The Reading Bud

Book Details:

Author: Alexandra Devane
Release Date: 31 August 2025
Series: The Shards of Sansatia Series (Book 1 of 2)
Genre: Fantasy, Dark Romantasy
Format: E-book 
Pages: 139 pages
Publisher: –
Blurb:
Eighteen-year-old Acteo Venand is an elite striker cadet at Inoton Academy, a military institution that prepares him to battle Noxvaleres, supernatural warriors who hold sway over the three pillars of desire: memory, fantasy, and reality. With graduation just a few months out, Acteo is ready to dedicate his life to the righteous destruction of Noxvaleres and avenge the traumas that he and his family have endured—until an ill-advised prize fight entangles him with Reyna Ward, an alluring assassin and Inconclusive, meaning a human with a chance at converting into a Noxvalere. Reyna continuously challenges Acteo’s worldview, and soon, his understanding of the distinctions between human and Noxvalere, and justice and desperation, begins to fracture.

In this spicy dark Romantasy Series, you will find
– Magic, mystery, and mayhem
– Crime & Intrigue
– Sword & Sorcery with a modern twist
– A fascinating cast of characters who are as skilled at secrecy as they are at combat.

Review

Inconclusive Volume 1 by Alexandra Devane, the first book in The Shards of Sansatia Series, is a dark, dense, high-stakes fantasy that throws the reader into a world already heavy with war, trauma, magical threat, military hierarchy, criminal networks, and moral ambiguity. From the opening chapters, the book establishes a brutal conflict between Andrivalians and Noxvaleres, while centring its emotional tension around cadets like Acteo Venand, Inferi Ward, Kayla Deyrin, and the dangerous, wounded, fascinating Reyna Ward.

What stands out most is the sheer ambition of the worldbuilding. This is not a light fantasy that eases the reader in gently. Author Devane builds an elaborate system of strikers, Inconclusives, Street Strikers, Casters, By-product, Spirit Glass, Jourvalerin weapons, and political-criminal power structures. The mythology is layered and often compelling, especially in the way the book treats “Inconclusives” — people at risk of converting into Noxvaleres — not simply as magical anomalies, but as socially feared, politically controlled bodies. Reyna’s history with the Street Strikers, her connection to Tereus Orsin, and her eventual relocation into Inoton Academy give the novel its sharpest emotional and narrative charge.

The character work is where the book is most interesting. Acteo is not just a gifted soldier; he is grief-struck, guilt-ridden, morally unstable in places, and deeply shaped by the loss of General Sable. Inferi is perhaps even more intriguing because of the tension between who he appears to be at the Academy and what his past still ties him to. Kayla and Ali’s relationship adds another layer of emotional realism, especially through Kayla’s grief, dependency, and self-sabotage. But for me, Reyna is the book’s gravitational force: damaged, deadly, sharp-edged, and constantly negotiating survival in systems that have used, trained, and branded her. Her scenes often carry the strongest psychological intensity.

That said, this is also a demanding read. The book’s complexity is both its strength and its weakness. There are moments when the terminology, factions, backstory, emotional subplots, and political mechanics arrive in such abundance that the pacing becomes heavy. Readers who enjoy immersive, lore-rich fantasy will likely appreciate this density, but those who prefer cleaner exposition and faster narrative movement may find the opening stretch especially challenging. The prose is emotionally charged and often vivid, though occasionally the intensity of the writing makes the narrative feel overpacked.

Still, Inconclusive Volume 1 has a distinct identity. It blends military fantasy, dark academia, crime syndicate intrigue, trauma psychology, and morally grey romance-adjacent tension into something ambitious and unusual. By the end, with Reyna entering the guarded world of Inoton Academy and Volume 2 clearly positioned to deepen the conflict, the book feels like the opening movement of a much larger, darker saga.

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