Daybreak Rising
By Kiran Oliver
For some reason I thought I had left this review months ago. I pretty
much read it in one sitting because I was so entranced by the world and
it fed my hunger for what I've been looking for in a good Science
Fiction/Fantasy novel.
Off the bat, I think the reason I enjoyed this book so much was because I believe I am the exact target audience for it. I'm a QWoC who bloody love elemental magic incorporated in my fantasy and this book had EVERYTHING a girl like me could ever dream of. It had a mostly queer cast of characters(i think only one main character wasn't, I read it a while ago so I can't remember) and four of of seven of the main cast were PoC. So I don't think I took a second to breath while I read this book. Oh and it had a F/F pairing with the two main characters Celosia and Ianthe(who's a WoC) which I fangirled to death over!
The story follows Celosia, or Daybreak, a nickname she earned by being a failure. It was nice to have a heroine introduced that wasn't necessarily this chosen one, but instead a heroine with a bad reputation with following through with an important mission. Because of that she was sort of like the laughing stock, so the book was centered on her having to prove herself worthy again.
Kiran's magic system was on point and the world building took me so many places that I felt like this was a world i wanted to get lost in. This story reminded me of a mixture of FullMetal Alchemist(because of the incorporation of military elements and how it weaved in with folks with abilities) and The Legend of Korra(because of the technology elements compared to ATLA)
My favorite characters were Adan(i'd even say Adan was number #1) and of course Celosia and Ianthe because their relationship was so cute and easy to root for. I'd recommend this book for ALL lovers of fantasy, especially if you like reading books with well-thought out detail and an amazing cast of non-default characters.
This book ended on a cliffhanger which i don't mind at all because it felt more like a resolved cliffhanger. I know I'm going to run out and get the second book once it comes out because i have to find out what happens next!
Off the bat, I think the reason I enjoyed this book so much was because I believe I am the exact target audience for it. I'm a QWoC who bloody love elemental magic incorporated in my fantasy and this book had EVERYTHING a girl like me could ever dream of. It had a mostly queer cast of characters(i think only one main character wasn't, I read it a while ago so I can't remember) and four of of seven of the main cast were PoC. So I don't think I took a second to breath while I read this book. Oh and it had a F/F pairing with the two main characters Celosia and Ianthe(who's a WoC) which I fangirled to death over!
The story follows Celosia, or Daybreak, a nickname she earned by being a failure. It was nice to have a heroine introduced that wasn't necessarily this chosen one, but instead a heroine with a bad reputation with following through with an important mission. Because of that she was sort of like the laughing stock, so the book was centered on her having to prove herself worthy again.
Kiran's magic system was on point and the world building took me so many places that I felt like this was a world i wanted to get lost in. This story reminded me of a mixture of FullMetal Alchemist(because of the incorporation of military elements and how it weaved in with folks with abilities) and The Legend of Korra(because of the technology elements compared to ATLA)
My favorite characters were Adan(i'd even say Adan was number #1) and of course Celosia and Ianthe because their relationship was so cute and easy to root for. I'd recommend this book for ALL lovers of fantasy, especially if you like reading books with well-thought out detail and an amazing cast of non-default characters.
This book ended on a cliffhanger which i don't mind at all because it felt more like a resolved cliffhanger. I know I'm going to run out and get the second book once it comes out because i have to find out what happens next!
Add to your TBR here!
