I have to admit, I spent a fair amount of this story kind of confused (and annoyed at teenagers, but that's definitely more on me than the book itself), but overall this is a fascinating world the author has built. This is essentially a good versus evil story, but wrapped up in a different cloak of rebirth, immortality, and magic. Instead of angels and demons, we have light and dark mages, we have a contract of sorts for a soul, and we have the kind of stupid teenage antics that make sense for high schoolers, even ones that have been teens for centuries.

This one just wasn't for me. The character kind of irritated me from the get-go, and so I put it down for a while to see if it was just the mood I was in. Nope. Even when I picked it back up, I just found it to be a bit of a slog for me so DNFing this one. I think it was a little immature and I found myself a bit frustrated; perhaps this is more for someone else.

This one just wasn't for me. The character kind of irritated me from the get-go, and so I put it down for a while to see if it was just the mood I was in. Nope. Even when I picked it back up, I just found it to be a bit of a slog for me so DNFing this one. I think it was a little immature and I found myself a bit frustrated; perhaps this is more for someone else.

This was a very Y/A book for me, it personally was just not for me, just too young. I do enjoy the Y/A genre this felt targeted at a much younger audience. It was not an unejoyable read but for me it felt like too many tangents with the story, less is more someties for me.

Wow. I really was not expecting to enjoy Spell Tracker as much as I did.
First of all, what an awesome concept! Antient Roman guardian angel, meets reincarnation with a sprinkle of gay.
This was so entertaining and I literally read it under 24 hours!
Avi, the main character was so sweet and I was rooting for him and Devin the whole time.
My only complaint with this is that I wish there'd been more explanation in the beginning but other then that I got totally lost in the story and found it really entertaining.

Honestly, I think the blurb is a tad misleading. Luca is thousands of years old. His form is forever trapped in the body of a 17 year-old, however. He’s a guardian, a class of angel destined to help souls in trouble to find their way into a good life path. The more success he has at this noble pursuit, the more power Luca can attain, which could help him break loose of the cycle he is in.

Luca makes a bargain with the Spell Tracker, a shadow mage who oversees a guardian’s great trial–Luca’s newest and most difficult assignment. Luca’s mission is to assist a soul he’s known before. In fact, this soul–now reincarnated in a teen girl’s body, is that of the first boy Luca ever loved. Luca had helped this boy to train for battle the Colosseum in Ancient Rome, where they were both slave-combatants. Luca’s final act as a human was to save the life of the boy he loved–which graduated him to guardian status.

The story is set in a modern day school, and the Spell Tracker has set the rule that Luca cannot leave the school he attends. It’s not a boarding school, so he has to hide out there in unused offices, etc. Luca has to befriend Cass, the girl who bears his former love’s soul, but it isn’t easy. She’s the most distrusting girl in the school–shattered by her father’s infidelity and her mother’s grief. Devin, Cass’s half-brother, takes an immediate liking to Luca–and it’s hard for Luca to resist the sweet boy who happens to be an unknowing light mage. Luca endeavors to get Cass to examine her past, but she’s resistant. Devin also tries to assist her, but she thinks he’s a liar–and their previous friendship is buried in bitter animosity.

Meanwhile, the Spell Tracker has always planned to harvest Cass’s soul–and he’s not below tricking Luca in order to do it. The climax is a little confusing, in that Luca wants to sacrifice himself to save both Cass’s and Devin’s souls–and Devin wants to save Luca and Cass. Cass would sacrifice herself, but her soul is already bound in contract. There’s a lot going on including teleportation, visiting past lives, reincarnation, the angelic host intervening, and a slippery shadow mage not living up to the spirit or letter of his contracts.

The end is happy, with all favorable parties finding a satisfactory solution to the soul swap. Cass gains back memories of her previous lives–and a new purpose to pursue. Luca and Devin find their love is strong enough to start fresh and build a solid bond. There’s a lot of history in this story–which was a little bogging on the pace. Also, Luca and Cass have two names, one for now and one for then, and that was a bit confusion. There’s a bit of typical teen drama about who is sleeping with whom, and those moments got catty I might have had an eye-roll or three as it seemed drama-for-drama’s-sake. There will be another story and I think I’d read on, just to see how everyone fares.

actual rating: 2.5

This wasn't necessarily a bad book - and that's why I rounded up instead of down - but it definitely seemed slightly unfinished and also wasn't really what I was expecting from the summary. The rest of the review does contain spoilers, but I'll just say if you want a straight-forward M/M romance without a lot of weird info-dumps then this probably isn't the book for you.

This book does have an interesting concept with the guardians and the spell-tracker and everything but after reading the book I'm not sure I really UNDERSTAND it all, and I feel like I should because there was definitely a lot of explanation ...but it was shoe-horned in pretty awkwardly so sometimes I did find myself zoning out. Like I'm still not sure WHY the spell-tracker is trying to stop Luca from helping people? Is that just ...his entire job? Because it seemed like he worked for the same people Luca did so like ...why do they have one person trying to help people and then another people trying to stop them? Was it supposed to be some kind of biblical allegory but with aliens? Because if it was then I don't think it really worked ...

Then you've got the romance aspect. The romance is NOT between the main character and the guy he was with in ancient Rome. That person has been reincarnated as a girl and the main character ends up falling in love with her brother. Again, there is nothing really wrong with this ...but the summary makes it seem like it's going to be a reincarnation / soul-mates kind of story and it definitely isn't.

