Review by Booklist Review
Over the past decade, the Sardovian Allfold countries have resisted hostile annexation by the Kesathese Night Empire in the bloody Hurricane Wars. Talasyn, a scrappy, street-smart orphan, has spent the past five of her 19 years fighting as a Sardovian. As the last Lightweaver, a race of aethermancers wielding powerful light magic, her path inevitably intersects with Alaric's. Alaric, the twenty-six-year-old heir to the Kesathese throne and powerful Shadowforged aethermancer, knows he must kill Talasyn to secure victory for his people. Yet he is conflicted, especially after witnessing their respective light and dark magics fuse into an unparalleled power on the battlefield. When faced with an unprecedented world-ending threat that can only be neutralized by their combined magic, Talasyn and Alaric are forced to choose between joining forces and destroying the other. A trope-heavy, formulaic high fantasy bearing the marks of its fan-fiction origins, this romance stands out, with its lush Southeast Asian-inspired setting. Fans of slow-burn enemies-to-lovers storylines are sure to relish this new adult fiction.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Two powerful royals are entangled in a war in Guanzon's trope-heavy, Southeast Asian--inflected romantasy debut. Orphaned Talasyn of Sardovia harbors a deadly secret: she's one of the last remaining Lightweavers, capable of wielding magic that can combat the brutal Night Empire's own shadow magic. When the Night Empire attacks and its alluring Prince Alaric Ossinast corners Talasyn, she must expose her powers to escape. Sardovia's leadership sends her to the Nenavar Dominion to amplify her powers, and, upon arrival, she discovers that she's the lost heir to Nenavar's Dragon Throne, making her an unwilling but vital player in diplomatic relations--especially after her grandmother, the matriarch, strikes a treaty with the Night Empire betrothing her to Alaric. After the expansive worldbuilding of the opening, the back half of the novel is devoted to Talasyn and Alaric's dynamic, which draws clear inspiration from Star Wars' Rey and Kylo Ren. Guanzon relies on flowery descriptions to convey the characters' chemistry ("Orange blossoms and the creamy floral note of promise jasmines wafted from her hair, tempered by cool green attar of lotus and the barest hint of cinnamon bark. Alaric's mouth watered"), occasionally leaning into cliché. The result doesn't bring anything new to the tropes it deploys, but it will scratch the itch for fantasy readers seeking slow-burning, enemies-to-lovers romance. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
DEBUT Talasyn has spent most of her life fighting the Night Empire in the Hurricane Wars and hiding her light magic that the emperor wants to eradicate. While on the battlefield, she fights Prince Alaric, the emperor's only child, and he finds that he cannot kill her with his shadow magic. On a secret mission that she hopes will save her nation, Talasyn finds Alaric there too, and something unexpected happens--their magic merges into one. Talasyn and her compatriots must flee after the Night Empire's latest attacks, which sets events in motion that will change everything. Talasyn and Alaric soon discover that the Hurricane Wars are not the only threat they face, and they have to learn to put their differences aside to save both their nations. They still have competing goals, but they each feel an undeniable pull towards the other that they cannot ignore. VERDICT Guanzon brings a fresh voice and vivid world into the fantasy landscape, and this story will be incredibly popular. Readers will look forward to the next book in this new trilogy.--Ashli Wells
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A young woman with a magical ability to harness light discovers she is royalty. Talasyn is a foot soldier for her homeland of Sardovia, which has been under attack for the past decade by the powerful and evil Night Empire, a conflict known as the Hurricane Wars. Talasyn is an orphan with no knowledge of her family, but she assumes they might be the source of her rare, magical Lightweaving talent. During a battle with the forces of the Night Empire, Talasyn spars with Prince Alaric, a fierce warrior who is the son and heir to the Night Emperor. Talasyn is sent on a covert mission into Nenavar, a nearby matriarchy that has remained neutral during the Hurricane Wars, to try to access a Light Sever which could hone and refine her magic. Instead, she discovers she is the heir to their royal throne; she and her mother, now presumed dead, disappeared under mysterious circumstances when she was a year old. Alaric follows her into Nenavar, and they discover his magical ability to cast darkness and shadows produces shocking results when mixed with her Lightweaving. A few weeks later, the Night Empire defeats Sardovia and ends the Hurricane Wars, and the novel transitions to a tedious, slow-moving story of court intrigue and diplomacy. A group of Sardovian soldiers and refugees seek asylum in Nenavar, but Talasyn's grandmother agrees to protect them only if Talasyn agrees to join the royal court and marry Alaric. The politics surrounding the impending wedding is the primary plot for the rest of the novel, and it's a slog. The glacially slow pacing only serves to highlight the confusing world building and underdeveloped characters. It's unclear why Alaric and Talasyn are attracted to each other, and their tentative romance is just as stuck in a rut as the plot. Slow and plodding. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
