Daughter Of The Burning City

One of the first things that drew my attention to this book was the cover, I know, never judge a book by its cover, but it really is beautiful! I had also heard a lot about it on social media, and was very excited when I was approved for the e-ARC to read and review.

In all honesty, the first few chapters of the book had me a little confused, and I had many questions, some of which I still did not have answers to at the end of the book - though those questions are relatively unimportant, and as with many fantasy books, we are introduced to situations which and people who simply cannot be. We move on, and still fall in love with the story - the most important aspect of any novel.

Sorina's illusions, created by her to give her a kind of family should not be able to die, she can make them appear and disappear at will, though to everyone else they seem as real as you and I. However all of those beliefs of them being just illusions are turned upside down when she finds one of them has been killed. It sends her down a path which leads her to question her own thinking.

She has involved herself with people in Gomorrah whom many would disapprove of, but essentially, she has done so to provide for her family, to ensure they are comfortable and happy. Her illusions are nearly all she has.

Sorina's journey is decidedly a tough one for any 16-year-old to go through, though she does not see herself as the backbone of the family, she is very much so. A huge weight on her shoulders to keep everyone together following the death of a family member, and at the same time seek out the murderer and keep the rest of them safe, causes her to consider her sanity when she begins to forget meetings with people. Though in reality there is much more to her ability, something which people may wish to benefit from, and take advantage of.

This book is a real page turner, and I ended up finishing it in less than 48 hours. If you're a lover of fantasy, magic, and mystery YA books I would recommend this title to you!

I think the character development of all the characters is very subtle and clever, and you begin to care for them as your would your own family. It spins a tale that has you second guessing yourself too, and I was so shocked to find out who the real villain was (though I should have seen it earlier in hindsight - as with any well written whodunnit novel).

I was very impressed with the overall story, though I felt it was a little immature in places (though as a 21-year-old reading about a 16-year-old I guess that was to be expected for it to be a realistic telling). I would recommend this read and I am awarding this book 4/5 stars. As a first novel by Amanda, I think this is a really fantastic story!

The Hardback will be published on 25th July 2017, and the paperback on the 7th September 2017! I'll definitely be treating my-shelf to a copy! (You see what I did there?)

I was lucky enough to be accepted to get an early e-copy to review on NetGalley and I also managed to get my hardcover early via Amazon!

‘Welcome to the festival of burning desires.’

Daughter of the Burning City is a standalone, as far as I know, it was a well rounded ending and I suppose the author could go back to it if she wanted, this was an incredible dark fantasy book with a Freak Show Festival, this book was one of my anticipated reads of July so when I saw it on NetGalley I had to request for it! The cover is beautiful and with purple being my favorite colour, that was an added bonus! I don’t know if I prefer the paperback cover though but they’re both just beautiful.

Sorina is a sixteen year old illusionist who is working at a freak show, she creates her own family of illusions, they’re not real, it doesn’t matter how lifelike her family seem, so that means they shouldn’t be able to die… right? No. Her illusions start getting murdered and Sorina doesn’t understand how. How can anyone kill someone who isn’t real? Sorina investigates the murders of her illusions with her father, Villiam to find out who was behind it but behind her fathers back she meets Luca who is a gossip-worker and she also investigates with Luca, in both investigations Sorina looks at the murders in two completely different lights but she doesn’t know who is right.

I thought the first chapter was a tiny bit slow to begin with but once I got past the first chapter I really got into and from there it was wild until the end this book was just, oh my god, 😶😮😦😨😱, the mystery of who has been killing off Sorina’s illusions to the revelation of who the murderer was, I was so shocked and surprised I wasn’t expecting it, there were just so many plots and twists it was so fantastic, I loved this story so much, I can’t wait to see what Amanda’s next book Ace of Shades which comes out 24/04/2018, has in store for us! This was the perfect read for me because ever since Caraval came out and I read that I’d been wanted to read more books based on carnivals/festivals/circuses and this help quench my thirst for it!

‘wicked, wicked to the core, the city will burn forevermore.’