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A review by bonnybonnybooks
Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland
3.0
DNF @ 21%
This is a perfectly serviceable YA that will appeal to others, but it's not for me.
Our heroine is Zephyr Mourning (oof, the names in this are very 2010s writing), a Harpy who has been sent to toil in Tartarus after she killed the god that murdered her sister, Whisper. Zephyr is merely a vaettir (any mythological/supernatural creature such as minotaurs or pixies), which should make it impossible to have killed an Aethereal (a god). All the Aethereals want to know how Zephyr did it, but she refuses to say. The synopsis states that Zephyr is on the run from Tartarus and unexpectedly runs into a hot childhood friend (Blue - another oof name), which had just happened by the time I gave up. The first nearly quarter of the book is all set-up, which is too slow of pacing for me.
I didn't love the use of mythology in this book - why are the gods now Aetherals and harpies now vaettir? Why is the mythology 99% Greek (Hermes, Hera, Hades Elysium Fields, Taratrus, harpies, minotaurs, etc.) but then pixies and Fae are thrown in as well? They are just set dressing, so it is unclear why they are included when it just confuses the mythology for no purpose (at least in the 21% I got through).
I also didn't love that Zephyr -despite being a harpy, raised in the Aerie and steeped in the vaettir world - reads exactly like a normal contemporary YA heroine. It is stated that she is obsessed with mortal culture and wants to be a normal human girl, but it's a little much that all her references are very normal high school, like Tim Burton and haunted houses and Easter Egg hunts.
I did love Cass, Zephyr's best friend in Tartarus. She was clever and blunt and deadpan. She was hilarious and capable and bolstered every scene she was in. I almost kept reading just for her.
This is a perfectly serviceable YA that will appeal to others, but it's not for me.
Our heroine is Zephyr Mourning (oof, the names in this are very 2010s writing), a Harpy who has been sent to toil in Tartarus after she killed the god that murdered her sister, Whisper. Zephyr is merely a vaettir (any mythological/supernatural creature such as minotaurs or pixies), which should make it impossible to have killed an Aethereal (a god). All the Aethereals want to know how Zephyr did it, but she refuses to say. The synopsis states that Zephyr is on the run from Tartarus and unexpectedly runs into a hot childhood friend (Blue - another oof name), which had just happened by the time I gave up. The first nearly quarter of the book is all set-up, which is too slow of pacing for me.
I didn't love the use of mythology in this book - why are the gods now Aetherals and harpies now vaettir? Why is the mythology 99% Greek (Hermes, Hera, Hades Elysium Fields, Taratrus, harpies, minotaurs, etc.) but then pixies and Fae are thrown in as well? They are just set dressing, so it is unclear why they are included when it just confuses the mythology for no purpose (at least in the 21% I got through).
I also didn't love that Zephyr -despite being a harpy, raised in the Aerie and steeped in the vaettir world - reads exactly like a normal contemporary YA heroine. It is stated that she is obsessed with mortal culture and wants to be a normal human girl, but it's a little much that all her references are very normal high school, like Tim Burton and haunted houses and Easter Egg hunts.
I did love Cass, Zephyr's best friend in Tartarus. She was clever and blunt and deadpan. She was hilarious and capable and bolstered every scene she was in. I almost kept reading just for her.