Author- Amanda Foody
Series- N/A
Published- July 25th (USA) September 7th (UK)
Page Count- 377 (US Hardback)
Publishing House- Harlequin Teen/ Harper Collins
Rating- 4/5 Stars
Note- I was sent a eArc by the publishers, so thank you Harper Collins for sending me a copy!
Happy publication day to Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody! As I've already stated, I was sent a copy by the publishers, but I was also lucky enough to receive a physical copy from a Fairyloot box. As today is the publication day, this will be a spoiler-free review. I will post a spoiler filled review later in the year once more people have had the chance to read it.
I really enjoyed reading DOTBC, it was a really interesting concept and something I had never heard of. I'm not usually in to circus books, but I had wanted to read it even before I was sent a copy. I had been hearing nothing but good things. To me, this book reminds me of reading YA books when I was younger. It was a fun and easy book for me, and I really enjoyed the "who did it" aspect of the book. It's been a while since I read a book that had to make me think and didn't just hand me all the information straight up.
There was such a diverse range of characters in this book, and from a wannabe-writers perspective, this was heavenly to read. I loved how there were characters of different sexuality and there was no big deal made about it. With this search for diversity that the YA book community is currently undergoing, I feel like we need to shout about all the diversity there is in books. Yes, diversity is an issue, but we should be reading books because we want to, not because of these elements of the books.
I liked Sorrina as a character, but at times I did find her a bit whinny and YA-typical. She seemed to think that she knew best and everyone around her was wrong. She also became absorbed by her grief and that is a trope I'm getting tired of seeing. I want to see strong characters who can grieve, but also continue to live their lives. There were also a couple of her lines that I found a bit cheesy, going along the lines of "I will have revenge". These lines did make me giggle because they were a bit cringy.
Overall, I really enjoyed DOTBC and hope to read more from Amanda Foody in the future. At the moment, I believe this is a stand alone book, which is a very interesting choice for a fantasy author to make.
Carenza x
