You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

In a world where the sun becomes unlivable at certain points in the day, the cities reside underground. One such city is that of Zirdai, where Shyla a researcher who is known as sun-kissed lives. The sun-kissed are rare because when they are infants, they are left out in the desert at the killing point in order to be returned to the Sun Goddess, Shyla was lucky, she was rescued by the monks and raised in the monastery. Now she makes her living researching locations of buried temples and ruins and their artifacts for her friend Banqui, and whoever else will hire her of course. One such job changed Shyla's world forever when the artifacts that Banqui was tasked to find by the Water Prince, go missing. Now the Prince thinks that Shyla has them. Hiring her to find the real culprits, Shyla must race against the clock to find out who really took the Eyes of Tamburah, clear her name, survive the Heliacal Priestess (who wants to sacrifice her to the Sun) and prevent herself from ending up in one of the Water Princes 'special rooms' (read torture chambers) all the while, realising that maybe one of the Prince's guards isn't as bad as he seems. Oh! And don't forget about the possible existence of a mythical sect of thieves. All in a days work for your run of the mill, sun kissed researcher...

I've had this one sitting on my Netgalley TBR list for a while now, and since I'm trying to whittle it down to something manageable I've been slowly working through them all. This one honest sat for so long because I found the length of it a bit daunting but getting down to the dregs, if I might say, I was interested to see if this one lived up to Snyder's Study series, which I adore. I did find that I enjoyed this story, but I didn't feel as invested in it as I did with the Study series.

The world building is rich and vibrant and everything I've come to expect from Snyder. I can feel the heat, and the sand and the grittiness of the life that the people live in this world. The Water Prince is frightening and the Heliacal Priestess is just downright terrifying. I felt the desperation and the need of Zirdai's people for freedom. At times the story had a way of making you feel hopeless and claustrophobic which is fantastic, it really puts you right in the middle of the story itself. Surprisingly, for it's length, the pacing was great and I never felt like the story was lagging at all, I got through it a lot quicker than I thought I would. The story made you want to know what craziness was going to happen next, and how on Earth Shyla was going to get out of it this time.

The characters were well written, and I actually thought the love interest was going to be someone different at first. While in the beginning of the romance I felt that it was a bit forced and possibly not needed, as the story progressed the romance became an absolutely wonderful addition to the adventure story and really added an extra layer of attachment to these characters. I found Shyla relatable and incredibly likable and I really adored Rendor's (I think that's how you spell it haha) character as well. He was such a brute, yet had such a massive heart and I just loved how his character was written. I think it's safe to say that Snyder has an ability to write characters that come across as these hulking monsters who end up having hearts of gold. He reminded me of Valek from the Study series.

The mystery itself was well thought out and even though we're not privy to the point behind possessing the Eyes in the beginning, as soon as we are I had picked what the reveal was going to be, but that's okay, getting to that point was all a mystery for me because all the characters were fair game and you didn't know who was going to live or die on the journey.

One thing that kind of irked me a bit was that I had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the time concept in the story. There's cycles, and angles and sun jumps and I found each time one was mentioned I spent a few seconds working out which one it corresponded to. I think that sun jumps are a day, angles are minutes, and cycles are years? But I'm not 100% sure and I just felt like having to think that much about the time terminologies in a story was kind of a waste. I want to focus on the story not so much the little quirks that the author has put in to make it specific to that world. I'm probably the only person on the planet who had an issue with it, but it's one of the reason my rating is lower, so I wanted to talk about it.

While I found the story enjoyable and the characters great, I just didn't feel emotionally invested in the story itself. I did care what happened to some of the characters, but it just didn't hit me the way that the Study series did. I feel like I may have ruined it a bit for myself by expecting something as amazing as the previous series, when I really should have gone in with fresh eyes and not compared it to anything else. So that's on me.

All in all, Snyder is a master at her craft, and she always manages to build rich, vibrant worlds, full of enticing characters who are full of flaws and massive hearts. If you enjoy Snyder's other works, give this one a go, but go in with fresh eyes and don't compare!

Another great book by Maria V. Synder. It was so amazingly written, I loved every bit of it. So unique and interesting, I feel like reading it again.

This was my first Maria Snyder and now I see what all the fuss is about. The Eyes of Tamburah is a fast paced read that has some of the best characters. I love how strong, independent, smart and loyal Shyla is and really enjoyed being on this adventure. The writing is stellar, the world building vivid and the story is a fun thrill ride.

