The Elemental Keyes: Circle the Square, Book 1

See, I thought I had book friends, but someone is lying to someone, and it ain’t me. I would’ve NEVER kept this book from them.Holy hell, this book was interesting asf. Even knowing the details, I still didn’t expect that ending, nor did I SUSPECT it, either. And the whole book was a wild ride from start to finish. The world, the characters, the just.. perfect clicking of the romance. S W O O N.The mechanics were great, though I think the editing team needs to brush up on the use of blond/blonde and brunet/brunette. They got a little confused from time to time. Still, pacing, format, editing, grammar, and punctuation were solid, and mistakes were scarce.4.5/5, why is this only a duology and not a whole big ass series?!😩😮‍💨

The Elemental Keyes is the first in Sam Burns' Circle the Square duology. This book was nicely paced and had a wonderful combination of world-building, funny moments, action sequences and romance.I love Blaze, River and Elethen. River is snarky, a criminal but has a good heart and has always taken care off his twin brother Blaze ever since they were young. Blaze is soft-hearted and was a member of the law enforcement until he got screwed over. I loved the dynamics of the brothers. Their banter and interactions were so fun to read and you can actually tell that they do deeply care for each other. Elethen has gone through so much in his life but still retained the goodness in himself. I adore his relationship with Blaze. Sure it was instalove (which might turn some people off), but in this instance worked because of the premise as well as on how it was written.It didn't feel forced and the two just clicked.The world-building was nicely done - detailed enough that the reader gets a good picture but not overly long that it bogs down the story. It's a fast paced story with enough twists and turns that leave one wanting more. The first book wraps it's main plot nicely while also leaving a cliff hanger on the over-arching arc for this duology.I can't wait to read the next book.This would be 4.5 stars out of 5.

This story takes a surprisingly interesting look at power and why people want it and how they conceptualize it. Which was not what I was expecting from my sexy elf end of the world romance. But you know what? It was good. Every philosophical pondering was both world building and character establishing it was really well integrated while also being easy to understand.Now that gave this book 4 stars. The fifth star? The fifth star comes from the absolute banger of an ending. Like you see most of it coming. But if you're one of those people who reads the ending first DONT. please please let it hit properly with all the gravity of the rest of the book behind it. You will not regret it I promiseNow I have to go read the sequel immediately.

I will be honest with you. I found this book a little confusing right up until the end. I understood the characters but I feel there needs to be just a bit more explaining. Blaze is an unemployed mage that lives with is brother River. Blaze is a seer who hides his water magic. Meanwhile Elethen is an elven mage who plays a Robin Hood on his world. Elethen is captured by the authorities and escapes through a portal to Earth. He and Blaze meet and the attraction is instantaneous. Someone is trying to open a portal between the worlds and it will destroy both planets. So Blaze and Elethen must work together to stop the destruction. I will read the next one to see what happens.

I love the world building of this author, always amazing, characters that you become invested in, humour mixed with action and sex, an always a surprise or two. Can’t wait to read the next book. Highly recommend this book and author.

I really loved the concepts of this book and felt connected to most of the characters, although their were many random people chasing each other around in this story. Blaze and his brother River are seers who see the end of the world and this is the first half of the story about how they stop this. Blaze also finds his special someone in this book from another world that has past connections to Blaze’s world. There is magic and mages and demons and I’m really looking forward to part 2, but the fact that this book was only trying the tell some of the story made it feel a little disjointed.

I got not even two sentences in and knew I was going to absolutely love this book and I was absolutely correct. I loved the characters. I loved the story. The authors almost succeeded in making me cry because, let's be real, sibling death is way more sad than parental death. I think the only thing I found SORT of strange. But not really, was how easily Blaze accepted El's appearance but ya know, end of the world and all. I seriously can't wait to read Rivers story while hoping and praying for a happily ever after for both of them. ❤️

Wow, what an ending. It was not what I was predicting. I can't wait until the next book to find out what happens. Highly recommended.

I liked this from beginning to end. Now I'm going to go read the next book as I can't leave myself not knowing the outcome

Ich weiß nicht, wann mich ein Buch das letzte Mal so gepackt hat. Ich konnte es nicht mehr weglegen. Tolle Charaktere und vor allem tolle Welten, die hier erschaffen werden. Zwar ging mir der romantische Aspekt ein wenig zu reibungslos über die Bühne, aber das wurde durch Witz, anschaulichen Beschreibungen und kreative Ideen wieder ausgeglichen. Im Anschluss habe ich auch gleich den zweiten Teil gelesen.

Dnf 20%Characters you didnt feel for and booooooring storyline

I love it when Sam Burns mixes sub-genres together to create an utterly compelling narrative set in a vividly imagined world.With the Circle the Square duet (I’ve also read book two but it’s not showing up on Goodreads yet) she’s crafted an amazing story of twins, of brothers, of magic and treachery which links two worlds together across vast distances and twists multiple threads together.It’s fast-paced, it’s funny, it’s heart-warming, it’s seriously steamy and emotionally powerful, plus it causes the pulse to race and it keeps you reading until the early hours of the morning.I can’t chose a favourite, I absolutely adored all of them, from snarky River and his beautifully soft-hearted twin Blaze, to Elethen, the Robin Hood style criminal known as The Crow and to The General, Lasya, a man who was willing to sacrifice all to save his people.The young King is a delight, the other secondary cast of characters bring so much added depth and we have a villain well worthy of the hatred and distrust.I loved both books so much I read them in a day. I know this is a duology but I would be so, so happy to see Sam returning to this world, there’s so many other people I’d love to also see with a Happy Ever After!