Monday, January 28, 2019

Review: A House of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna

A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy, #1)Title: A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Trilogy #1)
Author: Sangu Mandanna
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Pages: 311 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Sky Pony
Publication date: September 11th, 2018

Synopsis from A House of White Fire's Goodreads page

In a universe of capricious gods, dark moons, and kingdoms built on the backs of spaceships, a cursed queen sends her infant daughter away, a jealous uncle steals the throne of Kali from his nephew, and an exiled prince vows to take his crown back. 

Raised alone and far away from her home on Kali, Esmae longs to return to her family. When the King of Wychstar offers to gift the unbeatable, sentient warship Titania to a warrior that can win his competition, she sees her way home: she’ll enter the competition, reveal her true identity to the world, and help her famous brother win back the crown of Kali. 

It’s a great plan. Until it falls apart.


THOUGHTS

Thank you so much to Thomas Allen & Son for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Going into this book, I found the beginning to be a little bit slow for me. When I read a space opera/science fiction book, I expect to be pulled in straight away. With this book, it took a few chapters before I was really pulled in and immersed in the world, and I am SO thrilled that I stayed with it. This book ended up being amazing, and it ended up being so much better than I had hoped for.
This book is very much about discovering who you are and who you want to be. The main character, Esmae, struggles with many aspects of her identity for her entire life (as you find out why fairly early on in the book) and it is understandable why that is. She is very young, and she has a lot placed on her shoulders. I loved how this book showed that even though you may know who you are, you may know nothing about yourself, your family, or where you come from, and that means that you are missing a part of yourself until you figure it out. I loved how Esmae knows what she wants out of life, and that she has a plan to get it from the very beginning of the book.
I also loved how much emphasis the author put into love and friendship. Esmae has few wonderful people around her, however the ones she has are devoted to her and she is devoted to them. I loved how it shows that friends will do anything for each other, and that friendship can conquer anything, even a prophecy that the gods can see no way around.
I also loved the character development in this book. The author does an amazing job of having certain characters grow and become stronger, more fearless people, and it doesn't feel forced, it feels natural to read about them in that way.
I also loved the setting of this book - imagine battleships, force fields, and floating cities in space, then add a talking space ship to all of that. Absolutely amazing descriptions, and I love how each of these amazing ideas were described.
The only reason this book wasn't a full five stars for me was the slightly slow beginning as well as the awful cliffhanger (and by awful I mean amazing except for now having to wait for the next book!!), however I am SUPER EXCITED to read the rest of the trilogy and see where it leads!
Overall - ★★★

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