I truly enjoyed The Name-Bearer! It was vibrant, creative, and filled with generous sprinklings of Latin American culture.  

We follow the Name-Bearer, a young girl who was selected as a baby to fulfill a critical royal role: deliver royal names from the magical Flowers of Prophecy. Her identity is stripped alongside her birth name; she knows nothing of life outside the palace. But when her first naming ceremony doesn’t go as planned - and she receives an unexpected prophecy instead, putting her in grave danger - she must journey away from all she’s known and find the true heir to the throne.

The world was so fun and colorful; I could picture every scene and character. I thought the depictions of strong & healthy friendships alongside budding romances were so lovely. There are a lot of potential romantic pairings and I would have been happy wherever we landed.

The main character’s journey with her identity - her entire sense of self and her place in the world - unfolded in a beautiful way. Her entire life is dictated by those above her; she is marginalized and powerless. I loved watching her slowly cement her personhood and discover who exactly she is outside of the expectations placed on her.

There were some clumsier elements - the editing seemed to be lacking (typos/other issues on a significant number of pages) and some plot points moved far too quickly. The story spans 10 years, and considering the large amount of characters and events, I think it could have perhaps been better served being split up into multiple books with more time to linger and develop the characters and storylines. 

Overall though, Natalia Hernandez is bringing a fresh voice to the fantasy genre and I think her ideas are spectacular. I know she will continue to strengthen as a writer and I’m excited to witness her journey.

CW: violence, bullying, sexual assault (mention), confinement, trafficking, kidnapping, child abuse, death, xenophobia, classism, grief, abandonment, war, slavery

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