Welcome to My Life is a Notebook’s stop for the Summer Reading Event: YA of Omnific Publishing! August 6th-11th, over 40 blogs are reviewing a multitude of YA titles from Omnific Publishing AND offering giveaways for all the books. That’s really exciting, right? Click HERE for a list of all the participating blogs.
Now onto my contribution!
Destiny’s Fire (Kythan Guardians #1) by Trisha Wolfe
It’s the year 2040, and sixteen-year-old Dez Harkly is one of the last of her kind—part of a nearly extinct race of shape-shifters descended from guardians to the Egyptian pharaohs. Her home and her secret are threatened when the Council lowers the barrier, allowing the enemy race to enter the Shythe haven.
As the Narcolym airships approach, Dez and her friends rebel against their Council and secretly train for battle. Not only is Dez wary of war and her growing affection for her best friend Jace, but she fears the change her birthday will bring. When Dez’s newfound power rockets out of control, it’s a Narcolym who could change her fate… if she can trust him.
Dez’s guarded world crumbles when she discovers why the Narcos have really come to Haven Falls, and she’s forced to choose between the race who raised her and the enemy she’s feared her whole life.
Tell me you DON’T want to read this book after that synopsis, and I will do hand stands wearing a clown costume. Seriously. At least, that was my reaction when I saw this blurb waaaaaay back before the beginning of the year, when this book made my 12 Debut Authors I’m Looking Forward to in 2012 list. I have been dying to get my hands on a copy ever since, so imagine my excitement when this event came up.
And the first part of the book was just as epic as I wanted it to be.
This world is SO COOL. It’s part steampunk, part fantasy, and the way they mesh together is freaking fantastic. I soaked in every description of power, of the two different races, and the little bit of back history we got. Dez’s change and resulting powers were also the coolest things to visualize. There was no shortage of power usage, so I got a LOT of it to make me happy. From beginning to end, I never got tired of it. I hope in coming books we’ll get to touch a little bit more on the Egyptian guardian aspects, because that was never really covered as much as I wanted it to be, but maybe that’s because there was WAY too much going. Wolfe never once infodumped, and only gave me what I needed to know, which was a huge plus.
The character of Dez also started out pretty rock solid. She’s my kind of girl, preferring to wear tomboyish clothes and go without makeup. Her friends, the triples Nick, Jace and Lana, were fairly bland, but they made nice foils for Dez and moved the plot forward in ways Dez herself never would have pushed it.
Then Reese came along.
Reese first enters the book as a hot-headed Narco who tries to get it on with Dez up against a club wall despite her protests. Then Dez decks him, and he says that turns him on. For a creep, he was written pretty well.
And then the logical inconsistencies start.
It turns out, Reese is only pretending to be a creep. In reality, he’s a Kythan as special as Dez. I don’t want to give too much away, but basically Dez has been keeping a secret her whole life about just how powerful she really is, and Reese is the first one she can tell it to. So obviously she falls in love with him, despite the fact that Jace is totally into her and she was supposedly crushing on Jace for the first 100 pages. This, of course, causes a love triangle. This is standard YA romance, sure, but you all know I’m ridiculously jaded about standard YA romance by now.
I can’t really go into the others without giving away some serious spoilers, but let me just say that some REALLY BIG PARTS of the end were totally implausible. Or maybe they were plausible, but they were never given much explanation. After the spectacular start this book got off to, I was expecting more out of the plotline and wasn’t prepared to just settle in and enjoy the ride. I was expecting a watertight plot that wasn’t there.
All and all, though, I really enjoyed this book, especially the world. It NEVER stopped moving, even when what was happening wasn’t pure action, which is really hard to have happen. Sure, there was romance and inconsistencies, but as long as you’re ready to just sit back and enjoy the ride, you’ll enjoy this one too. At the very least, you’ll be reading one of the most unique books I’ve read all year.
Besides, I have a giveaway for one of these babies. You could read this thing for FREE on your favorite ereading device. How can you lose? Just leave a meaningful commenton the bottom about how excited you are for this book! 😀
BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE! How about a chance to win Omnific’s ENTIRE CATALOGUE? That’s right: you can enter to win SEVEN YA ebooks in their grand prize giveaway! Just click HERE to enter!
Both giveaways end at 11:59 PM on August 11 and are INTERNATIONAL.
My Life is a Notebook 
Right, so the phrase “descended from guardians to the ancient Egyptian pharaohs” jumps out at me from that blurb and after that I barely pay attention because my brain is just going “GIMMEGIMMEGIMME”. Once I finally settle down and read it though, my brain is even MORE excited. Your review intrigues me too, and so do the hinted at “REALLY BIG PARTS” that make me want to know what you’re talking about. So, bottom line: whether I win a copy or not, I am SO getting my hands on this. 😀
Thanks so much for the giveaway! I’ve heard amazing things about this book including the fact that it’s just so original and the author is like the sweetest thing ever I just love her 🙂 *hugs Trish* And I’ve always loved fantasy and steam punk books 🙂
Wow amazing giveaway! I have been wanting to read this book for a while now, and it’s on my wishlist still but I don’t have any money to buy it:( and I’ve never seen it at my library:(
So it would be awesome if I could win this giveaway:D
I have had this on my wish list for months now, and I honestly can’t wait to read it!!!! Thanks for the great interview and giveaway!!!!