Review: Halayda by Sarah Delena White

Title: Halayda
Author: Sarah Delena White
Series: Star-Fae Trilogy, #1
Genre: Fantasy/Fae/Magic/Romance
Publisher: Uncommon Universes Press LLC
Publication Date: March 23rd, 2017
Edition: Kindle Edition, 438 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase/Pre-Order: Amazon US | Kobo | B&N |  iBooks

Synopsis:

A mortal alchemist. A faerie king. A bond that transcends death.

     Betrayed by a trusted mentor, Sylvie Imanthiya hides on the fringes of society, caring for half-fae orphans and trading her alchemical creations on the black market. She lives for the one night each season when she can see her dearest friend—a man whose destiny is far above hers.

     King Taylan Ashkalabek knows better than to exchange halayda vows with a mortal. Even their friendship is a risk; love is an impossible dream. Then a brutal alchemical attack poisons his realm, unearthing a dark power within him—and leaving Sylvie with the ancient mark of Faerie’s savior.

     Manifesting unpredictable abilities and aided by allies with their own secrets, Sylvie and Taylan journey into the wilds of Faerie to heal the damage and confront Casimir, an invincible star-fae determined to claim the realm as his own. But only their enemy knows Sylvie’s true capabilities—and Taylan’s weaknesses—and how to use them in his vicious schemes.

     Her fate is life. His fate is death. With Faerie in the balance, Sylvie and Taylan must stand together before reality as they know it is destroyed.

Review:

I really enjoyed this book. When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be different, it took a few chapters to really grab me. It started out differently than I had expected it to. But once things started rolling, it didn't really stop. It's not what I would call "action-packed" because it kind of wasn't. But each chapter was really engaging and the way things are revealed is done in a way that kept me interested in the story, it never dumped a bunch of information on me or slowed down the plot. 

Sylvie is a pretty great character. A little reactive at times, not very proactive in her mission. It did bother me a little how she kept waiting for either Zad or Taylan to show up to tell her what to do, but at the same time, it kind of made sense. She didn't know anything about Faerie, at the very least she needed a guide.

Taylan was not what I was expecting as a character, especially a Fae king character. A lot of these characters are written as pretty macho, really overbearing, kind of bossy men. He was not like that at all. Very devoted to the Sylvie and wanted to protect her, but he was also very respectful of decisions she made. And he was aware that she did know how to take care of her self. I really liked that about his character, and it's a good reminder to other authors that you can write a character that cares and wants to protect the people they care about and love without making them that overbearing tool. 

I liked the villain, but I was a little confused about some of their backstory. It might not have been fully explained yet, or I missed something. Sometimes when I'm reading I miss tiny details because I am so engrossed with the story. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it happens. 

His plan was clear, I just wanted to know more about him in general. 

I can't wait to read more of this series. I have no idea when the next book is going to come out, but I will be keeping my eye out for it.