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559 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 3, 2022
“Hey siri, play Daylight by David Kushner” 🎵
This is the first novel I have read written by indie author JJ Hoffman and you can clearly see she has complete control of her style and deserves recognition for publishing a well designed magical tier system that reflects societies social status. Hoffman goes even further by spending nearly 60 hours to construct and create the front cover herself to reflect this very magical system. I think her ability to do all of this and provide representation to a community of people who experience mental health conditions is worth praising.
I loved all of the above and the potential this book has however, the story and the characters does not embody the ‘female rage’ that Hoffman suggests. Soffesa the Silent is a female assassin and despite her significant influence on the choices made by other characters, there is a lack of emotional investment in her character. Even when she loses loved ones, there is no evidence of a calculated and vengeful response typically associated with assassins or ‘female rage’. Ferula is a powerful younger version of Vellene who also lost her mother due to the war, and I believe her character could have played a bigger role in the story however, was kept in the background overshadowed by other dominant characters. Vellene, a character who has experienced torture, manipulation, poisoning, and betrayal from those she loved. Despite this, she does not exhibit the same desire for revenge or violence as her male counterpart, Eldar. And finally Mogaell Winloc deserved a chapter of her own because somebody that angry at the world and at her sister has a story to be told.
Due to the pace of the book I struggled to be ‘choked’ by the content and that’s because there was no world building and half the time I didn’t understand what I was reading. Instead I slowly immersed myself into what is (what I completely overlooked) the first book of a multiverse. I struggled to keep up with this fast assuming story and then became compelled to finish when the story picked up 75% in - thank you to the love triangle - in a nutshell yes because I felt the need to finish the book but I wouldn’t have a desire to read the next instalment.