Well written, easy read young adult book, with engaging characters. Fantasy with convincing world building, and a bit of romance mixed in.

This book does several things that make a good read. It shows, rather than tells, even to the extend of the main character thinking something completely different is happening to what the reader can deduce.

It surprises the reader, or at least me. For the first part of the book I was confident that I knew where the story was heading, then after main character death, things suddenly happen I could not have foreseen.

The writing was easy to wind down with, nothing too complex. And the story encourages you to read on, even when you may think you know what will happen.

Unfortunately it does end without a full wrap up, as I assume the story continues in the next book. But I may very well read it! ( )

Lately, I am getting suckered into reading books because I get enamored with the cover. And this is what happened with this book. To be completely honest, I skimmed through the last half of the book.
This book had a lot of potential, but it fell short. The plot was complex enough to have a full novel, and it had sufficient side plots to fill in the gaps. I liked some of the characters.

However:

The world building was confusing. I kept asking why she mixed up so many historical elements? It was hard to follow sometimes, and after a while, I just stopped caring. The setting with the religion got me upset because it was evident that she did not do her homework. It seemed like a merger of many different things, and again, I got frustrated, and I stopped caring.

The main plot became predictable in some areas; the pacing was out of balance. It was like a person that drives with a foot in the gas and the other foot on the breaks at the same time. That prevented me from really relate to any of the characters. I didn’t have time to fall into a flow.
I liked some of the characters. I even think Nazafareen had a semblance of a character arc. However, I am not sure if any of the others did. As for the romance at one point I thought, “OMG don’t tell me this is another one of those instalove types of romance novels. I wasn’t impressed with the romance. It was like reading a relationship with an abusive lover and a submissive wimp, and at one point, I was about to throw my Ipad into the fireplace.

And to top it all off, one thing that burned my Veteran’s pancakes was that when you are in the middle of the heat of battle especially with things that are horrible like monsters, your mind will not be thinking about how cute your comrade is or find your battle buddy handsome. Trust me, your mind will be thinking about how much ammo you have and if your side weapon is loaded.

And then I realized I have other books I could be reading. Will I read any other books by Kat Ross? Yes, she does write beautiful prose. On the other hand, if this book has a second part, I probably would not read it. ( )

Fantasy alternate history in the Persian Empire, contemporary to the youth of Alexander of Macedon, and beginning in territories that IIRC would be situated in modern Iran. Their religion at the time is Zoroastrianism, which influences their understanding and use of magic and their relationships with supernaturals, and in this author's version of it their prophet got up to fairly interesting shenanigans that end up being very relevant to the plot. It's also YA with a first-person female POV, and a romantic sub-plot that remains tastefully subordinated to the other events. Quite liked it. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The note by the author at the end confirmed a few things that seemed to correspond to Greek mythology and Zoroastrianism, subjects that have long fascinated me. Can't wait to read book #2! ( )

Another world for fantasy readers to explore and to enjoy.

Nazafareen’s sister was taken by a wight, a kind of druj, that leaves her uncle no other choice but to kill her sister. It was a nightmare that continuously hunted her, and it only stopped when she joined the Water Dogs and was bonded with Darius, a daeva. Being bonded was not as easy as she needs to share her emotions with Darius. As time passed by, everything started to change – she was beginning to see that daevas were not evil and definitely not a druj and her loyalty to the empire was now on the edge of breaking apart.

I liked this novel! Just like her other book, The Daemoniac, this never failed my expectation because the story itself has something on it that bewitched me on reading it until the end.

The plot was amazing! I liked the concept of druj and daeva and the bonding and sharing of your emotions through a cuff. The setting was another point to me, too, as I kind of liked history before when I was in high school.

The characters were all awesome. I hate how Ilyas broke my heart, and I love how Darius fixed it. Nazafareen was amazing in her own ways! She was brave and full of determination, though she was really a pain in the ass (sometimes). I also like Tijah. In fact, it’s her I’m looking forward to meeting in the future. I believed she would be a fantastic friend.

The way it was written was good! The author wrote a detailed explanation here. She also gave a great description of each druj and of the places on the story. It really helped a lot to imagine the story.

What I only dislike was when Ilyas also loved his daeva. It made me think if Ilyas was homosexual or not. I liked Ilyas, and it only pushed me away, thinking he might be attracted to his own daeva.

This novel is really good. It has everything that you’ll enjoy reading. This is very recommended for fantasy readers out there!

Disclaimer: I received a reader copy from the author via Xpresso Book Tours. ( )