AUTHOR: Veronica Roth
SERIES:
GENRE: fantasy
AGE: adult
BLURB:
Pain is Dymitr’s calling. To slay the monsters he’s been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands.
Pain is Ala’s inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother’s, unless she can find a cure.
One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees.
But they only have one day before the flower dies . . . and Ala’s hopes of breaking the curse along with it.
Thank you to Tor for an arc of this book!
Wow!! Okay, I had to say that first because this book was like a gut punch. This is grim dark urban fantasy set in our world featuring Slavic supernatural creatures.
Roth does a fantastic world building job in how many pages this book is, she also does an excellent job with character development. Beyond that, she includes some social commentary that is well done and incorporated into the fantasy elements in a way that stands out.
I absolutely loved the writing and the pacing in this novella, I literally have no complaints. (Okay one, and that’s just because I want more!!!!) I would love to see more in this world because it is so interesting. Roth had me invested from the first pages.
Pacing was on point, plot on point, honestly this book was fantastic and I highly recommend it!