"I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review"

Shyla is a researcher who resides in the underground desert city of Zirdai, which is ruled by the wealthy Water Prince and brutal Heliacal Priestess. Even though Shyla is sun-kissed - an outcast, considered cursed by the Sun Goddess - she is still renowned for uncovering innumerable archaic facts, lost artefacts, ancient maps and obscure historical documents. Her quiet life is about to change when Banqui, an archaeologist, enlists her services to find The Eyes of Tamburah: legendary gemstones that bestow great magic on their wielder. These ancient objects can tip the balance of power and give whoever possesses them complete control of the city.
But chaos erupts when The Eyes are stolen soon after they're found - and Shyla is blamed for the theft. Forced to flee, with the Prince's soldiers and the Priestess's deacons on her trail, Shyla must recover the jewels and clear her name. A quest that will unearth secrets even more valuable than The Eyes of Tamburah themselves..

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book considering it is not normally something I would read. Not only did the story keep me engaged throughout the whole book, I also found once I started to read it I would fly through it. This was my first Maria V. Snyder book and I found I really enjoyed her writing style and the story as a whole.

The world was interesting but complex and took me a little bit to get used to, but once I did I found it really fascinating. All the characters where also complex and not one dimensional, I thought a few times I had them figured out but then something would happen and it would change whole opinion of them.

I ended up rating this 4 of out 5 stars and I will be picking up the next book as soon as I can get my hands on it. This was a very unique story which was another reason why I enjoyed it and I can't wait to see what happens next even though I will admit I am a little afraid because if it is anything like this one there will be a lot of twists and turns.

Maria has created yet another fascinating world in The Eyes of Tamburah. I have enjoyed all of Maria's books and quickly jumped on the opportunity to review this latest novel.

I love Maria's dedication to research and authenticity. The information and real life experiences she gathers when preparing a book is evident in her world building. Each world is unique and captivating. The details and layers invite me into the world and stay with me long after I've put the book down. This is perhaps one of my favourite things about The Eyes of Tamburah, the intricate underground desert city of Zirdai.

The character development and story line were interesting and kept me reading. Shyla and those close to her were complex characters who each had their own flaws along with their more likeable qualities. In typical Maria style there is a lot of adventure and drama as Shyla and her friends find themselves in impossible situations and are required to risk their lives time and time again to save each other and the people of Zirdai.

There were only a couple of things that irked me. Firstly, I found it hard to believe how quickly Shyla's opinions of other people flipped from negative to positive and back again. I also couldn't believe how many times she got herself captured and needed to be rescued by others. But perhaps these flaws or tendencies are deliberate on Maria's part and allow room for further character development later in the series. I hope so. Finally, the love interest in this book was obvious to me from the start, the relationship followed a similar pattern to love stories in some of Maria's others novels which I found a little disappointing.

Overall though, I enjoyed immersing myself in this new world that Maria has created and I look forward to the next instalment of Archives of the Invisible Sword.

I absolutely LOVED The Eyes of Tamburah. I have read 99% of everything Maria has written and I have yet to find anything that I don't love with all of my heart. I can't help but compare all of her books to the perfection (in my opinion) that was Poison Study and I have not been disappointed by any of her stories. She is a fantastic fantasy writer and because of that, this story was filled with action, intrigue, a kick-ass female main character, a protective love interest and a plot that takes the forefront of the book all the time, which is no surprise. I really enjoy that the love interests are a big part of the story, but always take the back foot to the plot and action, which to me, is a great formula. This was not like any other book I've read before and she really used her imagination to create this setting and all the twists and turns that occur between the different political and religious groups in the book. I found I had to keep putting the book down in order to think over what was happening, who was aligned with who, what groups were making what moves and the motivations of all the characters. I had to get it straight in my head before I continued because this was such a mystery and action-driven plot. I highly recommend this one to anybody who enjoys YA fantasy, and especially to those who are a fan of Maria.

Shyla was raised by monks after she was abandoned as a baby. All sun-kissed/cursed children are, but thankfully the monks don't believe in such barbaric practices. They did however throw her out when she chose not to join their order, not being able to keep all their discoveries behind closed doors. Instead, she researches and translates old texts for anyone who'll pay. 

One of her main customers is Banqui, who, using her knowledge manages to find the fabled Eyes of Tamburah, jewels that grant magic - at very early into the novel we have the namesake! Woo! The only problem is that when he was bringing back the treasure (for the Eyes are made of diamonds, emeralds, onyx, and topaz) he's attacked from behind and they're stolen from him.

The main problem with this, is the Water Prince, the reigning sovereign, has of course decried that any and all things found are his property. And he knew Banqui was searching for them - he funds his digs, after all. And now he thinks Shyla herself, the only other person with the knowledge of what Banqui was doing, has stolen them for herself.

Soon they're bundled away into the Water Prince's 'care', and Shyla is tasked with retrieving the treasure. If she fails, the cruel threats the Prince is known for will be shown to her and Banqui first hand. Thus, she accepts the task (as if she had a choice).

