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A review by readin_em_reviews
Beyond the Ruby Veil by Mara Fitzgerald
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
//Synopsis
In this YA dark fantasy, Emanuela and her best friend Ale live in Occhia, the only town in existence and one which is nestled underneath a mysterious ruby veil. Occhia, however, does not have a natural source of water and only a creature called the watercrea can create it. The catch is that she creates water from blood, and whenever a marking called an omen appears on someone's skin, they must surrender themselves to the watercrea.
Emanuela is set to marry Ale, making her the most powerful woman in Occhia. She doesn't care that they are both gay and the marriage loveless, bc it will make her powerful. But on the morning of her wedding, the watercrea exposes that Emanuela has been hiding an omen for years. She eventually kills the watercrea, and her and Ale must now venture beyond the veil to find another source of water.
//Review
Okay, wow, this book is something else. I've never read anything quite like this, and that's what made me love it so much. In the author's blurb about herself, she says she writes YA fantasy "about unlikeable female characters who ruin everything," and that basically sums it up perfectly. Emanuela is cunning, selfish, power-hungry, and arrogant, but it totally works for this story.
It's a relatively short book with a quick, action-packed pace. The plot escalates rather quickly, thanks to Emanuela's decisions, and I was caught off-guard a few times by the action. I feel like it's difficult to create truly unique worlds and magic systems, but this one surely is unlike anything I've read before.
This book is also *very* gorey. There is quite a lot of blood. But it was all essential to the story and not just included for shock value. I finished this right before bed and it made for some wild dreams tho 🙈.
I don't want to give too much away bc I didn't really know much about this book going into it and I feel like that made the experience better.
If you like strong, morally gray female characters in magical worlds, I'd recommend this for you.
In this YA dark fantasy, Emanuela and her best friend Ale live in Occhia, the only town in existence and one which is nestled underneath a mysterious ruby veil. Occhia, however, does not have a natural source of water and only a creature called the watercrea can create it. The catch is that she creates water from blood, and whenever a marking called an omen appears on someone's skin, they must surrender themselves to the watercrea.
Emanuela is set to marry Ale, making her the most powerful woman in Occhia. She doesn't care that they are both gay and the marriage loveless, bc it will make her powerful. But on the morning of her wedding, the watercrea exposes that Emanuela has been hiding an omen for years. She eventually kills the watercrea, and her and Ale must now venture beyond the veil to find another source of water.
//Review
Okay, wow, this book is something else. I've never read anything quite like this, and that's what made me love it so much. In the author's blurb about herself, she says she writes YA fantasy "about unlikeable female characters who ruin everything," and that basically sums it up perfectly. Emanuela is cunning, selfish, power-hungry, and arrogant, but it totally works for this story.
It's a relatively short book with a quick, action-packed pace. The plot escalates rather quickly, thanks to Emanuela's decisions, and I was caught off-guard a few times by the action. I feel like it's difficult to create truly unique worlds and magic systems, but this one surely is unlike anything I've read before.
This book is also *very* gorey. There is quite a lot of blood. But it was all essential to the story and not just included for shock value. I finished this right before bed and it made for some wild dreams tho 🙈.
I don't want to give too much away bc I didn't really know much about this book going into it and I feel like that made the experience better.
If you like strong, morally gray female characters in magical worlds, I'd recommend this for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and Gore