Author: Gabriela Romero Lacruz
Series: The Warring Gods #1
Genre: Historical Fantasy/Sapphic Romance/Mythology
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Edition: 432 pages, ebook
Source: NetGalley
Pre-Order: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Bookshop | Powell's | Thriftbooks
Synopsis:
Reina is desperate.
Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.
Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.
Eva Kesare is unwanted.
Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.
Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it’s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.
Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.
Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.
Eva Kesare is unwanted.
Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.
Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it’s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.
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This is a tough book to review. There's a lot about this book that I like, but the pacing was so incredibly slow that it was a struggle to stay invested in the characters and their struggles. What kept me engaged was the Geomancy (Rock magic). It was really interesting in my opinion. It's a pretty underused magic from what I can tell. I read a lot of Fantasy books and I can't recall coming across it before. Though I don't know if the Iridio, a fallen star, is supposed to be the celestial magic. But it just came across like it was still part of the regular Geomancy magic. Unless I missed something.
I wish I found the characters more interesting. Both Reina and Eva follow similar paths in connecting with their non-human heritage, which wouldn't be an issue for me if they had more differences. Both are pretty naive and easily manipulated by those around them. It became frustrating to see them get duped all the time. Because it takes so much of the book for them to finally meet, they are very disconnected from each other. I think the finished map will help make some of this clear. With eARCs maps aren't always complete or have the best resolution.
There are a lot of side characters, too many in my opinion. At times I was struggling to remember all of them. Most of them do end up playing a role in some way, I just had a hard time keeping track of them. Another thing that was kind of a letdown, was the romance. It felt forced, not to mention it was one-sided. I would love to start seeing more books with strong compassionate friendships again. I think people have forgotten that you can have platonic affection for people you aren't related to. It wasn't the worst sapphic romance, but it was the most underwhelming.
My main issue with this book boils down to pacing. There's a lot of info-dumping and exposition for about the first third of the book, and it made it a struggle to stay invested. I am curious about where the next book is going. I think for me there was just so much information given, along with the number of character introductions, so early on I just got bogged down with all that and some of the more nuanced aspects went over my head.
I wish I found the characters more interesting. Both Reina and Eva follow similar paths in connecting with their non-human heritage, which wouldn't be an issue for me if they had more differences. Both are pretty naive and easily manipulated by those around them. It became frustrating to see them get duped all the time. Because it takes so much of the book for them to finally meet, they are very disconnected from each other. I think the finished map will help make some of this clear. With eARCs maps aren't always complete or have the best resolution.
There are a lot of side characters, too many in my opinion. At times I was struggling to remember all of them. Most of them do end up playing a role in some way, I just had a hard time keeping track of them. Another thing that was kind of a letdown, was the romance. It felt forced, not to mention it was one-sided. I would love to start seeing more books with strong compassionate friendships again. I think people have forgotten that you can have platonic affection for people you aren't related to. It wasn't the worst sapphic romance, but it was the most underwhelming.
My main issue with this book boils down to pacing. There's a lot of info-dumping and exposition for about the first third of the book, and it made it a struggle to stay invested. I am curious about where the next book is going. I think for me there was just so much information given, along with the number of character introductions, so early on I just got bogged down with all that and some of the more nuanced aspects went over my head.
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