ISBN: 1775540065
Pages: 336
Source: YA Bound
Pages: 336
Source: YA Bound
Appearance:
Summary:
‘A true dream is when the events I see in my sleep have, or will happen. It’s a talent that runs in my family. I was thirteen when I had my first true dream.’
Dana wishes she wasn’t a princess. She’s always being told how to behave, what to wear. There’s a strangeness in the castle – why will no one talk about the Guardian, or the necklace that protects the land? And why does her father look at her with such sorrow?
Welcome to A Necklace of Souls: a story of love and loss, of shattered lives and desperate hopes. In the Kingdom of the Rose, bravery is not always measured by strength and magic is real, if only one has the courage to dream.
Dana wishes she wasn’t a princess. She’s always being told how to behave, what to wear. There’s a strangeness in the castle – why will no one talk about the Guardian, or the necklace that protects the land? And why does her father look at her with such sorrow?
Welcome to A Necklace of Souls: a story of love and loss, of shattered lives and desperate hopes. In the Kingdom of the Rose, bravery is not always measured by strength and magic is real, if only one has the courage to dream.
Hello everyone and welcome to my tour stop for the Necklace of Souls tour. As always, please check out the rest of the amazing stops by click on the tour banner up above! Without further ado, let's get into the review:
Dana is the princess of the Kingdom of Rose, a place where sickness and strife never enter. She's been told that there is a necklace that protects the land, but nobody talks about it. She also gets these horrible dreams that her father tells her have a meaning and purpose to them. When her new tutor arrives from a different world, Dana finds out more about her land and learns to use her talents to fight and defend the land she loves. However, the price she has to pay to protect her Kingdom is a lot higher than she anticipated.
The Kingdom of Rose is this really fascinating place that a person can access only if they are granted a token. If they happen to receive one, then they must go to the Ferryman who will bring them across. It sort of has a Greek mythology vibe to it, when the Ferryman brings across the souls of the dead if they have the right money. So there's the Kingdom which is this place that hunger, strife, and sickness never enter. If you live outside the Kingdom, there are different "worlds" that you live in. One of them is our world, the present day one full of cars and technology. The other one is a more medeival version where there's a current plague epidemic that is destroying the population. The way that the author weaves together these different worlds with just a simple token is a concept that I found really unique and interesting.
Then there is the Guardian and the Necklace of Souls. I won't explain much because I'm afraid that I'll give something away, but the short explanation is that the Guardian is in charge of protecting the land and the Necklace of Souls is the key to it. However, every wearer of the Necklace must pay a horrible price when they wear it and it's quite a painful process.
Dana is your average young girl who just happens to be a princess. She doesn't want to be a princess because there are so many rules and regulations that she must follow. She also has a unique talent of scaring away her governesses through her wild acts and she's prepared to chase away her new one. However, her new governess is not from this world, but the current one. Her name is N'tombe and she is from the continent of Africa and one of the darkest people Dana has ever seen. N'tombe is different from her other governesses. While she still teaches Dana the same subjects, she also encourages Dana to explore the dreams she has and learn to defend herself. Their relationship starts from a teacher to pupil one and really expands into one of friendship. Then there's Dana's friendship with Will, a simple boy from the Outside (not modern world) who escaped the epidemic and is now a baker apprentice and soldier in training. He teaches her to fight which sparks this relationship between them and it's really endearing to watch their friendship grow and how they support each other.
There's also this big debate on how much of yourself you must sacrifice even if that's not what you want. Dana finds herself a mere puppet that has no control over what she does except for what the law of her land dictates. But N'tombe encourages her to be stronger than what tradition expects and to explore the meaning behind her dreams.
Alright, so overall this book was a fun fantasy read that was different than anything I've ever read, especially with the world building. It's super unqiue so I recommend you go check it out for yourself!
GIVEAWAY
AUTHOR BIO
My name is Rachel Stedman. I’m a physiotherapist (physical therapist) by background, but now I work as a freelance contractor. I live in the wild and windy place of Dunedin, New Zealand, with my husband and two kids.
I write mostly for children and young adults. In 2012 I won the Tessa Duder Award for an unpublished YA work and my first novel, A Necklace of Souls, was published by HarperCollins in 2013 (available in the United Kingdom and on Book Depository from June 2015). This year, A Necklace of Souls was awarded Best First Book at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards and won a Notable Book Award from Storylines. Inner Fire is my second novel.
Author Links:
3.5 out of 5 stars
Foreverly Obsessed,
No comments:
Post a Comment