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luckylulureads 's review for:
In a Garden Burning Gold
by Rory Power
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
In a Garden Burning Gold is the beginning of a fantasy Duology that feels incredibly fresh and unlike anything I’ve read. The story follows a set of twins on their parallel journeys to save their family and its legacy. Lexos and Rhea are children of a Stratagiosi, the leader of their nation, who has power over death and imbues powers to his own children. But, his rule is threatened by his seeming instability. So, Rhea and Lexos embark on their own journeys to do what they feel must be done.
I teetered between giving this book four and five stars, but I decided to round up because of how this book ultimately drew me in and left me wanting more. In fact, I almost want to reread the book immediately.
This book was hard to get into: Thyzakos is clearly inspired by Greece in many ways, and so I found myself wanting to draw precise connections between all of the countries/territories and real life cultures. However, I think this kept me from really enjoying the book as a fantasy world. Making that mental shift (and letting go of “maybe this is Russia,” etc) helped me immerse myself into the story’s world more fully. It was like trying to conflate Middle Earth with our world—the cultural influences are there, but ultimately it’s a unique place of it’s own. Note: there’s no map in the ARC, but I would love for a map to make its way into the official book.
It’s also clear that the beginning of the novel does a lot of heavy lifting with the world building, which makes the first 10-20% a bit heavy to move through. But by the time the twins separated, I was fully invested.
There’s political intrigue, a unique magic system, and a beautifully woven story of two siblings who process a century’s worth of trauma in completely different ways. Near the end of the book I was at the edge of my seat, so to speak, watching these two twins on a collision course, their actions having unknown, wide-scale impact on the world.
I honestly could have had 100 more pages just to enjoy some of the relationships a little more deeply, and learn more about the magic system. But the epilogue gives me really high hopes that the sequel will fulfill all of that for me. I’m super excited about this world, and what’s going to happen next.
In a Garden Burning Gold is the beginning of a fantasy Duology that feels incredibly fresh and unlike anything I’ve read. The story follows a set of twins on their parallel journeys to save their family and its legacy. Lexos and Rhea are children of a Stratagiosi, the leader of their nation, who has power over death and imbues powers to his own children. But, his rule is threatened by his seeming instability. So, Rhea and Lexos embark on their own journeys to do what they feel must be done.
I teetered between giving this book four and five stars, but I decided to round up because of how this book ultimately drew me in and left me wanting more. In fact, I almost want to reread the book immediately.
This book was hard to get into: Thyzakos is clearly inspired by Greece in many ways, and so I found myself wanting to draw precise connections between all of the countries/territories and real life cultures. However, I think this kept me from really enjoying the book as a fantasy world. Making that mental shift (and letting go of “maybe this is Russia,” etc) helped me immerse myself into the story’s world more fully. It was like trying to conflate Middle Earth with our world—the cultural influences are there, but ultimately it’s a unique place of it’s own. Note: there’s no map in the ARC, but I would love for a map to make its way into the official book.
It’s also clear that the beginning of the novel does a lot of heavy lifting with the world building, which makes the first 10-20% a bit heavy to move through. But by the time the twins separated, I was fully invested.
There’s political intrigue, a unique magic system, and a beautifully woven story of two siblings who process a century’s worth of trauma in completely different ways. Near the end of the book I was at the edge of my seat, so to speak, watching these two twins on a collision course, their actions having unknown, wide-scale impact on the world.
I honestly could have had 100 more pages just to enjoy some of the relationships a little more deeply, and learn more about the magic system. But the epilogue gives me really high hopes that the sequel will fulfill all of that for me. I’m super excited about this world, and what’s going to happen next.