Rating: 5/5 stars

Category: YA, fantasy, action

Publisher: Harper Teen

Pages: 415

Trigger: war, violence, sexual assault, death, brutality

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SYNOPSIS

This is what they deserve. They wanted me to be a monster. I will be the worst monster they ever created.

Fifteen-year-old Sloane can incinerate an enemy at will—she is a Scion, a descendant of the ancient Orisha gods.

Under the Lucis’ brutal rule, her identity means her death if her powers are discovered. But when she is forcibly conscripted into the Lucis army on her fifteenth birthday, Sloane sees a new opportunity: to overcome the bloody challenges of Lucis training, and destroy them from within.

Sloane rises through the ranks and gains strength but, in doing so, risks something greater: losing herself entirely, and becoming the very monster that she ahbors.

Review

Sloane is a descendant of the gods in a land that was rubbed from her ancestor and wants all her kind dead the regime in power is brutal and uses children as soldiers to fight their war. Sloane’s mother disappeared and she has been looking for her while avoiding being drafted into the army of the Lucis. She only has her best friend and her grandfather as the survivors of her family. A fifteen year old girl who should be playing and finding her way in the world is instead fighting for survival. She is a scion with powers that could burn the world but she has to hide because her discovery will mean the death of all her loved ones for being associated with her.

This was a devastating read, tragedy at every corner, and sorrow in every line. It made me cry for the children of the world that lose their innocence in the most brutish ways. I gave the story 5 out of 5 stars. This wasn’t a typical fantasy YA for me, it was steeped in West African culture and the reality that some children in that part of the world face. Children are not allowed to remain innocent; it is taken from them, warped and abused. The author did such a brilliant job of blending reality with fantasy and I loved the infusion of the Yoruba language and myths into the story. I was delighted and devastated by this story and I would recommend it to not just YA readers but adult readers as well.

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