Ghondatha eARC Review

GoodReads: The power to love.

The power to heed your own voice.

The power to hope in a world of blood and shadow.

Yesterday morning, most of Saphrona Melioska’s family was executed. Today, at dawn, she and her brother’s widow would have followed them to the block. But something changed.

Saphrona doesn’t know who paid for their sentence to be commuted, but by that act of kindness, she and her hearth sister are exiled to the remote island of Ghondatha, where Saphrona’s only relatives live.

She has nothing to take with her but the legacy of ten generations of master sculptors, a family name beloved in the world of Art, and her own credo: there is goodness and beauty in everything.

Upon their arrival at Ghondatha, however, Saphrona and Leigh find that even ageless Ghondatha is not what it once was. The island has a new liege-lord, a nobleman from the lavish Amkadan Empire, with deep pockets and extravagant ideas about progress.

All Lord Gideon Bloodstone requires is that the villagers obey three laws: no one may leave the island; all who are invited to his nightly masquerades must attend; and those who are not invited must mind the curfew and stay home.

Who is this man who has stolen the last familiar piece of life Saphrona has left in the world?

Someone who will change forever how she defines that which is good and beautiful.

Content Transparency Statement

1. This is hate-free fiction.

2. The Garden of Night Series contains:

(a) PG-13 rated sensuality

(b) R-rated violence

(c) Vampire characters. Some of them fall in love with humans. There will be talk of blood and biting one another.

Like Vampire stories?

Want an interesting vampire one set in a new world and is more like a Fantasy novel?

Like slow burning romances that make you ship harder?

How about a book where the female protagonist is a freakin sculptor and has a really strong personal/guild moral code she sticks to?

Cool beans. Let me drop Ghondatha at ya.

I was really unbelievably pleased with Ghondatha

This was a book to restore my spirits after the last few reads.

The synopsis had me intrigued and it’s the sort of love story I crave, the slow-burning (and for me, more realistic) kind. I did not expect the twist of the plot of the story and man, was that awesome!

There are guilds, ancient Antlantian like civilizations lost to a volcano, a war, and under that ware is an even bigger war that the humans have no notion of! I’m such a huge fan of how she’s written the vampires.

I love that the main character is a sculptor and her hearth sister is a potter. They’re not the usual occupations you see for female characters, well, teenage/young adult ones anyway and I love how steadfast Saphra was to being a journeyman sculptor and her guild/family.

Pros:
– Strong female who is more concerned with her ultimate goal in life and in her family than romance
– Vampires are intriguing and there’s more than one ‘kind’
– Gideon Code
– Lord Gideon
– Leigh is a great best friend and hearth sister to Saphra and I love her
– Complex relationship between humans and vampires that consort (not just romantically)
– Slow burning romance
– I need to know so much more about Qyva, it’s an ancient lost civilization and I need more
– The book is short but it feels nice and full, and in fact you’ll want to dive right into the next book.
– Sheena and Bradley showing two different sides of how humans can be affected by even the most well-intentioned vampires
– Antonia sounds like a big bad B and her origins is amazing, I hope we see more of her.

Cons:
– I wish the book had been a tad bit longer because it felt like it wasn’t as much of a cliff hanger as much as a ‘pause/to be continued.’
– More Leigh
– Uh again, more Qyva
– People may be put off by the fact that it has vampires in it.
– Pacing could feel slow or too fast depending on what you’re looking to get out of this book.
– Again I really just wish this book could have been longer, I would have loved to read more about Leigh and Saphra’s familial relationship/friendship.
– I also wanted more about Saphra’s sculpting and maybe some more peeks at her past but I can see why the author didn’t give us more about her past.
– I guess overall I just wanted more.
– Most didn’t consider it a love story, but I would say it is if you accept it’s not going to wrap up in the first book.

Alright, it’s Saturday, I’m off to go nap after a long concert!

Toodles!