I will never post spoilers. These types of posts will just be general what am I reading/what did I think of it type of reviews.
Book Summary
Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.
But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.
Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.
Knowing the dangers that lie ahead yet yearning for acceptance, Deka decides to leave the only life she’s ever known. But as she journeys to the capital to train for the biggest battle of her life, she will discover that the great walled city holds many surprises. Nothing and no one are quite what they seem to be–not even Deka herself.
Genre Tags
Feminism, Magic, Strong Female Lead, Young Adult
What did I think?
I really liked this one. The world Namina creates here is infuriating, it makes the feminist in me howl, but you know that you’ll get the pay-off of these woman blowing these men’s work all the h*** and I was in it all the way. The imager created by her descriptions is pretty wonderful and I enjoyed the world building. My only complaint would be that she does have a love interest, I could have done without that to be honest, I don’t know that it added anything. Like all YA books, the protagonist is 16, it is sometimes illogical and alternately simplistic and the stupid sort of complicated (no spoilers, trying my best), but that is pretty much teenagers in a nutshell. This is the first book and the only one published, so I have to wait for the rest.
Deathless
- The Gilded Ones
- The Merciless Ones (exp pub 10/1/2021)
- Untitled (exp pub unknown)