★★★
Siria Nightingale has spent her entire life in darkness.
And no, she wasn’t locked up in a cold cellar. Her entire world is literally shrouded in darkness.
Queen Iyzabel always told her people that the light is dangerous and has hidden her kingdom for protection…and while Siria can’t quite put her finger on it…something felt off. Very off.
On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Siria is called into the royal city along with a handful of similarly aged girls.
The night was dreamy – suspiciously so – and soon Siria (and the rest of the girls) fall under the Queen’s spell.
But when the Queen announces her plan to kill the sunchild hidden among the girls…let’s just say things get a little dodgy.
Siria flees her only home with her best friend and hid grandfather. They must trek their way across hazardous terrain, flee bespelled guards and fight bloodthirsty creatures to try to find the sun.
But the longer she goes without, the more she doubts that their small party could hold a candle to the evil Queen’s army.
So.
This one started pretty darn good.
I LOVED the world-building and most of the magic system.
I feel like the whole world-doesn’t-have-sun has been done so many times but this if the first time I’ve found myself nodding along and going, “yup. this makes sense.”
I was also really intrigued by the way Siria developed her powers.
But what ultimately threw me out of the book is the sheer amount of coincidences.
The situation gets too tough? Siria passes out, scene fades to black, she wakes up (relatively) unharmed.
The situation requires powers beyond her current level? Siria looks within herself, and then snaps her fingers and the powers come out.
The situations seems hopeless in every way, shape and form? Here’s a couple of conveniently placed characters who literally have the exact skill set and/or personal connections needed to this situation.
When I read books, I want desperation. I want knife-edge tension. But halfway through, I figured out that there truly was no real danger cause whatever the main character needs will be given to her.
Other than that, this one was rather well-written and I did enjoy the characters. The plot was just completely tension-less.
Interested in this one from Hanna Howard? Buy it here: Amazon
Miranda Reads 