This one is a total winner in the YA fantasy genre.
Cavarra is under serious peril from silver beasts. These
beasts start of a normal insects and feed off the silver magic used by the
citizens to mutate into flesh-eating terrors with a shell of silver making them
highly dangerous. A lot of this outcome is due to the irresponsibility of human
beings across generations. The king has decided to train teams of
eighteen-year-olds and send them sailing to discover new lands so that the
people can be relocated to safer areas. Four teens are selected – one from each
county of the kingdom – after rigorous testing. Each of the four is the best in
their year.
The second wave comprises Avelynne, a
Peakdweller; Sabina from the North; Eleksander from the Lakelands and
Hale from the Woodlands. Hale, an orphan, is a hearty, rough-around-the-edges
fighter. Eleksander with a tremulous past, is softer and gentler but
nonetheless highly capable fighter. Sabina, eldest and most responsible from a
family of multiple siblings has a snowtiger, Kall, as her companion and is a
fierce fighter. Avelynne, Countess and heir of the family, is sensitive and
vulnerable, and hides a deeply shameful secret.
The four start their training and soon discover that things
are not quite like what they seem. While they try to unearth mysterious
warnings they also learn to handle the differing personalities, grow as
individuals and become each other’s safe place and family.
The main focus of the story is Avelynne and she is an
immensely likeable person. She is fragile, vulnerable, hardworking, conscientious,
lonely, damaged and kind amongst many other things. A goodish portion of the book
also deals with Hale. We wish Sabina and Eleksander had also been given the
same attention as Hale because with Avelynne as the central character we found
it unfair that only one of the others received disproportionate attention. Plus
Sabina and Eleksander seem very interesting people.
Though Avelynne is the weakest of the foursome – both,
physically and as a student – her attractiveness as a person is unquestionable.
We loved the bonds that the four build and how they just have each other’s
backs by the end. The bad guys are still slightly amorphous (could be the king,
could be one of their tutors, could be the rebels – in this book they all are
at different stages of bad-hood).
Within just these four characters, Sterner-Radley achieves rather
wide inclusivity. Hale starts of as a straight alpha male. Sabina is a proud
lesbian. Eleksander seems to be emotionally trans but may also be gender-fluid. Avelynne is pansexual given that she is
attracted to all the other three during the course of the book.
Clearly this is the beginning of a series – a very
interesting start.
PS: We hope that couples finally are Avelynne-Sabina and
Hale-Eleksander.
⭐⭐⭐☆★
