February 20th 2018 by Tor Books
Once in a while a book comes along that reminds you that good things come in small packages. At a surprising 200 pages, this book not only defied my expectations, but blew me away.
I haven’t, in a long time, read a book so short but so full of action and history and heartbreak and just….everything neatly packaged up in this gorgeous cover. This tale focuses on Heloise, a sixteen-year-old girl, who is none too impressed with the oppressive world around her. The Order, who seeks out to rid the world of wizards, seems to do more evil than the thing they hunt and none of this gets by our protagonist.
What I absolutely loved:
1. Heloise and all of her raw honest glory. She is fearless when she needs to be and loyal to the ones she loves. She is confused by her own budding sexuality and fairly certain that married life is not for her. At sixteen, she knows what she wants for herself and she isn’t afraid to show it.
2. The world building. This is my first time reading anything by Myke Cole so I went in with blind faith. It rewarded me handsomely. Though some aspects were familiar, they were not unpleasant and those things that were fresh, really worked for me.
What I found a bit jarring:
1. The length. I seriously wanted more and felt as though the ending was a bit rushed.
2. Heloise’s voice seemed to go in and out of being too young or too old for her age.
This is to be part of a series, a trilogy I hear. I began to question if maybe Myke wrote the book with too high of a word count and was forced to split the stories, thus why this book is a mere 200 pages. Don’t get me wrong, I flew through it and mostly loved every moment, but I am anxious to see where this goes. I cannot wait for the next one.
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