Magus of Stonewylde (Stonewylde Book 1) by Kit Berry Review

Hey ForeverBookers, 

I’ve just finished Magus Of Stonewylde by Kit Berry and I really loved it! It was a reread but the first time I read it, I was only 16/17, so it’s been a while. 

Magus Of Stonewylde is about a young girl, Sylvie who might die without getting the opportunity to go to Stonewylde, a magical place of healing and happiness. When she’s there, however things happen that make her question her values and who she is as a person. Our other main character, Yul is a poor villager who experiences abuse and anger at him from his father as well as other characters.

5 Stars!

Magus Of Stonewylde fulfils the challenges of:

• The Fae Readathon! Reading a book with a different magical creatures - Stonewylde is all about the magic of nature. As well as Moongazyness - https://www.facebook.com/events/174558623203831/, 

* Reading Rivalry, for a book with a feather on the cover. ACOFAS didn’t count towards this as the feather is just going off of the book. Instead there’s a bird on The Magus Of Stonewylde cover so there are loads of feathers! - https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=reading%20rivalry,

* Popsugar 2018 Challenge - A book by a local author. Kit Berry lived in Dorset when she was writing the books, which is closer than London is to me so I’m counting it - https://www.popsugar.co.uk/smart-living/Reading-Challenge-2018-44211686

• Book Bingo on Facebook! It completed the goal of reading a book of Spring, as Magus Of Stonewylde is set in the spring months, if you live in the northern hemisphere, like I do - https://m.facebook.com/events/1442935242483308. 

Magus Of Stonewylde has some abusive elements as well as some talk of sex. I therefore wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who’s been in an abusive situation or anyone below the age of 17. 

Spoilers below...

“Tiny lambs skipped amongst the sheep, dotted throughout the hills. She saw acres and acres of woodlands stretching away, still brown in winter guise.” 

This lets us know that Spring is coming to England, where the story takes place. This is how the story meets the prompt for the Book Bingo. 

At Stonewylde there are two separate groups of people, the Hallfolk and the villagers. The Hallfolk are the high and esteemed people, when the villagers are basically the dregs of society. Sylvie has very blonde hair, just as other Hallfolk characters do. This makes her Hallfolk, according to the Hallfolk characters. 

When Sylvie gets to Stonewylde with her mum she’s at first happy to have found a place where she can be healed. 

“Magus was very attractive and he appeared like a knight in shining armour at Miranda’s darkest hour.”

This simile is significant the further we get into the novel because Magus isn’t all he seems to be. At first he seems to be a very caring, light and happy guy, when he heals Sylvie for example, but it’s revealed later that he’s actually quite twisted. I don’t want to reveal exactly how but he does some very questionable things. He claims that the society of Stonewylde is separate from everyone else in the world so the laws and customs that we have don’t apply there. Miranda is Sylvie’s mother and she falls head over heels in love with Magus. Does Magus feel the same way about her, though?

Magus is a name that reflects the character’s leadership. His actual, birth name is Sol. Sol has a sexual relationship with Sylvie’s mother Miranda, as well as several of the other younger girls. Again as the real world laws don’t apply in Stonewylde, sex is allowed when the young characters have their Rite Of Adulthood.

“Oh Sylvie, he hasn’t got a wife! He’s the magus. Every girl, Hallfolk or villager dreams of having him for their Rite Of Adulthood. They all choose him for their initiation. He certainly couldn’t perform his role as magus if he were married.” 

The Rite Of Adulthood is generally at age 14. Magus is seen coming back from a night in the hills with a girl who had had her Rite Of Adulthood the night before. This sickens Sylvie, as it would anyone today, I think. Magus just claims that she’s not accustomed to the ways of Stonewylde, yet. 

Yul, our other main character, is just older than Sylvie. He explains the rules of Stonewylde to her and helps her when she has problems. He’s her only friend. 

“Yul felt he would burst, being so close to her.” 

Yul is attracted to Sylvie, just as she is to him. Can they find a way to be together in a world that tries to stop that? 

One of the characters that has a problem with Yul, is Buzz or Buzzard. Buzz is a boy who’s just older than Yul. Because of this he thinks he can act like he’s the leader, when that’s not the case. 

“But you must never become friends with him. Magus is watching him carefully and he’ll be furious. You don’t want to see Magus when he’s angry, believe me. So you must have nothing more to do with the boy. Okay?”

