High above the sea, floats the pristine city of the Heliana. Home to winged-lion shapeshifters―the Leonodai―and protected from the world of humans by an elite group of warriors, the Heliana has only known peace.
– GoodReads
My Review
This is a great standalone fantasy. Honestly there are not enough standalone books for fantasy so I was super happy to read this in the first place. BUT Price also leaves room to where I hope there’s a possibility of companion novels because this world sounds fascinating.
We follow a pretty straight forward plot, and it’s nice to have that. I didn’t want a billion twists and turns, I’m kinda of wary of that on shorter standalone novels because it can be difficult to really tie everything in. (That doesn’t mean it never happens there are so many talented authors who pull it off, but I do find a lot of standalone novels can cram in too much)
The pacing in this was quite fast, at times I wish we would have some slower moments to see the world-building and magic system grow but this is plot driven. Speaking of the world-building I’m absolutely fascinated on the technology of the humans versus the magic of the four kingdoms of shape shifters. (Again would have loved to see more from those kingdoms)
The writing style is engaging and the characters are easy enough to get invested in and not only that but there’s still room for tender moments and some heartache as well. It would have been nice to get more of a bond between the sisters, especially considering how everything culminates in the end but I did enjoy watching them deal with the different situations they’re thrown in. And though the sisters are important, it’s really the younger sister Rowan who is our MC and so her and her best friend’s chapters dominate the story; giving us multiple POVs for this. (Three: Callen, Rowan, and her sister Shirene)
Another plus? This has romance but it doesn’t dominate from the prevalent storyline which always makes this one happy reader. They’re on a mission and it’s bigger than the romantic arcs though there are some ‘soppy’ lovey moments too so fear not those of a romantic heart.
Definitely a fun read that I would recommend. If this were the start of a series I may have rated it down but I’m going to give it 4/5 cups of coffee from wrapping everything up and being such a nice easy read! Thank you so much to TorTeen for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion! THIS BOOK RELEASES AUGUST 17!
Psssst! There’s also preorder swag!
Click HERE for preorder form where you can get a cool metalmark!
The Caffeinated Reader 