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Sun Catcher by Sheila Rance
The Blurb On The Back:
Maia has been brought up by Tareth, silk weaver and warrior, who she has always believed is her father. But on her thirteenth birthday she begins an adventure that will lead her to a kingdom poisoned by bitterness and jealousies. A kingdom that she must save. Maia, of course, is no ordinary girl. The flame-haired outsider among the Cliff-Dwellers, she doesn’t want to listen to the song of the silk, or the terrifying words of the village Watcher. Guarding her secret, denying her future, Maia journeys to places she has never explored where she’ll encounter mercenaries, spies, friends and enemies. And where she will face her destiny as a Sun Catcher.
Ever since Maia and her adoptive father Tareth were rescued from a ship wreck they’ve lived among the Cliff Dwellers. The wreck’s left Maia scared of the sea and she wants to train one of the Lizard People’s lizards to dive for the seashells needed for Tareth’s silk dyes. But the lizards are regarded as unclean and her plan to take a lizard egg puts her in conflict both with Kodo, the Lizard Master’s grandson and Razek, the young Weed Master who wants to marry her.
Worse happens when she visits the Watcher on her naming day and discovers a secret destiny. She is the Sun Catcher – the only person capable of using a sun stone to bring warmth and light to a divided kingdom but each time she uses the sun stone, she risks becoming permanently blind. Maia’s attempts to escape her destiny succeed in bringing the attention of dangerous enemies who will stop at nothing to take the sun stone and use her ability ...
Sheila Rance’s debut YA fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is an interesting tale set in a bronze age world filled with intrigue, adventure and ideas but the pacing is uneven with the gradual world building of the first half offset by a break neck turn of events in the final third. Although Maia’s a spirited character determined to make her own future, there’s an air of predictability to her adventures, which isn’t helped by the inevitable YA love triangle with Rezek and Kodo and ultimately there wasn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
I wished the relationship between Tareth and Maia had remained the book’s focus, especially as it becomes clear that Tareth has kept secrets that are the key to Maia’s destiny but Rance instead downplays the conflict, which left me a little frustrated. The love triangle with Kodo (who dreams of escaping the lizards and becoming a trader) and the ambitious, arrogant Rezek is a slow burner and thankfully isn’t obviously skewered in one direction.
There are great ideas here with magical silk and animal guides and I liked the Watcher with her birds and her prophecies. In contrast the villains are a little two dimensional while the breakneck speed of the final third robbed it of tension.
Ultimately it’s an okay-enough read but there isn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
The Verdict:
Sheila Rance’s debut YA fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is an interesting tale set in a bronze age world filled with intrigue, adventure and ideas but the pacing is uneven with the gradual world building of the first half offset by a break neck turn of events in the final third. Although Maia’s a spirited character determined to make her own future, there’s an air of predictability to her adventures, which isn’t helped by the inevitable YA love triangle with Rezek and Kodo and ultimately there wasn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
Maia has been brought up by Tareth, silk weaver and warrior, who she has always believed is her father. But on her thirteenth birthday she begins an adventure that will lead her to a kingdom poisoned by bitterness and jealousies. A kingdom that she must save. Maia, of course, is no ordinary girl. The flame-haired outsider among the Cliff-Dwellers, she doesn’t want to listen to the song of the silk, or the terrifying words of the village Watcher. Guarding her secret, denying her future, Maia journeys to places she has never explored where she’ll encounter mercenaries, spies, friends and enemies. And where she will face her destiny as a Sun Catcher.
Ever since Maia and her adoptive father Tareth were rescued from a ship wreck they’ve lived among the Cliff Dwellers. The wreck’s left Maia scared of the sea and she wants to train one of the Lizard People’s lizards to dive for the seashells needed for Tareth’s silk dyes. But the lizards are regarded as unclean and her plan to take a lizard egg puts her in conflict both with Kodo, the Lizard Master’s grandson and Razek, the young Weed Master who wants to marry her.
Worse happens when she visits the Watcher on her naming day and discovers a secret destiny. She is the Sun Catcher – the only person capable of using a sun stone to bring warmth and light to a divided kingdom but each time she uses the sun stone, she risks becoming permanently blind. Maia’s attempts to escape her destiny succeed in bringing the attention of dangerous enemies who will stop at nothing to take the sun stone and use her ability ...
Sheila Rance’s debut YA fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is an interesting tale set in a bronze age world filled with intrigue, adventure and ideas but the pacing is uneven with the gradual world building of the first half offset by a break neck turn of events in the final third. Although Maia’s a spirited character determined to make her own future, there’s an air of predictability to her adventures, which isn’t helped by the inevitable YA love triangle with Rezek and Kodo and ultimately there wasn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
I wished the relationship between Tareth and Maia had remained the book’s focus, especially as it becomes clear that Tareth has kept secrets that are the key to Maia’s destiny but Rance instead downplays the conflict, which left me a little frustrated. The love triangle with Kodo (who dreams of escaping the lizards and becoming a trader) and the ambitious, arrogant Rezek is a slow burner and thankfully isn’t obviously skewered in one direction.
There are great ideas here with magical silk and animal guides and I liked the Watcher with her birds and her prophecies. In contrast the villains are a little two dimensional while the breakneck speed of the final third robbed it of tension.
Ultimately it’s an okay-enough read but there isn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
The Verdict:
Sheila Rance’s debut YA fantasy (the first in a trilogy) is an interesting tale set in a bronze age world filled with intrigue, adventure and ideas but the pacing is uneven with the gradual world building of the first half offset by a break neck turn of events in the final third. Although Maia’s a spirited character determined to make her own future, there’s an air of predictability to her adventures, which isn’t helped by the inevitable YA love triangle with Rezek and Kodo and ultimately there wasn’t enough here for me to rush to read the sequel.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.