Sora's Quest

Okay, so you need to know that whenever I hear the words ‘free' and ‘e-book' together there is a 70% chance I want it. Add the words ‘YA' and ‘fantasy' and I'll brb - gotta go download something.

This book starts off with Sora, our main lady, preparing for her birthday. And she really is a lady, country nobility - not as high as city but doing good for themselves. And Sora is a typical noble born lady. She's naïve to the point of stupidity. Her only friend is her lady's maid. She loves horseback riding. And she is painfully unhappy.

Sora's typical. But you know what? She doesn't stay that way. Sure, some people might have a problem with her (and you probably know by my description if that's you or not) but I really didn't. Sure, she makes some poor choices but it's kind of easy to understand why she would. And she develops. She gets stronger, physically and I think emotionally. By the end of the book she's someone I actually like.

The other character I see as almost a co-main character is Crash and he goes through a strong batch of character development too. When he's first introduced he's...very off-putting. He's an assassin - which, in this world is apparently a whole other race - and he sure acts like a silent killer at times.

(I cannot let this review go without mentioning the fact that, once again, my favorite character gets killed. Sniffle)

These two characters have undertones of romance. There's no kisses or swooning looks in this book - which is good because the characters they are now, would never have a good relationship. Throughout most of this book, Sora and Crash are getting used to each other, becoming friends and it is a major relief that the author didn't force romance between the two. But, you know that's where it's eventually headed and, I think that once it get's here, I'll actually like it quite a bit.

There's a decent amount of history to this world. A long time ago - so long that it's more legend than believed - there was the War of the Races. Now, I'm not sure what all these races are, but we have the Wulven - nicknamed way too cutely Wolfies - who sound a little like elves with fangs. (Total win right there.) We also get introduced to the Catlin who are something like were-cats without the shifting part.

The world building isn't dense or heavy, but there are plenty of little additions that make this fantasy world stand out from the others that I've read.

I didn't love the book, but it (and probably the rest of the series) are a perfect lazy summer afternoon read - something that it just good fun. And this book is free on amazon, so what do you have to lose?

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)