Many thanks to Patricia and FFBC Tours for my spot on this Blog Tour.

I loved the excitement this books generated in me. Quite an adventurous trip it was.

2 sisters, Zuhra and Inara, living with their broken mother in a citadel which hid the portal between two realms of human and rakasa. Their father, a paladin, had disappeared on the night Inara was born. A hedge separated the citadel from the village and protected them actively from attacks. Till Inara’s power grew to such a momentum that she could open the doorway, and a rakasa (imagine demonic creature) came through and sister was pulled into the other side. The story continued..

My first book by Sara B. Larson, the story gripped me from the beginning to end. A rocking ride with Gryphons and demonic creatures and sisters with love in their heart and power coursing through their veins. The skirmishes and the history between magical Paladin and human was well described. I found the worldbuilding and backstory easy to understand.

I loved the bond between the sisters, it was palpable and alive down the pages. Their need to save each other brought out my emotions too. That was the driving force behind the story and made me keep turning the pages late into the night. There were romantic elements, but I skim read through them as it came on instantly.

Overall, I found this a soothing yet rocking, loving yet magical, simple yet a powerful read.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley and publisher, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Sara B. Larson is the best-selling and critically acclaimed author of the YA fantasy DEFY trilogy (DEFY, IGNITE, and ENDURE) and the DARK BREAKS THE DAWN duology. Her next YA fantasy, SISTERS OF SHADOW AND LIGHT, comes out November 5th from Tor Teen. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write books—although she now uses a computer instead of a Little Mermaid notebook. Sara lives in Utah with her husband, their four children, and their Maltese, Loki. She writes in brief snippets throughout the day and the quiet hours when most people are sleeping. Her husband claims she should have a degree in “the art of multitasking.” When she’s not mothering or writing, you can often find her at the gym repenting for her sugar addiction.

“The night my sister was born, the stars died and were reborn in her eyes…”.

Zuhra and Inara have grown up in the Citadel of the Paladins, an abandoned fortress where legendary, magical warriors once lived before disappearing from the world―including their Paladin father the night Inara was born.

On that same night, a massive, magical hedge grew and imprisoned them within the citadel. Inara inherited their father’s Paladin power; her eyes glow blue and she is able to make plants grow at unbelievable rates, but she has been trapped in her own mind because of a “roar” that drowns everything else out―leaving Zuhra virtually alone with their emotionally broken human mother.

For fifteen years they have lived, trapped in the citadel, with little contact from the outside world…until the day a stranger passes through the hedge, and everything changes.

Publication Date: 5th November 2019

Publisher: Tor Teen