Daughter of the Sun by Amanda Auler
YA Clean Fantasy
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Daughter of the Sun (Mothmar Trilogy #1) by Amanda Auler
4.5 STARS, Young Adult Clean Fantasy, My format: paperback
Goodreads Synopsis | Buy on BookShop | Buy ebook on Kobo
Solyana must accept her fate of being born without a gift. Pallah finally finds acceptance in a group of teenage rebels.
Personal Review:
I knew it. I guessed it about 2/3 into the book. And I LOVE IT.
I love a book with a layer of a puzzle to figure out. Why were the chapters alternating between Pallah and Solyana (other than to infuriate me with constant cliff hangers)? Why does one live in a land of green with several Heitt and one live in perpetual winter with one Heitt? And many more questions that answers were slowly revealed for me as I read. The lay-out of the story and the laying of clues to what was coming were skillfully done. It felt like when I read "Holes" for the first time where suddenly you can see all of the little separate details come together. I can only imagine the rest of the series will bring things together even more!
If you read my reviews, you know I love character-driven stories and good maturing work from the main characters. I was not disappointed there. Solyana is a wonderful character. I really love her heart and the relationships she has with her different family members. The characters that join her later in the book are SO MYSTERIOUS and it was driving me crazy (in a good way). I need to know more about them. Rhuth, Solyana's younger sister, has a story coming too, I can feel it, and I can't wait to find out how she fits into the bigger picture.
Pallah is complicated and I am very curious to see where her story goes in the coming books. Very, very curious.
This book has an epic adventure feel, as in Lord of the Rings-adventure-into-the-unknown epic, not like our modern understanding of "that was epic". It's hard to explain, but the feel of this book really hit my sweet spot. Can't wait to read more.
Content Warnings:
There was one swear word used 3 times and this is the only reason for my lowered rating. This is the second YA fantasy I've read recently that uses this word and it's making me wonder if I grew up learning it as a more derogatory term than others did. Regardless, not a fan of the word. So far this is much cleaner with less violence than other YA books in a similar genre.