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A review by sunsoar25
Faithful: Birth of Saints Book Two by Michelle Hauck
4.0
I received a free ecopy of this ARC from Harper via Edelweiss+ for this blog tour.
When I saw the opportunity to sign up for this tour, I was immediately intrigued. I hadn't read the first novel in the Birth of Saints series, but the summary was so intriguing that I wanted to try it regardless. Of course before I began reading this sequel, I went back and read several reviews of book one in an attempt to quickly catch myself up on the goings on, the characters, and the setting. Luckily, I was really able to enjoy this novel, Faithful, even though at times I felt a little out the loop.
There were several things about the novel that I particularly enjoyed about Hauck's novel - the setting and world-building, the magic, and the characters. The world-building is well-developed and the setting is very complex. The epic fantasy has a Spanish flavor that I don't often see in YA, so that was actually pretty refreshing. As refreshing was the presentation of the magic system. I'll admit that I didn't fully understand exactly how it functioned (and I'll probably need to actually read book one to get a better handle on it), but the fact that it operates through music and song still fascinated me. Ramiro and Claire were excellent characters to get to know and learn more about their relationship, plus their duty and home. Both undergo a fair amount of growth and development over the course of this novel.
Overall, if you're interested in YA epic fantasy you will certainly want to try this Faithful by Michelle Hauck, but perhaps first begin the trilogy with book one, Grudging. I know I'll definitely be going back to see how it all begins and I am looking forward to the seeing how the series will conclude. I also hope to someday have the chance to read one of Hauck's other novels, particularly Kindar.
When I saw the opportunity to sign up for this tour, I was immediately intrigued. I hadn't read the first novel in the Birth of Saints series, but the summary was so intriguing that I wanted to try it regardless. Of course before I began reading this sequel, I went back and read several reviews of book one in an attempt to quickly catch myself up on the goings on, the characters, and the setting. Luckily, I was really able to enjoy this novel, Faithful, even though at times I felt a little out the loop.
There were several things about the novel that I particularly enjoyed about Hauck's novel - the setting and world-building, the magic, and the characters. The world-building is well-developed and the setting is very complex. The epic fantasy has a Spanish flavor that I don't often see in YA, so that was actually pretty refreshing. As refreshing was the presentation of the magic system. I'll admit that I didn't fully understand exactly how it functioned (and I'll probably need to actually read book one to get a better handle on it), but the fact that it operates through music and song still fascinated me. Ramiro and Claire were excellent characters to get to know and learn more about their relationship, plus their duty and home. Both undergo a fair amount of growth and development over the course of this novel.
Overall, if you're interested in YA epic fantasy you will certainly want to try this Faithful by Michelle Hauck, but perhaps first begin the trilogy with book one, Grudging. I know I'll definitely be going back to see how it all begins and I am looking forward to the seeing how the series will conclude. I also hope to someday have the chance to read one of Hauck's other novels, particularly Kindar.