A review by obscurepages
Spellhacker by M.K. England

5.0

Spellhacker is one of my most anticipated releases this 2020 and I adored reading it! It’s absolutely delightful! With queer characters everywhere and a fast-paced and fun story, you just can’t help but enjoy this book!

Good writing
The writing style is good! Spellhacker is told in the first person point of view and that really allowed me to get to know the main character and see the story unfold the way she saw it. The tone is light and fun, but it can also get exciting or thrilling and even emotional.

Memorable characters
There are a lot of memorable characters in this book.

Diz, the main character, is great. She’s hilarious and talented, but also very insecure and maybe a little bit emotionally stunted, too. She had bad experiences in the past, which makes it understandable that she’s afraid of letting herself feel. Still, there were moments that I was frustrated at her. Fortunately, she redeemed herself and I loved her character development! I also loved that I was sucked into her thoughts and feelings. Reading the story through her perspective was exciting!

The minor characters are also memorable. Remi is too precious for this world, Jaesin is such a dad, and Ania is amazing! I loved the dynamic between all four of them (hooray for found-family tropes!), and in a way, I can relate to Diz and her fear of parting ways.

And yes, there are numerous queer characters in the book and it’s absolutely delightful to read about them and know that it’s perfectly normal in their world.

Fast-paced and fun plot
Spellhacker has a fast-paced and a fun plot. I remember reading only the first chapter, and there were already action and adventure. I loved that!

The plot also touched on some points that made me more invested in the story, e.g. anti-capitalism, frequent natural disasters on their planet (which can be likened to global warming). There are some plot twists that were a little predictable for me though, so it wasn’t much of a surprise but I still managed to enjoy it.

Romance is also a significant part of the story, and y’all there was definitely a lot of pining. The chemistry was good and I couldn’t help but root for that pairing!

Awesome world-building
I also loved the world-building in this story. The author created such an interesting world, one filled with magic and science but also riddled with natural disasters. Would have loved to know more about their planet though. There were different fictional countries and cities mentioned, but there weren’t much details about them. A map would have been a nice addition as well!

(This review was first published on Enthralled Bookworm as part of the Spellhacker Blog Tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club.)