Hello Readers, welcome back to my blog.

I am back with another fairyloot subscription book review; this book is from this year’s March box. I decided to participate in my first read along ever by joining the fairyloot read along for this book. I also entered the March photo challenge for fairyloot, you can check out my photo on instagram, my handle is @book_latte_kech (I never win any of these things so I don’t have high hope but I enjoyed the challenge).

SUMMARY

Seventeen-year-old Valeria is one of the only survivors of the freeze, a dark magical hold Knnot Mountain unleashed on her village. Everyone, including her family, is trapped in an unbreakable sheet of ice. Ever since, she’s been on the run from the Czar, who is determined to imprison anyone who managed to escape. Valeria finds refuge with the Thieves Guild, doing odd jobs with her best friend, Alik, the only piece of home she has left.

That is, until he is brutally murdered.

A year later, she discovers Alik is alive and being held against his will. To buy his freedom, she must lead a group of cutthroats and thieves on a perilous expedition to the very mountain that claimed her family. Only, something sinister slumbers in the heart of Knnot.

And it has waited years for release.

Valeria is a seventeen year old thief from Zladonia. She is being hunted by the Czar of her nation because it is believed that anyone from her region carries a plague. Valeria teams up with some people on an expedition to her village – which is forbidden and illegal – to steal some precious material named lovite which was mined exclusively in her region before it became forbidden to venture there. Each person in the company has their own reason for wanting to break the law and get some lovite for themselves.

The world building in the first chapter of the book was spot-on. It was precise and succinct which instantly pulls you into the story, and as the story progresses you see more of the nation Strana. Valeria is very short tempered which has gotten her into a lot of trouble but she finds it very hard to hide her anger at the Czar and the rest of the nation for prosecuting her people unjustly. They are being rounded up all over the country and put in prison for a curse that they know nothing of, neither are they the cause aside from the fact that it originates from their region.

By the first 100 pages we are already very far into the adventure and hoping that the characters survive the perilous circumstance of their surroundings. Usually I read my books at my own pace but because I was taking part in the fairyloot read along, I had to stop at the chapters indicated for each day. It was fantastic because it meant I stopped on cliff hangers and couldn’t wait to continue the next day which I think really enhanced the reading experience for me.

The story is fast paced which I like because it meant there was always something going on and there were no dull moments. Valeria is a young girl that has dealt with a lot of heartache and she is still learning about herself. She is very distrustful of strangers and very loyal to those who have earned her love which causes her to be blind to her faults even when she sees it. The injustice that she sees in the world makes her very angry and she hasn’t learnt how to deal with that anger yet.

I really enjoyed the story and the writing style, it was fast paced and full of relevant content that drove the story forward. I can’t wait for the next book; I hope there is a next book because this one ended on a cliff hanger that has my mind spinning with possibilities on what is to come next. I gave the story a 4 star because although it had everything I loved and was really close, I was still missing something that would tip me over the edge. Maybe a more passionate romance rather than the slow burn we got but it was a wonderful experience overall.

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