Such a fun book! The story is told through two perspectives: Laia and Elias. Laia is a slave whose grandparents were just murdered in front of her and whose brother was just arrested for treason. Laia barely makes it out alive and only has the rebels to turn to for help. In return for helping her, she makes a deal to infiltrate the Empire’s greatest military academy as a servant for the most sadistic leader working there. Elias is unhappily the school’s best soldier-in-training and […]
I can’t really review this with the detail it deserves. But trust me, it was really good.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…I went on vacation and read a bunch of wonderful books. And I am still struggling to catch up with those reviews. Sadly, the two book reviews that will suffer the most from my lack of reviewing effort are two of the best — Red Shirts by John Scalzi, and this one. A few Cannonballers have already read this (honestly, I’m shocked that this hasn’t been more of a “thing”): you can read excellent reviews from narfna and ElCicco that […]
This book shouldn’t have worked, but it totally, totally does.
I actually Double Cannonballed this sonnuvabitch a little less than a month ago, that’s how behind I am in reviews. But I’m glad I did it with this book, which is one I picked up due to curiosity, and ended up really enjoying despite a near certainty that I wouldn’t. There were so many red flags here. It’s YA. It’s buzzy. The male and female protagonists were obviously meant to fall in love against insurmountable odds. The setup of the worldbuilding indicated a tired hodgepodge […]
Spark of Hope in New YA Novel
This new YA novel has the makings of another multi-book blockbuster like Harry Potter or Hunger Games, but it’s not derivative or formulaic. Sabaa Tahir makes beautiful use of her cultural background (the child of Pakistani immigrants in the Mojave Desert, an outsider who did not feel particularly brave growing up) and vivid imagination to create a world that is dominated by dark spirits and a powerful militaristic elite. The Martials (who remind me of the Spartans) have ruled ruthlessly for 500 years; they’ve enslaved […]