#fantasy book

TO THE RAVENS

Rejected by her clan, Akantha has few options. In the Roman lunar colonies, where people are winged and there are rumors of barbarians beyond the city walls, she knows to keep her head down and not hope for a great destiny – or anything beyond what the gods, the Romans, or her city allow a mere woman.

But then, a stranger enters her life, Alexandros the Peregrine, a mysterious golden prophet. He claims he can make the city his – and hers – with just their wits. He speaks as if the Romans can't hurt them. And as for the gods? He's about to make a god of his very own.

With humor, romance, and biting emotion, Akantha's story unfolds. Alexandros will change her life forever. Is he a savior who will bring her freedom, or is he a force far too dangerous for her to fall in love with?

A WILDERNESS OF STARS

TO THE RAVENS

Akantha, the heroine of To the Ravens, my novel set in the lunar colonies of ancient Rome.

One thing I really liked about this book is that I got to blend historical facts with totally made up things. (Like the Romans, you know, getting to the moon.)

One minor thing is Akantha's short hair. Most artwork from antiquity shows women with long hair -- in fact, I can't think of any artwork that doesn't, but I say "most" because you never know. According to my research, the only females who had short hair among the Greeks and Romans would have been young girls and slaves. So it was heard of, but I infer it was somewhat belittling.

However, my other source (aside from history) was, of course, Lucian of Samosata, who assures us with a straight face that all of the Lunarians are running around bald. Now, I didn't want to go that far, in part because I like drawing hair and it would be harder to distinguish the characters on a design level if they were all bald. But I decided Lunarian (specifically Kynthian) beauty standards would include bald heads on men (often) and very short hair on women. So Akantha and her sister Karyai, and her mother Tanais all have short hair. Akantha's cousin Menaios is bald, though Pas' hair is chin-length because he dresses femininely, whereas Galana, Brixia, and Kokkonas are all set apart as foreigners by their long hair.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean is an interesting fantasy novel about a woman who gets her sustenance through consuming written word instead of food navigating what it means to love, a complex high control family, and mountains of trauma

It is a very interesting novel with a cool premise and interesting characters, but it definitely has its flaws. I feel like the world building is a little bit silly at times (the families are confusingly too big and too small for everything that is happening) and it feels like Dean has to repeat herself multiple times to make sure her audience is able to keep track of her complex web of houses and knights and dragons which can be a bit frustrating. I think it is a case of needing the Dragons to be rare for the drama factor but needing them to be common enough for the plot to happen and not quite being able to strike that balance well enough (in my opinion)

I do really like seeing the different ways in which characters react to the trauma and how it makes some of them fight to break the cycle and others fight to reinforce it. It makes for some very dynamic and realistic relationships between certain characters

The audio book has absolutely stunning narration, so if you at all like audio books and are interested in this one, I highly recommend checking it out