e-Audio, 11:24:40
Narrated by: Keylor Leigh & Kamali Minter
Release Date: 1/16/24
Published by: Little, Brown Young Readers
Read from: January 18-23, 2024
Divine Traitors, #1
Source: Audible
TW: Violence, War, Colonisation, Death, Blood, Racism, Slavery, Panic Attacks/Disorders, Racial Slurs
For Readers Interested In: Fantasy, Dragons, 2SLGBTQ+, Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Jamaican)Whip-smart and immersive, this Jamaican-inspired fantasy follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland.
Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.
When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.
As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.
*MY THOUGHTS*
This was on my most anticipated list as soon as I heard about it. Jamaican inspired fantasy?! Yes please. And thennnn I saw it on list for those that one chick who was one star bombing other author’s novels. And it made me annoyed. So I made sure to put this on my January TBR.
Let me start with the bad to get it out of the way. This wasn’t the book I thought it was going to be. There were dragons, but there was also info dumping about the world. So much so that I had to read along with the physical book because I was getting lost in some places. Now I will say there was some important details about colonisation that I highlighted, but that was it. And the rest of the stuff like the amazing island setting that I had pictured, it wasn’t there. It was hella telly not showy and I was sad about that.
I also wasn’t a huge fan of the romance. I knew she was going to fall for her because the book was labeled as sapphic. The person I’m reading this with, Geena, asked if it got more sapphic and I had to tell her yes but not much lol She makes hints that she likes her throughout the story, but there’s nothing that shows it until the end. And by then I was upset because I wanted this romance to work out.
The bit about the characters I didn’t really know where to put. I liked them, but I also was annoyed by one of them. She thought she knew everything and it was obvious as soon as it happened that something wasn’t right there would make itself known in the end. And because it was a dual POV book, we do get into her head at some points. But I will say this… If you are a big fantasy reader, I don’t see you caring a lot about this. If you’re dipping your toes into fantasy, or you read it every so often, then yeah you might like this alot. And because that’s me, I was ok with it. I could have dealt with some more fantastical elements, but that’s neither here nor there. I hope the next installment is chock full of them.
HOWEVER, the dragons in this were a delight. Again we don’t know much about what they look like, but being able to look into their mind and seeing how they connect to their riders, and all that, was pretty cool. I can’t lie, every part about the dragons in this I highlighted lol They are just majestic creatures and I will read (ALMOST) any book that has them.
Another thing that delighted me about this book was the ending. I called what was going to happen, but it still didn’t stop my heart rate from speeding up. It still didn’t stop me gasping at the very end. I didn’t love the ending since there’s a cliff hanger, but I DID love that the fact that this book set itself up to have a helluva sequel. As a matter of fact, that’s what this seemed like, a filler book. And it really made me feel like ehhhhh because a filler book is supposed to be the sequel. But this one is like a set up for what’s to come. And because I’m so into the dragons and still wondering how things will be fixed in the long run, I’m definitely still going to pick this sequel up and read it.
No this didn’t go exactly how I thought it would, but it was still good enough for me to be hanging on trying to figure out what happens next. And maybe this didn’t hit every point for me, but maybe it might for you. Give it a try and come back and let me know if it hit more of a mark for you.
Overall, I give this
