This is not a hero’s story. Author Sara Hashem says in a video that Sylvia is going to be a divisive character because she makes terrible choices, but I’m not sure I agree with that. She makes human choices. She makes selfish choices informed by her trauma. Her choices aren’t that of a hero but that of someone trying to survive. No, I didn’t always like her choices and how at times they convey a lack of empathy or connection to others, but I also understood them. Sylvia is a conflicted character with a beautifully progressed arc of development.
Sylvia is the sole royal survivor of an attack on the kingdom of Jasad, which is now known as the Scorched Lands. Jasadis who previously lived in or fled to other kingdoms must hide who they are. Jasad was the only remaining kingdom that had magic, the other kingdoms don’t trust magic, and anyone who is found to be Jasadi ends up on trial that will definitely end in death, assuming they don’t “accidentally” die before even reaching trial. When Arin, the Heir to Nizahl, an arbiter kingdom that led the siege against Jasad, discovers Sylvia is Jasadi, he decides that she will compete in a major tournament as bait to draw out Jasadi rebel groups. What follows is Sylvia training with Arin for the competition and their slowly learning to stop hating each other.
While this has been described as an enemies to lovers novel, it is very slow burn. Don’t go in expecting a romantasy. Go in expecting a political, sometimes dark, fantasy and knowing that your views of the different players and kingdoms in the book may change as Sylvia’s beliefs, assumptions, and memories of what happened in Jasad are challenged and she has to come to terms with this paradigm shift and what, if anything, Jasad means to her.
I thought the pacing was pretty good. There were places where some odd phrasing stood out and some additional editing might have been needed, but I really enjoyed this book. It’s the first in a planned duology, and there’s currently no information about the second book other than that it will at some point exist. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on it when that time comes.