It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour Fall of Ruin and Wrath (Awakening #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout.
About the Author
Jennifer L. Armentrout is a No. 1 New York Times and international bestselling author and lives in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. When she’s not hard at work writing, she spends her time reading, watching bad zombie movies, pretending to write and hanging out with her husband and her small menagerie. This includes her Border Collie, Artemis, and her Border Jack, Apollo. Also six judgmental alpacas, two rude goats and five fluffy sheep.
In early 2015, Jennifer was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a group of rare genetic disorders that involve a breakdown and death of cells in the retina, eventually resulting, among other complications, in vision loss. Since this diagnosis, educating people on the varying degrees of blindness has become another passion for her – right alongside writing, which she plans to do for as long as she can. Jennifer has been nominated for and won numerous awards for her young adult and adult fiction.
About the book
She lives by her intuition. He feeds on her pleasure.
Long ago, the world was destroyed by gods. Only nine cities were spared. Separated by vast wilderness teeming with monsters and unimaginable dangers, each city is now ruled by a guardian―royalty who feed on mortal pleasure.
Born with an intuition that never fails, Calista knows her talents are of great value to the power-hungry of the world, so she lives hidden as a courtesan of the Baron of Archwood. In exchange for his protection, she grants him information.
When her intuition leads her to save a traveling prince in dire trouble, the voice inside her blazes with warning―and promise. Today he’ll bring her joy. One day he'll be her doom.
When the Baron takes an interest in the traveling prince and the prince takes an interest in Calista, she becomes the prince’s temporary companion. But the city simmers with rebellion, and with knights and monsters at her city gates and a hungry prince in her bed, intuition may not be enough to keep her safe.
Calista must follow her intuition to safety or follow her heart to her downfall.
Review
Calista distributes her talent, her intuitions and what she can 'see' in a way that can be described as constructive to some and perhaps less hurtful to others. Sometimes it's better not to tell the person asking everything she knows is coming. In a way Calista also does this to herself. She knows what the future holds for herself, but is perhaps unwilling to fall into the trap of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There couldn't be a better way to describe her situationship with Thorne. Is it a case of replacing one arrangement of necessity for another, and both are have a relationship core of lack of power and definitely a level of inequality.
I'm not sure whether this book declares the allegiance of Awakening very clearly. It is sometimes high-fantasy, romance and then romantacy. It is a mixture that doesn't allow for a clear definition and makes it feel a bit like a unreliable narrator who leans towards a long nip of moonshine now and again, whilst conjuring up moments of reckless and breathless abandonment. Then filtered into the story is the intricate world and character building - there are plenty of speculations where certain arcs could be heading, can't wait - which tends to speak more to high fantasy. Instead of pick a lane, I'm like buckle up and let's see where this is headed.
This author always has a nod to the early days of urban supernatural fantasy flair, and yet also manages to deliver to newer sub-genre readers that are hungry for sustenance. Not an easy task, probably falls under many a critical eye, but a great read nevertheless. Looking forward to reading where this heads next.
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