The Shattered Lands
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Description
18 years after her disappearance, the princess has returned. But what is left of her kingdom?
Sapphire finds herself in Eriobis with a crown, a castle and too many handmaidens to count. And so her life begins as the heir to the throne of a country she doesn't understand - a country ruled by magic and secrets.
That's before she meets Ashes. A dark witch with the power to destroy Sapphire's life and kingdom. But Ashes also happens to be the only person that can help her discover the truth.
And the answers might unravel the very world she's come to know.
'It left me tearing through the pages desperate to find out what happens next. This is queer storytelling done right.' - Calum McSwiggan, author of Eat Gay Love
'A bewitching fantasy packed with heart shattering twists, Brenna Nation has woven a devastating tale about the things we do for love.' - Rosie Talbot, author of Sixteen Souls
Perfect for fans of The Dark Tide and Six Of Crows, discover the secrets of Eriobis in this magical Sapphic story.
Book Information
Posts
Spannende Fantasy Geschichte mit queerer Protagonistin.
Ich muss sagen, ich war echt begeistert von der Geschichte. Es hat zwar etwas gedauert bis die Story so richtig in Fahrt gekommen ist aber dann war es richtig spannend. Sapphire findet sich kurz nach ihrem 18 Geburtstag in der unbekannten Welt Eriobis wieder. Zuerst ist sie dort eine Fremde aber schnell stellt sich heraus, dass sie viel mehr als das in dieser neuen unbekannten Welt ist. Sie lernt das Königreich und alles drum herum kennen uns stößt auch schnell auf die Shadow "Witches". Vor allem die junge rothaarige Ashes bleibt ihr im Kopf. Wir begeben uns auf eine Reise Magie, Freundschaft, Lügen, Geheimnisse und ✨tension✨ Enemies to lovers trope mit Fantasy 😚❤️
I have a lot to say about this, and it pains me that none of it is positive. Let´s start with the fantasy aspects and world-building which, if I´m being honest, fell flat for me. It took so long for me to actually understand anything about the kingdom, the world, and even the power and magic system was hard to understand because it just wasn´t explained very well. The writing felt very middle-grade, which confused me so much, as this is promoted as a YA but has sexual phrases and kinks (praise kink, good girl,...) in it, that I would've cut out, simply because it doesn't fit the target audience. A lot of scenes were very quick and needed more details, to understand what was happening, and it often just switched to new scenes without much context. Though my main problem with this book is the problematic black character representation, and one scene especially stood out to me as problematic; "Don´t speak to me like that" Sapphire (the MC) hisses. "What are you going to do about it? Punish me? Have your guards give me a good lashing?" (For context: the Main Character, as well as the royal family, and a lot of the high-bloods are black, while all the witches are white, pale, etc., and are heavily discriminated and poorly treated by the kingdom and monarchy. In this scene, the witch jokes the line above.) The plot left me incredibly underwhelmed and I felt bored most of the time. The characters mostly had no interesting features or traits and even the ending didn´t make me care more about the book. (Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All my thoughts and opinions are my own.)
Description
18 years after her disappearance, the princess has returned. But what is left of her kingdom?
Sapphire finds herself in Eriobis with a crown, a castle and too many handmaidens to count. And so her life begins as the heir to the throne of a country she doesn't understand - a country ruled by magic and secrets.
That's before she meets Ashes. A dark witch with the power to destroy Sapphire's life and kingdom. But Ashes also happens to be the only person that can help her discover the truth.
And the answers might unravel the very world she's come to know.
'It left me tearing through the pages desperate to find out what happens next. This is queer storytelling done right.' - Calum McSwiggan, author of Eat Gay Love
'A bewitching fantasy packed with heart shattering twists, Brenna Nation has woven a devastating tale about the things we do for love.' - Rosie Talbot, author of Sixteen Souls
Perfect for fans of The Dark Tide and Six Of Crows, discover the secrets of Eriobis in this magical Sapphic story.
Book Information
Posts
Spannende Fantasy Geschichte mit queerer Protagonistin.
Ich muss sagen, ich war echt begeistert von der Geschichte. Es hat zwar etwas gedauert bis die Story so richtig in Fahrt gekommen ist aber dann war es richtig spannend. Sapphire findet sich kurz nach ihrem 18 Geburtstag in der unbekannten Welt Eriobis wieder. Zuerst ist sie dort eine Fremde aber schnell stellt sich heraus, dass sie viel mehr als das in dieser neuen unbekannten Welt ist. Sie lernt das Königreich und alles drum herum kennen uns stößt auch schnell auf die Shadow "Witches". Vor allem die junge rothaarige Ashes bleibt ihr im Kopf. Wir begeben uns auf eine Reise Magie, Freundschaft, Lügen, Geheimnisse und ✨tension✨ Enemies to lovers trope mit Fantasy 😚❤️
I have a lot to say about this, and it pains me that none of it is positive. Let´s start with the fantasy aspects and world-building which, if I´m being honest, fell flat for me. It took so long for me to actually understand anything about the kingdom, the world, and even the power and magic system was hard to understand because it just wasn´t explained very well. The writing felt very middle-grade, which confused me so much, as this is promoted as a YA but has sexual phrases and kinks (praise kink, good girl,...) in it, that I would've cut out, simply because it doesn't fit the target audience. A lot of scenes were very quick and needed more details, to understand what was happening, and it often just switched to new scenes without much context. Though my main problem with this book is the problematic black character representation, and one scene especially stood out to me as problematic; "Don´t speak to me like that" Sapphire (the MC) hisses. "What are you going to do about it? Punish me? Have your guards give me a good lashing?" (For context: the Main Character, as well as the royal family, and a lot of the high-bloods are black, while all the witches are white, pale, etc., and are heavily discriminated and poorly treated by the kingdom and monarchy. In this scene, the witch jokes the line above.) The plot left me incredibly underwhelmed and I felt bored most of the time. The characters mostly had no interesting features or traits and even the ending didn´t make me care more about the book. (Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All my thoughts and opinions are my own.)