(4.5 stars, rounded up)I picked up this book to read the night before I left on a big family trip, planning to read just the first chapter or two, but I couldn't go to sleep until I finished it. Others may complain that it's too short, but for me the length was just right. It's a fast-paced story with a strong leading character who also manages to have reasonable doubts about plenty of things. My one quibble with the story is that towards the end, the pace flagged a bit, but maybe that helped with the sense that, in the end, Hitomi will go on to have more and even better adventures. Forgive me while I struggle with my frustration... Alright, now I think I can be rational. The first book in trilogies never end anymore, and it is time to accept this and move on (I do keep resolving not to read the first until all three are out, but promising things to myself never works anyway). As a reader, I admire the way Intisar Khanani constructs worlds from the dust and gives me nothing more than what I need to know in order to imagine it whole. I never ever seem to doubt them. She has a gift for, like her magical characters, conjuring life from air. As a librarian, I appreciate the way she does all this without exceptionally complicated vocabularies or sentence structures. This book could appeal to readers of all ages and a whole variety of literacy skills. Hitomi is a compelling heroine, bright, brave without being fearless or reckless, and indomitable without being callous. She's intriguing, but easy for the reader to get into and follow around. Khanani makes great use of the first-person present-tense narrative technique. It's hard to put her books down. I mean, why would you want to? There's always things happening, inside and outside her heroine's head. This book sets up a bunch of really cool dynamics and potential directions for the rest. I love her creepy Breather friend Val so much, and there's all kinds of mysteries everywhere that the rest of the books will hopefully sort out. While I sit here and feel abandoned. But I'm over it. Really.
What do You think about Sunbolt (2013)?
This book started out well, but got too dark for me. Aw well.
—meme28
I was so surprised when this ended. More, please??
—Kasandera
