Ebby didn’t know she was the new Human Epic until the day she was captured, stuck with the new Escali Epic, Vack, and told to be friends with him. They’re the two most powerful kids in the world, destined to be enemy combatants like every Epic before them, but they’ve been imprisoned together in hopes they might resolve some of their differences. Unfortunately, Vack would rather push Ebby out a window than befriend her, while Ebby thinks Vack is a barbarian who might eat her, and the result is chaos.
Allie and Archie are thrown into the fray when they’re asked to help a team of brutal hunters find and rescue Ebby. Archie makes recovering the Epic a priority, but Allie couldn’t be pulled any harder in the opposite direction. Rescuing a little girl sounds like the right thing to do, but leaving Ebby in the hands of the Escalis has a different appeal. If Ebby and Vack existed to do more than fight one another, they could change the course of the entire Human Escali war.
OMG! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BOOK!!! Everything about it had me on edge, the character development, the new introduced characters, the world building, the plot, the magical aspects… Aahh, it was sooo good! I think the only thing that I regret about this book was my slow reading progress. I started reading it when my work schedule got really busy and it pained me to put it down constantly. However, I have finally finished reading it and I couldn’t be happier with the story and now I cannot wait for the next book to be published.
Catching Epics is the second book in the series of Secrets of the Tally. In this world human mages and Escalis (they are described as powerful grotesque humans with spikes) exist and they are in constant war for power and territory. The humans and the Escalis each have an Epic (which are the most powerful beings) and they have been enemies with each other for several generations. The Escali Epic dreams of ending the war by creating a friendship between the new young Epics, Ebby and Vack, and to finally live peacefully. However, his thoughts are not shared by everyone…
I was thrilled with the character introductions of Ebby and Vack! When I first started reading about them, I knew from the very beginning that I was going to love them. They are both confused, angry and scared about their future as Epics and to top it all, they are forced to spend time together even though their natural instincts tell them otherwise. I really hope to see more of them in the next book.
Meanwhile, we have Allie, Archie and their friends torn between helping the humans or the Escalis. They soon find out about the plan of ending the war, but it might mean destroying their image and exposing their true selves. Allie keeps being the kick-ass character and brings trouble to everywhere she goes, and Archie is always around saving the day. I also think it is amazing how Allie and Archie get involve in Ebby’s and Vack’s story and I wish to see more of that in the future.
Another thing that I want to mention about this book is the magical feeling of the story. It is a truly beautiful story and wonderfully written. I kept imagining fantastical places throughout the whole book and the plot, characters and the story elements where astonishing. For those reasons, it reminded me of The Crowns of Croswald by D. E. Night and although the stories are different, I equally enjoyed them for their wonderment and magical story.
Final Verdict:
Catching Epics is such an incredible book! I cannot stress enough how much I loved reading it and I definitely see myself re-reading it like I did with Secrets of the Tally before starting Catching Epics. I just didn’t want to miss any aspects of the story and going back to the first book made me appreciate and understand Catching Epics a lot more. I will be definitely looking forward to continue reading this series!
Happy reading! — The Chef
Title: Catching Epics
The cover would have caught me off guard on this one, but it sounds fantastic. I'm going to look this one up!
It really is! I hope you do get the chance to read them 😉