Published by: Skyscape, August 5th 2014
Genre: YA, High Fantasy, Magic
Pages: 355
Format: Ebook
In the Labyrinth, we had a saying: keep silent, keep still, keep safe.
In a city of walls and secrets, where only one man is supposed to possess magic, seventeen-year-old Kai struggles to keep hidden her own secret—she can manipulate the threads of time. When Kai was eight, she was found by Reev on the riverbank, and her “brother” has taken care of her ever since. Kai doesn’t know where her ability comes from—or where she came from. All that matters is that she and Reev stay together, and maybe one day move out of the freight container they call home, away from the metal walls of the Labyrinth. Kai’s only friend is Avan, the shopkeeper’s son with the scandalous reputation that both frightens and intrigues her.
Then Reev disappears. When keeping silent and safe means losing him forever, Kai vows to do whatever it takes to find him. She will leave the only home she’s ever known and risk getting caught up in a revolution centuries in the making. But to save Reev, Kai must unravel the threads of her past and face shocking truths about her brother, her friendship with Avan, and her unique power.
First off I don't understand the title. I mean, it's hella cool and I love it, but apart from 'thread' I don't get the rest. What stone? What'd I miss? And what gates???
Anyway, confusion over. I quite liked this book. Didn't love it, and got bored in some parts, but overall it's a good book. I was quite happy to find a pansexual love interest (though I'm certainly expecting pan erasure in book two! joy!) and the world and magic system is pretty darn cool.
First off what I liked: how Kai could alter time, slow it's procession, by manipulating threads. I thought that was by far the coolest time-related ability I've ever read. And I liked Kai, and Reev, and especially their sibling relationship. I liked them even more, and appreciated their relationship more, when I found out they were non-biological siblings. I'm all for that. Now the other characters were hit or miss. Avan I really liked in the beginning and grew bored of, so the romance kinda went dull for me; it lost its spark. Irra, immortal, eccentric Infinite (aka immortal) was probably my favourite character in the whole thing. LOVED him, and hope we see more of him in the sequel. Another character to mention is Mason, and while he's fairly alright he isn't particularly memorable to me, even though it looks like he's a second love interest for Kai. SO characters were good overall, and since I'm a character driven reader, that was a great thing. But honestly, it was the world and the magic that kept me reading, along with the immortals and wanting to know more about them. Don't know if I've mentioned before but I LOVE love love incarnations, and Irra was the incarnation of Pestilence (not a rider of the apocalypse as I first hoped but still cool) and there's others like Death, Strife, Time, etc.
So that's what I liked. What I didn't like was more of just a feeling - something felt off. After a while I stopped trusting Avan and stopped liking him altogether. I got a bit bored at a part where the story changes and revolves around a tournament (tired of seeing this in YA tbh), and the fake swear word 'drek' grated on me after a while. It made the writing all stilted and unnatural. Plus the end seemed too neat, to happy ending-y, although maybe I was just happy to see the back of Avan at that point.
But I didn't mind this book, I just expected to like it a lot more ...
Anyway, confusion over. I quite liked this book. Didn't love it, and got bored in some parts, but overall it's a good book. I was quite happy to find a pansexual love interest (though I'm certainly expecting pan erasure in book two! joy!) and the world and magic system is pretty darn cool.
First off what I liked: how Kai could alter time, slow it's procession, by manipulating threads. I thought that was by far the coolest time-related ability I've ever read. And I liked Kai, and Reev, and especially their sibling relationship. I liked them even more, and appreciated their relationship more, when I found out they were non-biological siblings. I'm all for that. Now the other characters were hit or miss. Avan I really liked in the beginning and grew bored of, so the romance kinda went dull for me; it lost its spark. Irra, immortal, eccentric Infinite (aka immortal) was probably my favourite character in the whole thing. LOVED him, and hope we see more of him in the sequel. Another character to mention is Mason, and while he's fairly alright he isn't particularly memorable to me, even though it looks like he's a second love interest for Kai. SO characters were good overall, and since I'm a character driven reader, that was a great thing. But honestly, it was the world and the magic that kept me reading, along with the immortals and wanting to know more about them. Don't know if I've mentioned before but I LOVE love love incarnations, and Irra was the incarnation of Pestilence (not a rider of the apocalypse as I first hoped but still cool) and there's others like Death, Strife, Time, etc.
So that's what I liked. What I didn't like was more of just a feeling - something felt off. After a while I stopped trusting Avan and stopped liking him altogether. I got a bit bored at a part where the story changes and revolves around a tournament (tired of seeing this in YA tbh), and the fake swear word 'drek' grated on me after a while. It made the writing all stilted and unnatural. Plus the end seemed too neat, to happy ending-y, although maybe I was just happy to see the back of Avan at that point.
But I didn't mind this book, I just expected to like it a lot more ...
Characters ★★★☆☆
Setting/world ★★★★☆
Writing ★★★☆☆
Hmmm I've been so wary of this book. I want it because the cover is beautiful, but I don't quite buy into the plot.
ReplyDeleteAND I HATE fake swear words. JUST DON'T CURSE. I understand that people use it to make their worlds seem realer, but it doesn't work if hte world building isn't expansive!