Trivium follows three girls from different backgrounds, into the Academy of Creature Defence located in the city of Jarrah. Where they will learn there’s more about Jarrah than just magic and the creatures that they are being taught to defend the land from.
Loveleena is a character that oozes protectiveness and passion. Her determination to uncover the truth behind her friend’s disappearance provides one of the novel’s strongest narrative threads. Raised as a noblewoman, she runs away from home and sneaks into the Academy stumbling on the opportunity with a fellow defender forging her entry papers.
Placed in close proximity to an old flame, she is engulfed with the need for her true reason for being there to be kept well hidden until she hits her breaking point.
Driven by equal measures of anger and determination, Loveleena refuses to abandon her search for answers about her missing friend. As her magic awakens and her feelings for a certain someone blur the line between hatred and desire, her emotional journey becomes every bit as compelling as the mystery itself.
Zeina – Is currently living on the streets of Jerrah. Orphaned since the age of 8, she has had the polar opposite upbringing to Loveleena. A malnourished and socially outcast young lady, stealing just enough food to keep her alive for the next day. As her story unfolds she has a natural affinity to nature and has taken solace in nature rather than humans. Accidentally finding herself in the academy, on the back of a fruit cart with no way to escape, her story depicts the power in hiding among the many. Zenia’s magic starts to awaken as she comes across magical creatures during her exploration of the Academy campus. I love how compassionate this character is towards even the foulest of creatures. She is beautifully written!
After a while she stumbles across another student that she has a striking resemblance to. Using that to her advantage we follow Zeina’s quest to quench her thirst for Alchemy!
Our third leading lady is Ahmina – also an orphan, she has spent her school years studying and working hard in the Library to make sure she could attend the Academy, as the alternative for her was a life of poverty and servitude. Ahmina is extremely clever and sets really high expectations of herself throughout the story. She is singled out and has one of the toughest times in the Academy out of the three.
Gaining entry in different ways the author weaves a brilliantly depicted tapestry on their challenges, keeping the storylines exciting. They all fight their own personal battles to remain at the Academy, and the story never loses sight of their individual journeys, even as they are gradually drawn together against a common enemy.
I have really enjoyed reading this book. The descriptions transported me right into Jarrah – it was beautiful but dangerous.
The complex emotions these characters face are easy to empathise with. The author blends familiar struggles of young adulthood with magic, monsters, forbidden attraction and the constant possibility of death
As the story unfolds we find that they each have their own magic, which is starting to unlock within them the more they stay at the academy.
I was slightly disappointed in the way that Zeina and Ahmina figured out they may be twins. The build-up to that revelation was filled with tension, mystery and suspense, which made the eventual reveal feel less impactful than I had hoped.
Finding themselves with some much needed allies, a rich history of families at war, lost cities and power struggles are shared with the ladies. The greed that a particular human has with the magic gifted by the creatures means the girls are coming to the realisation that the harmony of this world might just be falling on their shoulders.
Despite the little blip on the Twins, I will be adding book two to my pre orders!!! I am really looking forward to reading all about what comes next in the story for these three ladies in book 2.
Friendships, love affairs, magic and monsters… what more could you want? 4/5 Stars!
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