Georgia Kostopoulou

 

Talia is just a normal girl, living with her father and his family. She had been living with him, ever since she lost her mother, but she was not as equal a daughter as his wife’s daughters. Some would say this reminds them of Cinderella, alas, there is no Prince! Well, at least not that clearly. Her life is not going well, and for the second time she finds herself in a hospital seriously injured. Until she actually dies. And then, she is not found neither in heaven, nor in hell. However, her first experience of this place definitely gives her the hell vibes. Thankfully she is saved by the mighty beasts that attack her by a dragon! The dragon is actually a man that can shift forms and so are the rest of the people in this strange world. These are the Nimali and Talia… Talia looks like their lost princess and they are now celebrating her return. Along them is the dragon king, a man that in form looks exactly like her father. Only this king, this father, loves his daughter and is so very much happy to see her again. He is a loving father, but he is also a cruel king. He rules the Nimali with strength and no tolerance for outsiders. He and his savage people are determined to use every resource this planet has to keep them alive and prosperous. This is why they are in war with the Fai.

The Fai, who also have powers like the shifters Nimali, don’t shift forms, but co-exist with their daemons, those spiritual creatures that give them their power willingly. The believe in saving the nature and the Bliss, this mighty power that the Fai adore and the Nimali use as their basic resource. When the Nimali capture Fai, they enslave them, taking part of their daemon’s power away, so that they cannot escape. Fai and Nimali need to have all their three souls to feel complete. The Nimali take one of the Fai souls away, so as to ensure they won’t try to escape. No Fai wants that fate, but Ryin is a captive with a plan. He is a warrior that is plotting against his enemy, collecting information that could be useful for his people. Because of his healing abilities, the king puts him next to the princess, in case she needs his help. She has returned a bit different. She seems to have lost her memory soul but Ryin finds himself warming up to this new version of the princess, the one that says “Thank you” to everyone, even those who serve her.

The concept of this book is multi-dimensional and pretty awesome! We have a heroin who, through her death, is transferred to this parallel universe, where a person that looks exactly like her father exists, a person looking exactly like her exists and a person that looks exactly like a childhood friend also exists. The cool thing is that her father is also her father in this universe and he actually loves, her, something that she didn’t experience in real life. We don’t really understand where this universe exists, but we do get to know a lot about it, which helps to understand the rules of the society we meet. There are also powerful creatures, not exactly human as they carry a daemon inside them, a daemon that is the source of their power. We also get to see that this is somewhat a post apocalyptic society, as we learn that this is how their life is after the Sorrows, which is probably a huge disaster or war.

I loved the magic system! How people get their magic and how this magic works. How different it is for the two tribes, based on their beliefs and customs. There were some strong messages portrayed as well. Like all people are equal and we should all be treated with respect. And also how the planet was destroyed and how we need to be careful not to eliminate the resources of the planet.

The narrators did a great job bringing the story to life. They brought their characters to life, making their personalities visible, or may I say audible, to the reader, or rather listener in our case.

This book is expected to be published on March 31st 2022.

Thanks to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for the opportunity to listen and review this audiobook. The views expressed are my personal and honest opinion.