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A review by delaneyreadssff
The Deepest Blue: Tales of Renthia by Sarah Beth Durst
3.0
This one was a 4/5 for me!
A huge shout out to Harper Voyager for sending me a copy to read and review!
*All opinions are my own.*
The Deepest Blue is the story of Mayara, who lives in a world where a queen is quintessential to the well-being of her people. There are many malicious spirits, and a queen needs to keep them in check to protect her people. If anyone has the power to control these spirits, they're either recruited to protect the kingdom, or they are sent to take a "test" to possibly become the heir queen. It is a beautiful, island-centered fantasy that is great for fans of The Hunger Games!
We follow Mayara as she gets married at the very beginning to her love, Kelo, but their celebration is interrupted by a storm filled with angry spirits. Their town gets destroyed, and Mayara ends up having to use a power she's kept hidden from nearly everyone on her island, she cant control the spirits. This leads her and Kelo to be on the run, because once she's used her powers, she has two choices.
She can choose to be a Silent One for the queen, or to take a test to see if she can become the heir queen, to adequately control all of these spirits, and protect the people of Belene.
Minor Spoilers below!
The things I loved!
I really enjoyed the setting of this, it's an island-centered fantasy and I loved getting to see where Mayara grew up, and that she loves to dive for oysters. The author does a great job describing whichever setting the characters are in, and islands are right up my alley. I really enjoyed that this "testing" was similar to The Hunger Games, but much more gruesome (in my opinion) because of the ferocity of the spirits that are hunting the girls trying to become the heir queen. TW for graphic attacks in this novel.
The things I didn't love!
Some of the jokes in here felt a bit young for the subject matter. They pulled me out of the story every once in a while. I wished that we'd had another 50 pages before the storm-spirit attack, and that we'd spent more time on during the testing.
I usually don't want books to be longer, but I felt that this book might have benefited from a little more background on the bond of Kelo and Mayara, as well as the relationships of Mayara and the other girls while they are on the Island of Testing.
Overall I really enjoyed this very original story! The setting was amazing, and I loved getting to know Mayara and how strong of a character she is. I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger Games or to people who enjoy island-centered fantasy (which I'd love to see more of so please send me your recommendations!).
A huge shout out to Harper Voyager for sending me a copy to read and review!
*All opinions are my own.*
The Deepest Blue is the story of Mayara, who lives in a world where a queen is quintessential to the well-being of her people. There are many malicious spirits, and a queen needs to keep them in check to protect her people. If anyone has the power to control these spirits, they're either recruited to protect the kingdom, or they are sent to take a "test" to possibly become the heir queen. It is a beautiful, island-centered fantasy that is great for fans of The Hunger Games!
We follow Mayara as she gets married at the very beginning to her love, Kelo, but their celebration is interrupted by a storm filled with angry spirits. Their town gets destroyed, and Mayara ends up having to use a power she's kept hidden from nearly everyone on her island, she cant control the spirits. This leads her and Kelo to be on the run, because once she's used her powers, she has two choices.
She can choose to be a Silent One for the queen, or to take a test to see if she can become the heir queen, to adequately control all of these spirits, and protect the people of Belene.
Minor Spoilers below!
The things I loved!
I really enjoyed the setting of this, it's an island-centered fantasy and I loved getting to see where Mayara grew up, and that she loves to dive for oysters. The author does a great job describing whichever setting the characters are in, and islands are right up my alley. I really enjoyed that this "testing" was similar to The Hunger Games, but much more gruesome (in my opinion) because of the ferocity of the spirits that are hunting the girls trying to become the heir queen. TW for graphic attacks in this novel.
The things I didn't love!
Some of the jokes in here felt a bit young for the subject matter. They pulled me out of the story every once in a while. I wished that we'd had another 50 pages before the storm-spirit attack, and that we'd spent more time on during the testing.
I usually don't want books to be longer, but I felt that this book might have benefited from a little more background on the bond of Kelo and Mayara, as well as the relationships of Mayara and the other girls while they are on the Island of Testing.
Overall I really enjoyed this very original story! The setting was amazing, and I loved getting to know Mayara and how strong of a character she is. I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger Games or to people who enjoy island-centered fantasy (which I'd love to see more of so please send me your recommendations!).