Book Review of Cursebreakers by Madeleine Nakamura

Name of Book: Cursebreakers

Author: Madeleine Nakamura 

ISBN: 9781939096128

Publisher: Canis Major Books

Type of book: Fantasy, mental health, magic, secrets, hidden means, crushes, relationships, 

Year it was published: 2023 

Summary:

Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic, must survive his own failing mental health and a tenuous partnership with a dangerous ally in order to save the city of Astrum from a spreading curse.

Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic and disgraced ex-physician, has discovered a conspiracy. Someone is inflicting magical comas on the inhabitants of the massive city of Astrum, and no one knows how or why. Caught between a faction of scheming magical academics and an explosive schism in the ranks of Astrum’s power-hungry military, Adrien is swallowed by the growing chaos. Alongside Gennady, an unruly, damaged young soldier, and Malise, a brilliant healer and Adrien’s best friend, Adrien searches for a way to stop the spreading curse before the city implodes. He must survive his own bipolar disorder, his self-destructive tendencies, and his entanglement with the man who doesn’t love him back.

Characters:

The main characters would be Adrien and Gennady. Adrien is a professor of magic who is also an ex-physician and who also suffers from mental health issues, several points asking a friend whom he has a big crush on to live with him while he tries to recuperate. Personality wise, I don't think I have a very positive impression of Adrien because I often think of him as a bit stuck up and someone who doesn't think of others. Gennady is Adrien's opposite; he isn't as intelligent, but is open minded and is more likable than Adrien. There were secondary characters namely Adrien's healer friend who gives him positive magical vibes as well as Adrien's keeper whom he has a big crush on, but that crush isn't reciprocated back. 

Theme:

Althogh I did read the book from cover to cover, I'm not quite sure what the message should have been: perhaps something to do with censoring and society I would guess? 

Plot:

The story is in first person narrative from Adrien's point of view. From what I understand, Adrien is beginning to spiral downward, and he's also a magic professor who gets an unwelcome guard, Gennady. Eventually Adrien and Gennady become very good friends and the two help each other out a lot. I felt that a lot was crammed into the novel and I definitely feel as if it needed a lot more pages to become fully immersed and appreciative of the story that was going on. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

Madeleine Nakamura is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles and the author of the fantasy novel Cursebreakers. A lifelong fantasy devotee, she began writing her first novel the day she realized a computer science degree wasn’t happening.

Opinion:

I have definitely struggled with the novel mainly because there are a lot of good things about it that I liked, while at the same time there could be a lot more improvements. I definitely think the best things about the book are the focus on mental health as well as the characters and of how burdens and whatnot feel to them. I also liked the idea of having a special helper helping someone who is in need of mental health intervention or whatnot. The characters are definitely well written, at least Adrien and Gennady because I can still remember them and their personalities very clearly. The things that I feel need slight tweaking would be inclusion of a map or so giving the readers an idea of the special locations as well as more details about the world and how it works because I honestly had very little idea of what was going on. 

This was sent over for review

3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)