This one of is Buzz’s attempts at putting an end to Sylvie’s fascination with Yul. There are a few different ways he tries to get Sylvie to think of him, the way she thinks of Yul. Buzz wants Sylvie scared of Magus. That’s the only way he can perhaps intercept their relationship. 

Miranda has words with Sylvie warning her away from Yul, too. 

“Far better for someone like Buzz as your first boyfriend than that nasty village boy.”

Of course Sylvie disagrees with this. She and Yul are the only ones who can see Magus and Buzz for the evil men that they are. Buzz is also Magus’s son, which doesn’t help Yul as Magus also hates him. When Buzz starts talking to Sylvie it angers Yul, as he can see just what Buzz is doing. Sylvie is however, blind to Buzz’s flirty behaviour until about half way through “Magus Of Stonewylde”, when Holly, a Hallfolk girl who fancies Buzz sees how Buzz acts towards Sylvie and wants to end her. I found Holly to be a villainous character because she never had anything nice to say. Everything was about her and her pleasures. She didn’t care about anyone else. 

I said above that “Magus Of Stonewylde” involves some abusive scenes. These are accredited to Alwyn, Yul’s father who hates him. I’m not going to describe any of them or write any more about this but the scenes themselves are quite disturbing. 

Sylvie has a special power. This is where the “other magical creatures” prompt from above comes in because she can become something else at the rising of the full moon.

“Nobody understood what happened to her at the rising of the full moon.”

Magus is also jealous of this. He wants Sylvie to be his as well, I think, as well as her mother.

There is also a magical old crone, Old Mother Heggy in the story. She prophesies things that will happen in Stonewylde. Magus really doesn’t like her but both Sylvie and Yul become close to her. 

“Beware of Magus for he is out to destroy you.”

Mother Heggy says this to Yul about Magus. What happens though, you’ll need to read to find out! 

The last thing I’ll note here is that Sylvie and Yul start a forbidden relationship at the end of this book. Magus forbids it, as he claims, its wrong for Hallfolk and villagers to be together. 

“What have you done? Have you hurt Yul? 

Magus chuckled.

“That village boy’s no good Sylvie and you must forget him. There’ll be no more contact between the two of you.

“What have you done to him?”

This is Sylvie, very worried about what’s happened to Yul during the novel. He’s been taken away because of his “relationship” with Sylvie. Magus sickeningly wants her for himself, eventually as I said above. He’s just using her mother until he can get Sylvie. Of course Sylvie doesn’t want Magus, only Yul. She wants and needs to know that he’s okay. Is he though? What will happen in the next book? 

What did I like about “Magus Of Stonewylde”? 

I liked the growing relationship between Yul and Sylvie. They don’t just instantly fall in love. Sometimes I like that but other times it’s nice to get to know the characters first. 

I liked how the author wasn’t afraid to write quite brutal scenes. On the front of my book it says “disturbing and dramatic” and I quite agree with both of these facts. It certainly doesn’t hold back. 

I liked that Stonewylde is like a village from olden times set in a modern day world. The only time the outside world is spoken of is when the Hallfolk go to Exeter, a city in southern England, along with direct comparisons of course. It’s like a fantasy novel set in modern times. 

To go along with the fantasy bit, I liked the moongazy magic. It wasn’t in your face but it was still there. I’ve forgotten how present it is in the next books but I believe it still happens. 

I liked how there were both good and evil characters. We’re not supposed to be sure of a few personalities until deeper into the series, I think. But our hero and heroine were both well developed characters. As was the main villain.

I liked reading about the setting of “Magus of Stonewylde” because I live close to where the Stonewylde would be if it existed. This means I can relate more to the characters experiences as the series goes on.  

What didn’t I like about “Magus Of Stonewylde”? 

When I first read Stonewylde, over 10 years ago, I didn’t know how to say “Magus.” I said it like Magic so majus, when I’ve just found out it’s a hard G. I WISH there was a pronunciation guide, as when I read it when I was younger I was saying the word wrong.

I’m obviously giving Magus Of Stonewylde 5 Stars! I loved the story and the characters! It’s only the pronounciation factor that I didn’t so much like, which is my own fault. Will you be reading this? If you’ve already read it let me know you’re thoughts below!

Stand by for my next read coming soon...