Review by Booklist Review
Chupeco brings her trademark blend of magic, romance, Pan-Asian cultures, and inventive world building to a new series about twin goddesses whose falling out literally breaks the world in two. Asteria, mother of Odessa, rules the dark, frozen half, while Latona, mother of Haidee, rules the hot desert realm. The two daughters' stories are told in parallel through four narrators: Haidee, Odessa, and their respective love interests, the warriors Arjun and Lady Tianlan. Chapter headings and distinct narrative voices guide the reader with ease from one action-packed scene to the next, featuring many different and imaginative locales as Odessa and Haidee navigate their ways to the origin of the world's breaking, where their paths intersect. Of special note is a matter-of-fact lesbian relationship that avoids the pitfalls of tokenism and tragedy; it's happily just another love story. Multiple plot twists, plenty of gore and intimacy, and a breathlessly cinematic tone will attract fantasy and romance fans alike, who will be anxious for the second part of this exciting duology.--Debbie Carton Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Generations of Aeon's twin goddesses have appeased the Great Mother with a ritual that sacrifices one sister and enthrones the other. None has failed to complete the rite--until 17 years ago, when both Latona and Asteria survived. An abyss opened, dividing them, and planetary rotation ceased. Now, Latona's hemisphere bakes in perpetual sunshine, while Asteria's freezes in eternal darkness. The site of the Breaking reportedly also holds the magic to repair it, so Latona's daughter, Haidee, and Asteria's daughter, Odessa, embark on perilous treks toward the breach, as forces seem determined to unite them. The first in a planned duology, this rich fantasy from Chupeco (the Bone Witch trilogy) spotlights power's corruptive influence, love's redemptive nature, and the urgent concerns of climate change. Although complex worldbuilding occasionally eclipses character and plot, the tale's scope and creativity astound. Gay and straight romances add additional intrigue, while four intertwining first-person narratives confer immediacy and depth. Ages 14--up. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--After a sister's betrayal splits the world in two, our characters embark on a dangerous journey in this adventurous fantasy tale. For generations, twin goddesses have ruled Aeon but when this betrayal, called "the Breaking" takes place, two realms have been created, one in constant night and one entrenched in heat and light. One sister rules the dark city called Aranth and the other rules the Golden City. Each goddess has a daughter by her side to help her rule, and both keep secrets. The story is told in four interwoven perspectives. In the Golden City the daughter goddess Haidee desires to be free to make choices of her own and wants to lead her people to a better life. Arjun lives outside the city, struggling to survive but is compelled to help Haidee. In Aranth, the other daughter and goddess Odessa, sickly and bookish, longs to leave her tower and Tianlan, a catseye healer and bodyguard to the goddess, who works to find the balance between her duty to the goddess and her desire for her. The four are drawn through shadows and otherworldly beings to the place of the Breaking, where night meets day. The characters are nicely developed and readers will discover much about them as they go on their journey. VERDICT An engaging adventure that will leave readers anxious for the next book in this duology. A great choice for fantasy shelves.--Megan Huenemann, Norris High School, Firth, NE
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Can 17-year-old goddesses fix the world?Ever since the Breaking, the world of Aeon has stopped turning. One hemisphere exists in perpetual night plagued by ceaseless tsunamis while the other half is scorched by constant oppressive sunlight. Aeon is a dystopian world where critical resources are scarce and monsters and spectres lurk dangerously. Living in opposite hemispheres and unaware of the other's existence, twin goddesses Odessa and Haidee embark on treacherous parallel journeys to the Great Abyss to revisit the site of the Breaking and try to heal the world that their mothers made so wrong. These are teens aching to understand the broken world they've inherited and figure out how to set it to rights. What are they willing to fight for and defend? In a book narrated by four alternating voices, Chupeco (contributor: His Hideous Heart, 2019, etc.) offers up an exciting page-turner that is so visually vivid that reading it feels like watching a movie. It's chock full of narrow escapes, plot twists, and great characterseven a queer romancethat work in concert. Give this to fans of Holly Black's The Cruel Prince (2018) and Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone (2018); they will devour this story that is part epic adventure, part political thriller and eagerly await its sequel. Most characters are presumed white; two major and several secondary characters are coded as East or South Asian.Magical and exhilarating. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
