Kalita is the current leader of Mastoperia, a hidden continent that is divided into four different factions: Delphia, Lunar, Averett, and Kala. The time has come for a new leader and her three lead warriors to be chosen. Four warriors (Evailen, Jihave, Rondai, and Kawan) were nominated from their respective factions. The leader will be chosen from one of these four and the other three will become the new lead warriors.

In order to determine who will become the next leader, Evailen, Jihave, Rondai, and Kawan are tasked with locating artifacts that have been hidden outside of Mastoperia. Each of the four leaders will have a team with three others to help carry out the mission. The warrior who collects the most artifacts will become the next leader. The catch? All bets are off when a team is pursuing an artifact. They can use whatever means necessary to win including killing others.

First off, the world building in this is incredible. I loved that the inhabitants of the four different factions possess different magical abilities. This definitely reminded me a lot of Divergent meets Hunger Games meets Harry Potter.

I loved the team based quest. However, at first, I found it difficult to follow who was on whose team due to the sheer amount of characters that were are introduced to. In addition to the four warriors competing for the leadership title, each one is in charge of three more members. The story does alternate between the 16 different characters. It’s tough at first, but with patience, it definitely all comes together pretty seamlessly.

At first, I didn’t really gravitate towards any one character in particular since I was still trying to orient myself with everyone and their abilities. However, it became clear that Rondai and Evailen were the front runners of the story about half way through. I loved watching these two fall for each other because they come from two different factions, and interfaction relationships is highly frowned upon. I also enjoyed all of the characters slowly shedding their preconceived notions about other factions in order to not only work together as a team but to also trust each other as well.

If you love a good quest sprinkled with magic and betrayal then you definitely need to give this one a try.

Haven't read all the books yet, but so far I'm enjoying myself.

I loved the overall arc that connects everything together. There's a lot going on, but it's also divided in a way that makes it simple to read.
It seems the 2 series are connected because there was a scene in Ascencion Trials with a clear name drop about a charcter from Earth Guardians. It was a little confusing, but had me excited for what could become of this universe.

Loved this bundle. The Illicitum series was thrilling and entertaining. Earth Guardians was light and fun to read. The Curse in her Eyes is put me on edge and now I can't wait to know what Ayela will do next.