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3.75 stars! This review will be spoiler free! This book was sent to be by the author in exchange for an honest review, and an honest review you shall have!
Synopsis:
"Meet Allie: she's just woken up in an empty forest with blood on her hands and everything she's ever known wiped from her mind. In her survival-oriented world, people are hunted by vicious predators and it quickly becomes clear that they are specifically hunting her.
Allie's friends and sister have no insight as to why she's a target, and her only clue is a list of tally marks she finds tucked away, detailing how many lives she's saved and how many deaths she's caused. Judging by the amount of ink slashed across the page and the fact that nobody seems to know about it, Allie knows she used to have secrets that need to be recovered.
Without knowing whom to trust, she finds herself drawn to a new stranger in the caves they call home, and even though he won't talk about his own past, he's ready to help Allie recover hers.
The problem now is that Allie's instinct to survive is the only thing strong enough to bring her memories back. Flashes of her old self will only surface to save her from life threatening danger, so if she wants to avoid living as an echo of her former self, danger is what she must seek."
Initial Thoughts:
I had so much fun with this book! It was a fast-paced quick read that felt almost “middle grade”-ish. And when I say fast, I do mean FAST. After the initial foundation of characters and the world were laid down, it was a breeze of heightened suspense and fighting and escaping. The magic system makes sense and I didn’t get lost in a whole much of hoo-hah explaining every single magical power and how mages come to be, they kind of just are and always were. It was refreshing especially because all that information wouldn’t have been necessary considering the kids in this story are still finding their powers. Fewkes also has a writing style that appeals to me. She is quite clever in her word choice and expression of things. Also, who can resist the badass fighter she created Allie to be. Love a good swords-woman. I only have a few things that I didn’t like. This story wasn’t really lined up with the synops. Rather than Allie experiencing danger to scare to memories back into her brain, her memories are really found through some digging. So my first impression and actual impression of this book do not match. Then, I also had a lot of difficulty with picture things, occasionally feeling like details were missing. Altogether though, I enjoyed this book! That ending was riddled with reveals that and cliffs that make me want to pick up Catching Epics, the sequel to Secrets of the Tally, right away.
Plot:
(Likes!)
The reason it felt like a middle grade to me was because the kids felt young, they were more about the adventure than anything else, and there was only some minor flirting inserted sparsely; whereas in YA usually the romance takes just as much importance as the plot. This happily surprised me, I love me a good middle grade. I liked that I could sense chemistry between the main characters, but it wasn’t over the top. Everything was really focused on the mission more than anything else, which allowed me to truly experience the full extent of fear, victory, loss, confusion, and all the feels.
The adventure feels likes such a rush. The pacing is so fast you don't even realize how much of the book you're flipping through and then it's over. This book is only 320 pages, so it is quite short, but I found that there was no need for more or less to make this book feel complete.
In addition to the adventure there’s so much mystery! Obviously we don’t know much in the beginning besides what Allie does meaning next to nothing. Therefore, the majority of this book we spend trying to piece together the scraps and hints sent to us by other characters. This is one of those frustrating, but in a good way, kind of mystery that pops up more questions before your first questions are even answered.
Now, this isn’t really a spoilers because characters die all the time, but I want to say Fewkes was not afraid to add in some heart break. I like it when an author isn't afraid to show that not all characters live to the end of the series. Not all characters have this shield of invincibility and some that you love will die.
The ending was most heart twisting! So much loss, so many lost memories solved, and then we’re just left with this greater unknowable that we can’t find out about until the sequel?! Cruel, but good enough to make me want to read book two!
(Dislikes!)
This book took on a different kind of plot about 1/3 of the way in. It was less about Allie throwing herself into dangerous situations to get her memories back (because she was definitely in danger a TON of the time and almost none of her memories resurfaced), but rather just finding out about her past through some digging. So I felt like my first impression of this book was not met.
Then, I also had a lot of difficulty with picture things: the way the Escali looked, the battle scenes, the scenery in general. My mind had a hard time filling in the gaps that weren’t described and often I found myself having to reread paragraphs to understand what really went on.
Lastly, there were certain characters that pissed me off. Like always. Like every time I saw their name I was instantly triggered. But more on that below.
Characters:
ALLIE is double short sword badass unafraid to ride a dragon she has no idea how to steer. I liked her instantly for her true soul and ability to not react with embarrassment towards her weakness, but actually anger and strength to be better. She also has this great love for protecting that I like in lead characters. Still curious, what does Allie even stand for?
ARCHIE is suspect from the beginning. I really thought he was evil the whole time. He’s still super sweet heart and I love that he’s humble about his superior skills.
LIZ is seriously annoying. I could not stand her from the beginning. She is a child. She is a brat. She is melodramatic. I do not understand why she is so infuriating. Like her emotions and reactions just don’t make any sense to me. I feel like she is literally a 5 year old and cannot control her brain’s impulses. Gods I wanted to slap her so often. Allie’s love for her family is the only reason I was happy she was ever in the picture.
JESSE is also an annoying ass character I will only mention simply because I hope he dies.
VILLAINS who shall remain unnamed at this point in time and all you shall know is they are plural. These villains are utterly despicable and for like no godsdamned reason. I wish they had a reason for being as evil as they are, maybe they just got the most aggressive Escali genes possible, but dang. They are also infuriating, but in the way villains should be.
Overall:
Thank you so much Halie Fewkes for sending me this book for review. I had so much fun reading Secrets of the Tally and writing this review. I will most def want to read the sequel because that ending has left me with SO MANY QUESTIONS STILL.
Partial Sequel Cover! I want to know who this is supposed to be.
