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seacats 's review for:
Guardians of Dawn: Zhara
by S. Jae-Jones
Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and S. Jae-Jones for the ARC and allowing me this opportunity to read and share my thoughts!
“The world is dangerous,” Zhara said softly. “And I don’t want to survive; I want to thrive.”
➤Plot
Magic is forbidden within the Morning Realms, anyone who is found out to be a magician is executed. Zhara's father was killed and she is also a magician. Trying to merely get by each day with taking care of her step mother and blind sister, she became used to that routine. Until she meets a young scholar, and introduces her to an organization called Guardians of Dawn who try to help magicians live and find a cure for magicians turning into monsters.
I have seen a lot of people excited for this book because the summary reads "Sailor Moon meets Cinder" and I was also excited for a story that made me have the same feelings that Sailor moon gave me! Sadly... I did not get those feelings and couldn't really see why Sailor Moon was the pick to compare it to. I did see the Cinder/Cinderella connections but I was expecting way more from the story because of the Sailor Moon mention, which led me a little disappointed.
The story is a fine read! S. Jae-Jones only refers to characters by names until you get to know them as a way to incorporate Korean language structure and culture of the characters. I thought that was a very neat way to go about it.
However, I found myself not truly being able to visualize the characters in action scenes because I didn't know what they looked like. I knew their name and personality but I could not see their face. This made it hard to really get engrossed into the story. I think if they took more time to describe the characters appearance it would of added a lot to the story and helped with scenes.
➤Characters
The characters were the real highlight of this story! The only two that I found myself rolling my eyes slightly at is the two main leads, mostly because they act very childish around each other a lot of times but when they are not together, you get a better idea of their characters. It's understandable since they are young kids crushing on each other.
The side characters! Oh my gosh, they were probably my favorite part of the story. Especially Xu. I adored Xu. I would of paid for a story just following their daily life. Their humor and kindness were so lovable. You could really feel the best friend energy they have with Han. I wish there was more page time with them on moments that weren't humor or action. I wanted to know more of their emotional sides than we got.
Han, our male lead, is a himbo. Like, actually. I love himbos and Han is very lovable. However, he is almost always the butt of the joke. Which is really sad because he is more than just being "dumb". I feel like these lines of jokes really hurt his character in the end because he felt less human and more of a caricature. When you first have a chapter following his POV, I actually was so excited and in love with how he was written. You get a good idea of his character and the wide arrange of his emotional depth. As the story goes on, he turns more into the comedic relief. He can be funny but he is more than just his muscles.
➤Enjoyment
It was a fine read. I can't say I was itching to always read it but it was enjoying when I had time to spare and could really focus in on the story. I think my expectations may of been too high going into this. I am also older than the demographic of the target audience for this book. If I was younger and read this? I would of probably adored it just as much as I liked the other YA books I read in my youth.
I say, if you like Cinder and want some magical girl story... Go for it! However, don't go in expecting it will be just like Sailor Moon. Because it is very different.
“The world is dangerous,” Zhara said softly. “And I don’t want to survive; I want to thrive.”
➤Plot
Magic is forbidden within the Morning Realms, anyone who is found out to be a magician is executed. Zhara's father was killed and she is also a magician. Trying to merely get by each day with taking care of her step mother and blind sister, she became used to that routine. Until she meets a young scholar, and introduces her to an organization called Guardians of Dawn who try to help magicians live and find a cure for magicians turning into monsters.
I have seen a lot of people excited for this book because the summary reads "Sailor Moon meets Cinder" and I was also excited for a story that made me have the same feelings that Sailor moon gave me! Sadly... I did not get those feelings and couldn't really see why Sailor Moon was the pick to compare it to. I did see the Cinder/Cinderella connections but I was expecting way more from the story because of the Sailor Moon mention, which led me a little disappointed.
The story is a fine read! S. Jae-Jones only refers to characters by names until you get to know them as a way to incorporate Korean language structure and culture of the characters. I thought that was a very neat way to go about it.
However, I found myself not truly being able to visualize the characters in action scenes because I didn't know what they looked like. I knew their name and personality but I could not see their face. This made it hard to really get engrossed into the story. I think if they took more time to describe the characters appearance it would of added a lot to the story and helped with scenes.
➤Characters
The characters were the real highlight of this story! The only two that I found myself rolling my eyes slightly at is the two main leads, mostly because they act very childish around each other a lot of times but when they are not together, you get a better idea of their characters. It's understandable since they are young kids crushing on each other.
The side characters! Oh my gosh, they were probably my favorite part of the story. Especially Xu. I adored Xu. I would of paid for a story just following their daily life. Their humor and kindness were so lovable. You could really feel the best friend energy they have with Han. I wish there was more page time with them on moments that weren't humor or action. I wanted to know more of their emotional sides than we got.
Han, our male lead, is a himbo. Like, actually. I love himbos and Han is very lovable. However, he is almost always the butt of the joke. Which is really sad because he is more than just being "dumb". I feel like these lines of jokes really hurt his character in the end because he felt less human and more of a caricature. When you first have a chapter following his POV, I actually was so excited and in love with how he was written. You get a good idea of his character and the wide arrange of his emotional depth. As the story goes on, he turns more into the comedic relief. He can be funny but he is more than just his muscles.
➤Enjoyment
It was a fine read. I can't say I was itching to always read it but it was enjoying when I had time to spare and could really focus in on the story. I think my expectations may of been too high going into this. I am also older than the demographic of the target audience for this book. If I was younger and read this? I would of probably adored it just as much as I liked the other YA books I read in my youth.
I say, if you like Cinder and want some magical girl story... Go for it! However, don't go in expecting it will be just like Sailor Moon. Because it is very different.