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A review by ionab46
Wardens of Eternity by Courtney Allison Moulton
3.0
Whew is there a lot to unpack in this novel. This review will include minor spoilers, but nothing too major.
Replace the seraph blade for an asaya; the tattoos on the body for tattoos on the face & khol; the “unruly” curly red hair & white skin for unruly curly brown hair & brown skin; replace all connections of the Christian faith & Shadowhunters with Egyptian gods & Medjai, and you got yourself, Wardens of Eternity.
This book was honestly nearly a carbon-copy of the structure of City of Bones. The similarities were astounding. The basics of City of Bones is that there are appointed warriors called Shadowhunters that were created by the Angel Raziel to protect the Earth from supernatural beings. The basics of Wardens of Eternity is that there are Egyptian warriors that are appointed by the Egyptian gods (called the Medjai) to protect the Earth from… you guess it, supernatural beings. Similar to where Clary could manipulate runes to be a very powerful Shadowhunter, Ziva has a lot of control/manipulation over the Egyptian magic. They both start off in New York City. They both get attacked by a supernatural being, which thrusts them into a world hidden within their own, where a warrior-siblings help adjust them into their new life/welcomes them into their family. (view spoiler) They both have tattoos that help protect them and guide them in battle. The Shadowhunters have Institutes that are protected by magic wards and look abandoned on the outside, but grand on the inside; the Medjai have an abandoned mansion and a “Hall” that looks abandoned on the outside but grand on the inside. Shadowhunters/Medjais stay in the Institute/Halls until they are given an assignment.
...Shall I go on?
Now, don’t get me wrong, this book did have its bright sides. I won’t lie, I was very skeptical of this book before I even opened it. I felt a little queasy about the fact that this was a book centered around Egyptian culture, while the author was a white woman from Michigan. I was afraid that Moulton might do the thing that white people do very well: white wash history. Or half-ass history. You can tell Moulton has done a fair amount of research on Ancient Egyptians, and has passion for their history. You can tell Moulton put a lot of soul in explaining and teaching the readers about Egyptian history and culture. It still makes me a little uncomfortable that a white woman wrote in first-person (let me repeat that: FIRST PERSON!!) the experience of a minority character in White-America; but, I am also white, so I cannot speak for minorities. Whether or not they feel she portrayed their experiences accurately is their call to make, I cannot tell the author or them if she did a good job representing them. It is not my place (if that makes sense?).
I especially liked when the author took the characters straight to Cairo. It’s not every day that YA fantasy books are taking place anywhere but the Western World or Asia, and I loved reading a novel that was transporting me to a new country.
I’m giving this book 3-stars instead of 2, because if you haven’t read City of Bones, then you might really enjoy this book. It wasn’t a bad book, it was just something that’s been done before.
Replace the seraph blade for an asaya; the tattoos on the body for tattoos on the face & khol; the “unruly” curly red hair & white skin for unruly curly brown hair & brown skin; replace all connections of the Christian faith & Shadowhunters with Egyptian gods & Medjai, and you got yourself, Wardens of Eternity.
This book was honestly nearly a carbon-copy of the structure of City of Bones. The similarities were astounding. The basics of City of Bones is that there are appointed warriors called Shadowhunters that were created by the Angel Raziel to protect the Earth from supernatural beings. The basics of Wardens of Eternity is that there are Egyptian warriors that are appointed by the Egyptian gods (called the Medjai) to protect the Earth from… you guess it, supernatural beings. Similar to where Clary could manipulate runes to be a very powerful Shadowhunter, Ziva has a lot of control/manipulation over the Egyptian magic. They both start off in New York City. They both get attacked by a supernatural being, which thrusts them into a world hidden within their own, where a warrior-siblings help adjust them into their new life/welcomes them into their family. (view spoiler) They both have tattoos that help protect them and guide them in battle. The Shadowhunters have Institutes that are protected by magic wards and look abandoned on the outside, but grand on the inside; the Medjai have an abandoned mansion and a “Hall” that looks abandoned on the outside but grand on the inside. Shadowhunters/Medjais stay in the Institute/Halls until they are given an assignment.
...Shall I go on?
Now, don’t get me wrong, this book did have its bright sides. I won’t lie, I was very skeptical of this book before I even opened it. I felt a little queasy about the fact that this was a book centered around Egyptian culture, while the author was a white woman from Michigan. I was afraid that Moulton might do the thing that white people do very well: white wash history. Or half-ass history. You can tell Moulton has done a fair amount of research on Ancient Egyptians, and has passion for their history. You can tell Moulton put a lot of soul in explaining and teaching the readers about Egyptian history and culture. It still makes me a little uncomfortable that a white woman wrote in first-person (let me repeat that: FIRST PERSON!!) the experience of a minority character in White-America; but, I am also white, so I cannot speak for minorities. Whether or not they feel she portrayed their experiences accurately is their call to make, I cannot tell the author or them if she did a good job representing them. It is not my place (if that makes sense?).
I especially liked when the author took the characters straight to Cairo. It’s not every day that YA fantasy books are taking place anywhere but the Western World or Asia, and I loved reading a novel that was transporting me to a new country.
I’m giving this book 3-stars instead of 2, because if you haven’t read City of Bones, then you might really enjoy this book. It wasn’t a bad book, it was just something that’s been done before.