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Blurb for Sunbolt
The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.
When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.
Publisher: Purple Monkey Press
Length: 152 Pages
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Middle Young Adult
Date Published: 17 June 2013
Sunbolt Book Review
Thank you to BBNYA for providing me with a copy of this book! I voluntarily leave this review!
Readers are introduced early on to the tenuous setting of Karolene, where guards may pull innocents from the streets without provocation. Hitomi herself is targeted within the first few pages as slurs are thrown at her appearance and guards give chase. But the people of the market refuse to allow her capture, and with the help of many a kind hand, she escapes. It’s no wonder Hitomi works with the Shadow League, seeking to thwart any plans of the Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.
And it helps when Hitomi knows how to keep a secret. For she’s been keeping one all her life. Both her heritage and her ability in magic would land her in the Arch Mage’s sights. But when she enlists to help the Shadow League save a family from death, all she’s kept hidden threatens to be revealed. A simple plan to move the family out of Karolene is undermined by betrayal, and Hitomi finds herself captured along with the family she tried to save.
The secret league and hidden agendas of Blackflame will hook readers in as they traverse the streets of Karolene. And there are quite a few mysterious hints dropped at Hitomi’s magical potential. As she overcomes mishaps and challenges strewn across her path, Hitomi will show readers how determined she is to protect the family and save herself. And as she is drawn deeper into the supernatural side of the world, new bands of mythical creatures will come to light.
Vampires and Lynchthropes are a common sight in fantasy tales, but Intisar Khanani puts her own twist on them. Readers will be introduced to a few familiar traits, yet some surprising twists as well. Underlying tension and history among the races will also be teased, though you will be left wanting more information. There is a wealth of knowledge and world-building still left to be discovered in the series. While the magic system is introduced through Hitomi, there isn’t a clear path of how it works, or the ways in which spells can be crafted.
However, Sunbolt is exactly the book needed to set up the world and entice the reader into the possibilities still left to discover. There is unfinished business between Hitomi and quite a few characters like breadcrumbs dropped to lure readers back for answers. I’m certainly looking forward to the new path Hitomi has been placed on and what she will do with the knowledge she is set to attain.
Author Bio
Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah, on the coast of the Red Sea. Intisar used to write grants and develop projects to address community health and infant mortality with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. She is the author of The Sunbolt Chronicles, and the Dauntless Path novels, beginning with Thorn.
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