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5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
(I don't really know how to explain this book as eloquently as it deserves, so here's the actual synopsis)
Adeluna is a soldier. Five years ago, she helped the magic-rich island of Grace Loray overthrow its oppressor, Argrid, a country ruled by religion. But adjusting to postwar life has not been easy. When an Argridian delegate vanishes during peace talks with Grace Loray’s new Council, Argrid demands brutal justice—but Lu suspects something more dangerous is at work.
Devereux is a pirate. As one of the outlaws called stream raiders who run rampant on Grace Loray, he pirates the island’s magic plants and sells them on the black market. But after Argrid accuses raiders of the diplomat’s abduction, Vex becomes a target. An expert navigator, he agrees to help Lu find the Argridian—but the truth they uncover could be deadlier than any war.
Benat is a heretic. The crown prince of Argrid, he harbors a secret obsession with Grace Loray’s forbidden magic. When Ben’s father, the king, gives him the shocking task of reversing Argrid’s fear of magic, Ben has to decide if one prince can change a devout country—or if he’s building his own pyre.
As conspiracies arise, Lu, Vex, and Ben will have to decide who they really are . . . and what they are willing to become for peace.
Thoughts:
I was absolutely stunned after I finished this book and realized it had such a low rating on goodreads. I LOVED IT. I have a history of ups and down with Sara Raasch’s books, but I really enjoyed this one.
Raasch has a way of thinking up these creative worlds with initially simple, then unexpectedly complex magic systems. What I mean by that is the world, or actually the island, that this book resolves around is almost like a baby of the mainland with a conglomeration of different peoples that fled/came there from the mainland. Now they have to learn to live together, but are having such a huge ordeal resolving their differences. Now, I’m from the U.S., so this is very much a real issue in the country I live in and often time I found the politics (though extreme) very relatable to what is going on in the U.S. right now. The political intrigue reminds me so much of political difficulties that the two governmental parties (in the book would be the Council vs. the syndicates) are currently struggling over, immigration and the “dangers” they may bring, racism, and so on. And the Lu, at first, is blind to these things, but grows as she becomes enlightened of the struggles the other syndicates are going through that the Council fails to see. And that’s just one example, there’s so many more parallels.
Now what I mean about the magic is that, our initial knowledge of the magical plants is mostly what we know from Lu. They each have their own properties, and you can make concoctions with them. But as the story progresses, you learn so much more about the magic and how it can be used differently than textbook and it just grows into a more complex system that I can see becoming something totally different that what it started out as (aka, just plants with magical properties).
Onto how much I LOVED these characters. Since I’ve already mentioned it before with Lu, I liked how Raasch went about showing the growth each of the main characters went through within just the first book. Lu starts out so naive and resilient that the Council is the best there is and everyone should just accept them. Then she realizes so many wrongs that have been just under her nose, and now she has the knowledge and awareness that she needs to be a better person. Vex started off rather selfish and then slowly comes into the kind of character he’s meant to be for the rest of the series. Vex and Lu growing together through their interactions and trials and tribulations was one of my favorite things to read about in the story. Then we have Ben, good ‘ol Ben and his crazy insane father. He’s gay for #1, which I LOVE. And he goes through A LOT in just this first book. He’s really challenged and those challenges change him, as they should, and I again, really enjoyed who he became at the end of the book. The side characters were also fun and great additions to the comedy and story.
This review is starting to get too long, but quickly I’ll mention that the plot was WONDERFUL. I was rapt from beginning to end. The action was crazy fun, multiple escapes and battles. The ending was BRUTAL. Throughout the ending I was just in a complete state of WTF all the way till the last page. Then the last page ended me. I NEED BOOK TWO. What kind of cliffhanger. Authors these days man, they’re getting really good at leaving you on the meanest-worst cliffhangers (in the best way possible).
Overall:
Again, why in the world is the book rated so low on Goodreads??! I loved the crap outta this book and am absolutely dying to pick up the next.