This is probably one of my new favourite books! While it is admittedly slow in parts I didn't mind as I loved the characters and it was their ragtag team that made this book so amazing. The cover had led me to believe it would be a romance with some fantasy elements but it is so much more than that, legend and magic combine to make a gripping read that I would highly recommend.

This is the just kind of book I would have loved as a teen/young adult and hopefully it will end up in school libraries. Rasha became a palace slave when she washed up on shore as a 7-year-old shipwreck survivor. At 15 escapes the palace in order to take her own life. The timing is fortuitous in a way because while she is away the palace comes under attack and one of the few people to survive is Princess Adriana who escapes through some secret tunnels. Rasha’s suicide attempt is thwarted when she is possessed by a cold and dark power. In the process she discovers that her twin brother is alive and possessed by the spirit of the god Solaris, who is also behind the attack on the palace. When Rasha and Adriana meet in the woods it makes sense for them to travel together because they’re both going to the same place but Adriana doesn’t realise that she is the cause of one of Rasha’s most painful experiences.

The story is told from both Rasha’s and Adriana’s points of view in a manner that is nicely simple which is a good thing because the plot is complex and layered. I found the events and the characters’ interactions engaging and quite different from most of the fantasy novels I’ve read. Rasha is a strong character who bears the visible and invisible scars of her past but needs to start seeing her own value. Adriana was raised with blinkers but is unafraid of learning. The motley bunch of characters they meet up with on the way add a great dimension to the story.

The descriptions give a strong sense of location of wherever the characters are at any point and they’re not only visual but you also get an idea of the smells and sounds. There is a really sweet thread of romance between Rasha and Adriana that runs through the story which ebbs and flows with the action. All in all, it’s a very enjoyable read which becomes more and more riveting the closer it gets to the end.

Book received from Netgalley and NineStar Press for an honest review.