excited to see where the story would go. The central theme of balance had a lot of potential, and there were some really interesting ideas woven into the world.

Unfortunately, as the story progressed, it started to lose momentum for me. The pacing became uneven, with long stretches that felt like they dragged. Some plot points were fairly predictable, which made the twists land with less impact than I think they were meant to. I also found that while a few character dynamics really worked and felt compelling, the more important relationships lacked depth or emotional weight, which was disappointing.

One of the bigger issues for me was the writing style. It leaned heavily into description, sometimes to the point where it felt like the author was more focused on creating beautiful prose than telling a cohesive story. That, combined with the inconsistent pacing, made it hard to stay fully engaged. I also found myself unsure of what the protagonist truly wanted for most of the book. There was a vague sense of needing to escape, but the character’s motivations and goals didn’t become clear until very late in the story.

That said, there were things I enjoyed. The world had a lot of interesting elements, and you can tell the author put real thought into the lore and themes. It just needed more structure and clarity to really shine.
The music is in the audiobook felt really distracting. Either make it a dramatized version or a regular one. It felt like it was trying to be both.

Overall, this was a mixed read for me. It had moments of promise and creativity, but the lack of focus and uneven execution held it back. A solid 3 out of 5.

I really enjoyed this story, but I found the audiobook hard to follow. I was very confused at times with the world building. Sometimes, I think fantasy is hard to follow in an audiobook, and this is one of those cases. I really liked the FMC, but wanted a little more romance. I will continue the series, but will do so on my Kindle, not an audiobook.

I'm sorry, but this book is really not for me. And I think the audiobook is mostly to blame.

I really hate when audiobooks do that thing where they have music or sound effects. This had music that started and ended the chapters and for some reason that drives me nuts. It pulls me right out of the story. I also did not really like the narrator's voice at all and I hated the "accents" she tried to put on. If you cannot do accents well, don't do them. Hire someone with that accent if it's that important. (I really do not think the accents were important to this story at all, it just took away from my listening experience since they were so awkwardly done.)

I do love this cover though, I think it is just so pretty and soft and ethereal.

There was also a very strange use of metaphors. Nothing was said as it simply was, everything was a metaphor. Don't get me wrong, I love a good metaphor, but this took it too far (they were also lame metaphors).

My biggest problem with the writing of this book would probably have to be the characters. They were so flat and went through no growth in this entire book. That just made the book feel so stagnant and flat overall, it felt so monotone.

The premise of this book sounded so good, but the execution really fell so flat. It needed more rounds of edits or something. This just wasn't for me. I can tell this author is a fantasy person, but I just prefer more feeling to my fantasy reads.

Sorry that this is such a harsh-sounding review, it's just how this book left me feeling upon first finishing it. I am sure plenty of readers will enjoy this book, but I am picturing those readers being much younger than I am and much newer to the genre. When you've read as many books as I have, you just get particular, I guess.

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

ARC
Thanks, Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook before its released.

This book has everything that I like, a really good world building, great characters that felt so real, each one of them (I loved the FMC) the magic system is interesting, we are learning about it at the same time as our main character

I have so many questions for book 2, can't wait.
I know that this is a book that I'm going to re-read soon

And about the audio:
I really enjoy the narrator's voice, the changes that she made with her voice to let us know who was talking in every moment, it made me love this story even more thanks to the narrator, I listened to "x2" coz I felt normal speed was too slow for me, but that is my preference.

This audiobook has some sound effects, at the beginning and ending of each chapter and at the moments when it's music in the story...

I did not finish this. I couldn't stand the female mc. Also, why yoga in this setting? I just couldn't make myself finish it. I'll rate it 2 stars just for the narrator.

This book had an interesting premise. It felt part dystopian and part fantasy. The story tells the story of Eartha who is a Princess training to be a healer who is really a witch. She is kidnapped and finds out the gods are moving her around like pieces on a chessboard. There is an element of romance but it is small by comparison as the story focuses primarily on building the mystery/ laying breadcrumbs for the inevitable conflict. I enjoyed the book but there was a lot of side stories, little breadcrumbs that took a whole chapter. It felt really drawn out.
The narrator did a great job. My only complaint about the audio is that they randomly played music in some parts that didn’t feel like it made sense.

Thank you NetGalley and M.A. Brown for providing me an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this captivated me and had me so excited to read it! The artwork on the cover is stunning. I went into this with high hopes, especially as the narrator did an amazing job (a new favorite of mine?) and I thought the music in the beginning and at the start of each chapter was a nice touch.

Unfortunately, the story fell very flat and didn't hold my interest. The concept was cool, but I don't think it was unique enough to stand out from other popular romantasy series out there. Maybe this was the essential build up first book and the second book will captivate me ore, but for now this is one I wouldn't reach for (or press play) again soon.

Thank you NetGalley and Victoria Editing for the audio arc !

Dnf at 48%…

I really tried to get into the story multiple times but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t care about the fmc and the story. Tbh I didn’t even understand some of the most important things until here so I don’t think this book is for me unfortunately…
I still don’t know who is our love interest tbh. We have this dude who met the fmc like an hour ago but is acting like he’s been in love with her for ages although its clear to everyone excluding the fmc that he’s a charlatan 😐 and another dude who kinda cares but at the same time doesn’t care about her? At the beginning I was kinda hyped by him but now I don’t even like him, he’s kinda useless.
Can someone explain to me why they were doing yoga like it’s something totally normal in a fantasy book?

The audiobook narrator did really a great job but unfortunately the book was a bit complicated to fully comprehend solemnly while listening. The music at the beginning of the chapters and some other parts were a good idea.

ALC REVIEW

This reads as a very classic, vaguely Viking, indie romantasy. The prose are lovely, the tone is darker and the plot is more politically centered than I was expecting. There is a love triangle but being a seasoned reader it feels pretty clear who the choice will be… World building is a little clunky and it does feel like a debut...

I think one of the strongest elements of this book is the detail that went into describing her healing powers. This feels so well researched and this book will go down as having the most realistic birth on page that I have ready in a fantasy!

POV - single
World - vaugly Viking
Magic - healing power (there is more but - spoiler!)
Brain Power - easy to follow
💧Emotional Damage - no tears for me
Romance and Swoon - it gets there. The love 🔼 seems less triangle to me? Maybe I’ve read too much romantasy. When does she ever not choose the dark haired broody one with all the secrets?
🔥🔥🔥🔥- a bit in that slow burn way
Audio - very good
Kindle Unlimited - yes
Special Editions - none but the regular cover is so so lovely

Over all ⭐️ Rating - ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 for its potential to grow and spin into something super special.

This story follows Ertha, a healer stuck in an enemy kingdom, who’s trying to figure out whether to trust the king’s shady right-hand man or the nice soldier sworn to keep her safe. She’s also on a journey of self-discovery while surviving in a kingdom she was forcefully brought to. It’s a single POV, slow-burn romantasy and the first in a duet.

I loved how our FMC comes across soft and gentle at first, but turns out to be quietly powerful. The Norse-inspired setting was lush and unique and wasn’t hard to get into, especially with Jacci’s brilliant narration + the immersive background music & sound effects that kept me engaged. Was it spicy though? Hmm I’d give it 🌶🌶 and there’s definitely some tension and plot! I loved how it ended, even with that cliffhanger!😩

Thank you to the author for the ALC! I had the best time with this book and looking forward to the next one in the series!