Book Review | Beware The Night @XpressoTours #BlogTour #giveaway

I can’t believe it’s Friday already, this week has just disappeared. I have another review to round off the week and if you live in the US or Canada then there is a giveaway you’ll be interested in too.

 

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On the island of Bellona, they worship the sun. Seventeen-year-old Veda understands that keeping the sun content ensures plentiful crops, peace and harmony, and a thriving economy. But as a member of the Basso class, she never reaps those benefits.

Life as a Basso is one fraught with back-breaking work and imposing rules. Her close friendship with Nico is Veda’s one saving grace in a cruel world where the division between her people and the ruling Dogio is as wide and winding as the canals that snake through their island.

But when Veda’s grandfather is chosen as the next sacrificial offering to keep the sun’s favor, Veda is forced to see the injustice of her world. Turning away from the sun means she must join the night—and an underground revolution she’s been taught to fear all her life.

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I have to say I was so looking forward to reading this one, the blurb had me hooked in an instant and that cover too. I did have high hopes and it maybe didn’t fill them quite as I had expected but I wasn’t disappointed.

Beware The Night starts off slow but since it is a fantasy book and I know that there is a whole world needing to be built I’m never put off by that, I actually enjoy it because it gives me time to get to grips with everything. I love the whole concept of Bellona, the Sun and the Moon as deities, the clear class division between the Basso and Dogio, the Night who live underground and terrorise the Basso, the strict Imperi soldiers who are supposed to protect, the Island of Sol and the Offerings.

At its heart, this is a story about power, the ruling force trying to keep people in line through fear and by keeping them poor and the resistance that is trying to rise up and beat them back. I have to admit it is at points fairly predictable, it draws a lot of parallels with The Hunger Games, which isn’t a bad thing but it does mean that you kind of have an inkling of how certain things are going to end up.

There was one thing that did make me pause a little, there is a definite ‘chosen one’ trope and I have to admit that it did kind of disappoint me, it’s not that I don’t like that aspect but I just felt like what I’d learned of Veda up to that point was that she wasn’t one to fit that kind of bill. Also the background for that particular part of the story didn’t feel very strong.

I also had a few moments where I was questioning Veda. For the most part I liked her, she’s a grafter, doesn’t mind breaking the rules to survive, and she’s starting to question things for herself, especially because her relationship with Nico is bringing them up. I loved her relationship with Poppy, her grandfather, it was great to see how they got on together, and relied on each other.

However when the action starts kicking off she does get a little too preoccupied with her feelings towards Nico and Dorian. There is so much happening and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and wonder why she wasn’t worrying about the other slightly more important things.

Now I know this is a topic of very divided opinion so I’ll make it clearer, there is the beginnings of a love triangle. I actually quite enjoy a triangle so for me it worked, especially because Nico and Dorian are both lovely. Nico has the history with Veda but because they are different classes they can’t be together, which gives it that nice forbidden element; Dorian is a Basso too and has the new and mysterious factor.

I have to say after the slower pace at the beginning I raced through the rest of the book. I feel like I went through every emotion possible, there are so many secrets and betrayals. I was truly so invested in this book as the pages were counting down I was getting panicky because I wasn’t sure how it was going to end.

Whilst there were a few things that I feel let the book down and in retrospect there are a few things that don’t quite add up, I have still given this a 4/5 rating because of my sheer enjoyment in reading the book. That feeling of not wanting it to end and getting so immersed that I’m getting emotional alongside the characters I feel was the most important aspect during my reading experience. Can’t wait for book two!

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If you live in the US or Canada then you will be particularly pleased about this giveaway, click the link below to be in with a chance of winning…

a print copy of Beware the Night

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Jessika Fleck is an author, unapologetic coffee drinker, and knitter — she sincerely hopes to one day discover a way to do all three at once. Until then, she continues collecting vintage typewriters and hourglasses, dreaming of an Ireland getaway, and convincing her husband they NEED more kittens. Her YA debut, THE CASTAWAYS (Entangled TEEN), is now available. Her next YA novel, BEWARE THE NIGHT (Swoon Reads/Macmillan) releases March 12, 2019.

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