Overall there were some funny and cute parts, the basic concept was unique, and the writing itself was not bad - although sometimes the plot was confusing - so I don't feel bad giving it 3 stars, but I don't think I will continue with the series. There's just too much going on that wasn't explained well and I also didn't really connect with any of the characters.

This was not at all what I was hoping for. In theory it's a great idea. It wasn't executed in the best way. I spent a lot of my time wondering what was going on, who the characters were and tracking the dialogue. I'm going to be honest, this was a DNF for. If it causes that many issues in the beginning, I'm not going to force myself to keep reading to see if it gets better.

Luca has a problem his magic can’t solve. The boy he’s loved since they fought side-by-side as gladiators in Ancient Rome is about to die for the last time. Luca's only chance to prevent it is to make a deal with the Spell Tracker, who demands Luca’s own life as collateral.

…with the help of the Spell Tracker, Luca is earthbound again for real as a high school senior. The boy he’s here to save is nothing like he expected, and before long his head and his heart are all over the place, as well as his intended rescue. The Spell Tracker can hardly wait for him to fail. The life of this particular Light Mage is something he’s wanted for a very long time.

Spell Tracker, the first book in the Light Mage series, is a contemporary fantasy story with time travel, m/m romance, and no cliffhanger. Recommended for 14+
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I requested this book but I thought the premise was interesting. I am a sucker for a good magic/fantasy novel. I also loved the relationship between Avi and Devin.

The execution of the book was a bit off and unfortunately knocked it down a couple stars.

The book was short and probably could have benefited from a few extra pages. It is not really explained that Avi’s Ancient Roman love (Cass/Leander) is about to die for the last time as the reason he enters the contract with the Spell Tracker.

There were also quite a few inconsistencies that drove me a bit batty.

Text messaging: Avi mentions how only the Spell Tracker send him texts then literally two paragraphs later he gets a text from Devin.

Chapter or so later and his phone buzzes and he thinks it’s Cass but it is Spell Tracker

Then there was the fact that Cass is a female reincarnation of a male, Leander, from Avi’s past whom he had a relationship with… yet every flashback is “she” pronouns instead of “he” and Cass in rarely Leander.

Inconsistencies aside I will more than likely continue reading the series.

*Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

After the first 20 pages I was both intrigued and confused. Those feelings persisted through a good portion of the book. For a lot of the time you aren't too sure what's going on or who people are, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There were definitely points I wanted more information, but I don't think it really hurt anything that it wasn't given right away. My one complaint was the ending. It all happened very fast and left me with a lot of unanswered questions. All in all I found it fairly enjoyable, though.

Luca has a problem his magic can’t solve. The boy he’s loved since they fought side-by-side as gladiators in Ancient Rome is about to die for the last time. Luca's only chance to prevent it is to make a deal with the Spell Tracker. Luca is a Light Mage, the rarest of magicians as he can travel this dimension without losing his memories. He helps others take up their magical professions. Now with the help of the Spell Tracker, he's earthbound again as a high school senior. The boy he’s here to save is nothing like he expected and the Spell Tracker can't for him to fail because life of this particular Light Mage is something he’s always wanted.

Spell Tracker by Alex C. Vick is a decent YA LGBT+ Fantasy series opener and for the most part I enjoyed getting to know the characters and their world. Unfortunately, it takes a little while for the story to really take off. Plus, there were moments where I felt left out of the loop. As you go along certain story elements become more clear and it begins to pick up the pace. Pacing and clarity issues are the main issues I had with the book and most of the reason why I knocked this story down to three stars. Either way, this novel has a lot of potential. If you're looking for a twisty fantasy novel with a dash of cute M/M romance that's a good fit for younger teen audiences, then you may want to try Vick's newest release.

I really enjoyed ‘Spell Tracker by Alex C. Vick, it was intense, suspenseful and littered with amazing scenes and witty comments. I found that the characters were easy to relate to and the suspense through the first parts of the novel was amazing around what secret the students were hiding. I thought that the initial romance between Devin and Avitus was written really well, as it was awkward and cute a relatable, as it wasn’t all picture perfect from the start.

I did find that the beginning of the novel dragged on for a bit and that the momentum slowed down significantly around the middle when Avitus was getting closer to finding out ‘the big secret’. I also think that The Spell Tracker was rather informal and very odd restrictions, which was confusing and did not really add any value to some instances. I do believe however that the age recommendation which is 14+ is almost straight on and it was perfect because there were many people I told about it around this age who seem rather interested, especially considering that this book also explores some aspects of the LGBTQ+ life of two teen boys.

In conclusion, I think that teens interested in magic and need a suspenseful and novel to occupy their time, then they should most definitely read ‘Spell Tracker’.

I liked it. A guardian that is centuries old has to come to the earth dimension to help a high schooler. Avi acting as a young man is here at high school to help Devin and his sister Cass. There is a bunch of twists and turns. Some parts of the book were a bit confusing. Things are much clearer in the middle of the book.
There is some romance, no sex, some cute kissing. It really is a fun read.
I hope there is more to come for Devin and Avi.

(Given a copy for an honest review)
(NetGalley)
(Thanks)