Book Review of Sunbolt
Sponsored by Enchanted Book Tours
Welcome
to Books, Books, and More Books. I am
pleased to share this book with you.
Thank you for visiting and please come again.
Title: Sunbolt
Author: Intisar
Khanani
Genre: YA Fantasy
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.
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.
Author Bio
Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. Born in
Wisconsin, she has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah on the
coast of the Red Sea. She first remembers seeing snow on a wintry street in
Zurich, Switzerland, and vaguely recollects having breakfast with the orangutans
at the Singapore Zoo when she was five. She currently resides in Cincinnati,
Ohio, with her husband and two young daughters. Until recently, Intisar wrote
grants and developed projects to address community health 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. Intisar is hard at work on two new projects. The first is a companion
trilogy to her debut novel Thorn,
following the heroine introduced in her free short story The Bone Knife. The second project, The Sunbolt Chronicles, is a novella series following the efforts
of a young mage as she strives to bring down her nemesis, a corrupt and
dangerous Arch Mage who means to bring the Eleven Kingdoms under his control.
Contacts:
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17317370-sunbolt
Intisar’s Website: http://thornthenovel.com/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/booksbyintisar
Add Sunbolt on GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17317370-sunbolt
Connect with Intisar on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/booksbyintisar
Book
Excerpts
Excerpt One
“Mgeni! Stay a moment; I have
your future for you.”
I grin, turning towards the voice.
Mama Ali sits beneath the cloth shade of her market stall, her husband’s catch
heaped on the wooden counter before her: mounds of sardines, glinting silver
bright in the sun. Today there’s also a single little octopus that must have
gotten tangled in his nets, it’s fleshy body turned over to show the white of
its tentacles.
With her wide smile and heavy girth,
Mama Ali is a well-known fixture of the fish market, her laughter booming
across the crowded aisles and her penchant for sharing people’s futures
indulged in even by the locals. Her son, ten years old and shrewder than a
hundred year-old owl, perches beside her, watching me.
“You can keep my future, Mama Ali,” I
reply. “It will probably do you more good than me.”
My words draw laughter from the women
at the surrounding stalls. The market stalls are packed tightly together, and
every counter offers up the bounty of the sea, scenting the air with salt and
sea. Above the stalls flap brightly-colored cloth shades, protecting both the
women and the fish from the sun’s heat.
I hear someone ask what she missed,
and a woman replies, calling me mgeni again. My smile slips a notch. I
may have adopted the traditional, brightly colored long skirt and tunic of the
local women, as well as the tightly wound head wrap, but my sand-gold skin and
the slant of my eyes will always mark me as someone else. Mama Ali may
use the term as an endearment, but the echoes I hear now brand me as an
outsider.
Mama Ali holds out her hand
imperiously, a queen demanding tribute from the riffraff that forms her court.
“Come, my friend, keeper of secrets, let us see what we can.”
“What will you give me?” I ask, hoping
‘keeper of secrets’ is just a phrase she uses on potential customers.
Regardless, I don’t have the coin to pay her, so I may as well be clear I
won’t be giving anything.
“Give you? Your future, muddle-brain!
And, because you are always admiring my wares, I will give it to you for free.”
“Oh, very well.” I acquiesce none too
gracefully, offering Mama Ali my hand. Trying not to fidget, I wait, her palms
clasped around my hand. I may be running a little late, but there’s no reason
to think the meeting will have started on time. Besides, since I wasn’t invited
in the first place, no one will miss me. “Don’t tell me I’m going to meet
someone new, dark of skin and—”
“Short,” Mama Ali agrees.
I nearly choke. “Short?”
She drops her voice. “Well, if I want
to be sure it happens, short is so much more likely than tall, isn’t it? At
least,” she nods her head to suggest the market, not to mention the rest the
island, “here.”
I laugh. I think this must be why Mama
Ali and I get along so well. “Right. Short and dark.”
“No.” She pulls a frown. “For you,
something different.”
I glance towards the sky, gauging the
angle of the late morning sun. Magic is one thing, but divining the future? Not
so much. “I really have to—”
“You are going somewhere,” Mama Ali
intones, closing her eyes. I glance at her son in disbelief. Ali grins wide,
his teeth showing pearly white against his earth-brown skin.
“I was before you stopped me,” I
agree.
Mama Ali heaves a theatrical sigh,
squeezing my hand rather painfully. “Somewhere important,” she clarifies. She tilts
her head as if listening for something.
And Mama Ali hears a lot—she has her pulse on the happenings of
Karolene. Maybe there is something she knows. Has she heard something about the
League? Or the Ghost?
She drops my hand, sitting back with a gasp. “Run!”
Review:
I
enjoyed the irreverence of the heroine of Sunbolt. Hitomi is brash, bold, alone, the odd person
in a homogeneous society, and unusual in looks, talent, and other skills. Hitomi often finds herself in trouble and
uses her brains and skills to save herself and other.
I give this book 4 out of 5 clouds and eagerly await
book 2.
This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment