Ahoy there me mateys! I received a copy of this young adult fantasy eArc from Edelweiss in exchange for me honest musings . . .

I absolutely loved this standalone novel. This novel has great female protagonists, fun evil creatures called kehoks, and some surprising plot twists. It was such a good reading experience that I didn’t even notice many of the writing inconsistencies until after I finished. I wanted to stay up all night reading but made meself go to bed. The author dedicated the book to Tamora Pierce. She is one of me favorite authors and Durst’s book certainly captures the spirit and feel of those beloved books.

Basically there are two main characters, Tamra and Raia. Tamra is a kehok trainer down on her luck. Raia is a runaway who decides the kehok races are the only way to earn her freedom. What is a kehok? Well, reincarnation is a reality in this society. A kehok is a person who is so irredeemable that are reborn as murderous tortured monsters who cannot rejoin the reincarnation cycle. Kehoks are used as racing beasts. Okay it doesn’t quite make sense but I didn’t care. Cause monster racing in the desert sounds cool!

The highlight for me were the characters. I loved Tamra and Raia but I grew to love Shalla, Yorbel, and Lady Evara. I loved that all of them had different reasons for wanting to win the race. I certainly was cheering them on. I enjoyed that the characters were from various backgrounds and of various ages. The races themselves ended up being background for a larger plot about political instability and religion but that ended up being okay because I wanted to see how it all turned out.

The world building was the weakest link even if it didn’t ruin the book for me. The world and politics felt very one dimensional. The emperor-to-be can’t be crowned until they find the animal housing his dead brother’s soul. This aspect of the reincarnation didn’t make sense. There was never any idea of what the point of the cycle was and how ye got out of it. Good people became animals frequently (and expected to) and so there was some puzzlement once the book was finished. Many of the plot points of this aspect of the novel were very easy to predict but not all.

But really those things were minor in comparison to how much I enjoyed the reading experience and characters. I certainly need to get back to Durst’s backlog because I had forgotten how much fun her writing could be. Arrrr!