Kingdom of Souls
Author: Rena Barron
Publicist: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 3rd 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
THERE’S MAGIC IN HER BLOOD.
Explosive fantasy set in a world of magic and legend, where one girl must sacrifice her life, year by year, to gain the power necessary to fight the mother she has never been good enough for.
Perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas, Tomi Adeyemi and Black Panther
THERE’S MAGIC IN HER BLOOD.
Arrah is a young woman from a long line of the most powerful witch doctors in the land. But she fails at magic, fails to call upon the ancestors and can’t even cast the simplest curse.
Shame and disappointment dog her.
When strange premonitions befall her family and children in the kingdom begin to disappear, Arrah undergoes the dangerous and scorned process of selling years of her life for magic. This borrowed power reveals a nightmarish betrayal and a danger beyond what she could have imagined. Now Arrah must find a way to master magic, or at least buy it, in order to save herself and everything she holds dear.
An explosive fantasy set in a world of magic and legend with a twist you will never see coming.
my review
I received a free copy for an honest review.
This book was a slow burn. No, I’m not talking about hate-love relationships.
It was a slow burn for me because I slowly came to fall in love with this book. From not liking this book too much to becoming more and more interested, finally truly in love.
This book had an interesting beginning, but it didn’t have a strong pull on my interest. However, I was patient and kept reading, and even know it didn’t start exactly with an “exciting” start for me, the plot like was genuinely interesting enough for me to find myself continuing to read it because I just want to know what is going t happen next.
This leads me to the next point. This book is not really…the typically “flashy” YA fantasy books you see. The author took her time to develop the storyline and a constant pace (so that the timing is not all over the place), and I appreciated that. The story was also complicated and simple at the same time – it’s complex enough to be interesting to read, but it also made enough logical sense so that it’s “understandable”.
Arrah grew on me as well as the book progressed. She was normal enough to be realistic but still possess the ‘Heroine qualities” without being so overboard that it as cheesy and “cliché”. Her thought process is also so logical and I completely agreed with every single decision she made in the book. I.e. she did not make any stupid decisions. That is so unbelievably satisfying.
The romance was also realistic and very fun to read. Phenomenal chemistry and most importantly – it was not shoved into our faces. It’s a side plot (still important though because it’s related to the main character), so we can still enjoy it while savoring the “true” plot of the book.
Speaking of “cliche” and topics like that, there’s one thing I noticed that’s quite special with this book. I don’t know if it’s just me, but does anyone else noticed how the story managed to “defy” tropes but still comply to it at the same time? The author found the perfect balance (apparently) to making it seem a bit more different than “typical” books but didn’t go so overboard to the point of …just being illogical. For example, there were some plot twists in this book that twisted but wasn’t taken so much to the extreme that it’s just stupid (it complement with the story phenomenally). That’s just one thing I noticed.
Rating: 4.5/5
about the author
Rena Barron grew up in small-town Alabama where stories of magic and adventure sparked her imagination. After penning her first awful poem in middle school, she graduated to writing short stories and novels by high school. Rena loves all things science fiction, ghosts, and superheroes. She’s a self-proclaimed space nerd. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading or brushing up on her French. Follow her at @renathedreamer and renabarron.com.
Rena prefers not to be tagged in reviews to save her sanity.
She is represented by Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media, Inc.
Rating: 4.5/5