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A review by cmzukowski
Amber & Dusk by Lyra Selene
3.0
Amber & Dusk, by Lyra Selene, is a book about Sylvie is a young orphan girl who discovers she the ability to create illusions out of thin air, meaning she is of highborn bloodline. While she is teased mercilessly and bullied while growing up she knew all along that her power, referred to as a “legacy”, allows her a place in the palace with the empress and highborns. This knowledge sends her on a quest to present herself to the Amber Empress and her court and secure her place among the other legacies.
From the beginning this story had an excellent pace. I found myself intrigued as to what would happen next and I flew through the book. It was full of excitement and suspense and I read through it turning the pages quickly to see what would happen next. The story was a bit predictable at times but what I think Selene did well was weaving together several familiar YA fantasy plot ideas to create a story full of magic and creativity. While some of the story elements were very familiar to me they were all combined in a way that made the overall plot line rather captivating. At first the writing style came off a bit pretentious to me but as I read on I began to see it as more dramatic in style than anything else and I really came to appreciate that.
Unfortunately, there were a few things with Amber & Dusk that didn’t sit well with me, including the main character, Sylvie. I tried hard to like her from the beginning but the more the story went on the more insufferable she became. She spoke as if she was owed and deserved everything and it came off as a bit spoiled, which is the opposite of how you would expect an orphan to be. She easily abandoned those who helped her and that she had grown close to in order to have a posh and pampered life that she assumed was simply hers for the taking. Also, she seemed a bit dense when it came to seeing things that were right in front of her. She could have half a dozen people tell her the palace was a dangerous and corrupt place that was not to be trusted and it would not faze her; she would continue to think the palace was wonderful and all she ever wanted and deserved in life. Then finally when the realization hit her that there was something off it didn’t even dawn on her that people were warning her all along. The main thing I look for in a story is a personal connection to the characters, especially the main one, and that was something that was completely missing for me in this book.
There were also a few things I wish had been explained better in the story. Selene created a fantastical land in this novel that was full of so many differing locations, but I found the book could have benefited from a map in the beginning that explained the geography of the land better. I always find that to be a huge benefit in fantasy books when you can refer to the map to check on new places when they are mentioned in the book to see location, terrain, and proximity to other areas. Also, there were several words used throughout the book that were created by the author, but we were never given a full definition on them, such as ambric, dristic, and kembric. They are used quite often to explain colors, sheen, and other elements but it is never explained what exactly they represent.
Overall, I found this book to be fast-paced, exciting, and very readable and I finished it quickly. I wish I could have loved it more than I did though. I wholeheartedly appreciate the author’s creativity and imagination when it came to story elements, the land, the description of the cities, etc. but the story just lacked a bit for me in certain areas and that really affected my enjoyment of the book.
From the beginning this story had an excellent pace. I found myself intrigued as to what would happen next and I flew through the book. It was full of excitement and suspense and I read through it turning the pages quickly to see what would happen next. The story was a bit predictable at times but what I think Selene did well was weaving together several familiar YA fantasy plot ideas to create a story full of magic and creativity. While some of the story elements were very familiar to me they were all combined in a way that made the overall plot line rather captivating. At first the writing style came off a bit pretentious to me but as I read on I began to see it as more dramatic in style than anything else and I really came to appreciate that.
Unfortunately, there were a few things with Amber & Dusk that didn’t sit well with me, including the main character, Sylvie. I tried hard to like her from the beginning but the more the story went on the more insufferable she became. She spoke as if she was owed and deserved everything and it came off as a bit spoiled, which is the opposite of how you would expect an orphan to be. She easily abandoned those who helped her and that she had grown close to in order to have a posh and pampered life that she assumed was simply hers for the taking. Also, she seemed a bit dense when it came to seeing things that were right in front of her. She could have half a dozen people tell her the palace was a dangerous and corrupt place that was not to be trusted and it would not faze her; she would continue to think the palace was wonderful and all she ever wanted and deserved in life. Then finally when the realization hit her that there was something off it didn’t even dawn on her that people were warning her all along. The main thing I look for in a story is a personal connection to the characters, especially the main one, and that was something that was completely missing for me in this book.
There were also a few things I wish had been explained better in the story. Selene created a fantastical land in this novel that was full of so many differing locations, but I found the book could have benefited from a map in the beginning that explained the geography of the land better. I always find that to be a huge benefit in fantasy books when you can refer to the map to check on new places when they are mentioned in the book to see location, terrain, and proximity to other areas. Also, there were several words used throughout the book that were created by the author, but we were never given a full definition on them, such as ambric, dristic, and kembric. They are used quite often to explain colors, sheen, and other elements but it is never explained what exactly they represent.
Overall, I found this book to be fast-paced, exciting, and very readable and I finished it quickly. I wish I could have loved it more than I did though. I wholeheartedly appreciate the author’s creativity and imagination when it came to story elements, the land, the description of the cities, etc. but the story just lacked a bit for me in certain areas and that really affected my enjoyment of the book.