The most interesting thing early on is the time ticking away to the hottest part of the day, by which, every person who wants to remain living has to go many levels below ground. This sense of urgency and interruption they all face each and every day is an interesting take. The world building was really quite interesting, and sadly, the characters didn't match up. Shyla was a bit bland though the book was advertised as a Tomb Raider-esque adventure. 

The romance was poorly handled. 

The side characters were a bit stereotypical and didn't feel fully formed, and I didn't really care for how any of them turned out. In a way this felt like a draft product - pretty well there, but needed some further development of just a few tweaks and additions to make these characters feel real, and have a bit more depth to them. 

The tone was a little off, too. the characters seemed to fluctuate between their moods from sentence to sentence, and it was just a bit... off. Somehow. 

Still, the world building is strong and that kept me reading. And I did really like Shyla's job and skills. We need more stories about researchers in the world.

Maria V Snyder does one thing well above all, that is, she never disappoints her reader! Well written and well thought out Maria Snyder has another bestseller on her hands. It is a joy to recommend her books.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I only discovered how much I enjoy books by MVS two years ago, I’d had Poison Study on my TBR but that was it, then I read it and wished I’d read it earlier.

I love fantasy books, particularly ones with strong (kick-ass) female protagonists, plenty of action and adventure and a strong storyline. The Eyes of Tamburah; as with other MVS titles/series delivers. With a fantastically detailed world as the background and cast of well developed supporting characters, a mystery to solve, hidden secrets and magic there is much to enjoy.

Enjoy. Treat yourself to the first in a new series to devour.

Every time I think I'm over dystopian books, one book comes along and makes me remember how good they are. Seriously, I kind of wish it was Jay Kristoff's LIFEL1K3 series, but this accolade goes to Maria V. Snyder's Archives of the Invisible Sword series, of which the first book (this one) came out last week. I have heard comparisons between this and Lara Croft, and that's actually a pretty apt description.
So, our MC, Shyla, is your basic treasure-finding, ancient language decrypting badass who winds up in a precarious position with the leaders of the underground city of Zirdia, and in order to save herself, indentures herself to find the stolen artifacts. This commences a race across the desert under the killing sun (the sun will literally kill you in this world), chases through underground cities, and putting her faith in a group of strangers that either don't trust her, want her dead, or may stab her in the back at any opportunity.
All this treasure hunting and a bunch of brutal beatings would probably take it out of most people, but I feel like Shyla just doesn't know when to quit – and it just may work out in her favour.
There is, of course, the possibility of a love interest or two (or three) thrown around as part of the plot, but this is such a small piece of the storyline that if romance isn't your thing, you can still feel free to read this.
So, the characters and the plot are great. Why not 5 stars? There's something about dystopian books that does my head in, and it's definitely to do with world building. In this story to ensure that we know it's different, Snyder has changed the terminology for time. Angles are used instead of hours (and I believe it's worked on the 360 degree rotation of a circle, but for the life of me I couldn't figure it out), a sun jump is a 'day' or 24 hour period, and a cycle is the equivalent of a year. Every time I read the words for day and year, I had to remember what it means and it pulls me out of the story every time while I try and figure out the translation. I don't think it would have made any changes to the world building if Snyder had used normal terminology. The world itself was different enough without creating new (and possibly confusing) words.
I do feel like I need to say that I loved Snyder's Poison Study / Chronicles of Ixia series. And while this is definitely not that series, they do have some similarities. Both of the MCs, Shyla and Yelena:
are rejected from the societies they live in
start the story in perilous danger and agree to take on a dangerous task
fall for someone who is an authoritative figure in their life
find their real families during the course of the story
uncover ancient traditions / myths, and
are beaten and kidnapped several times.
I did really enjoy this book though, despite my little grump above, and I am very much looking forward to reading the next instalment!!

Maria V. Snyder is one of my favourite fantasy writers, so when I came across this new series of hers I was excited to dive in! She did such an amazing job creating this world and city, which is at least 98 levels of city under the soil. It was interesting to meet the characters, seeing who ran the city and what their beliefs were.

The story focuses on Shyla, a girl raised by monks, who had moved to the city and was treated like an outcast because of the colour of her hair and her skin. She kept to herself and took on small jobs to earn her money. When her one friend loses something that she helped him locate, she finds herself working for the Prince and threatened by the Heliacal Priestess. She faced a lot of challenges, she was betrayed, and was always in danger. But no matter what happened, she found the strength to get back up and push herself to succeed.

Shyla was always watching her back, but had such a kind soul. She met a lot of new people, but it was hard to trust them, as they could betray her at anytime. I’d like to see more of them to figure out what their role is in this story and whether they can be someone that Shyla can trust. It also looks like she has a potential love interest, and I'm excited to see how this relationship goes.

The Eyes of Tamburah was a fascinating read! I loved the detail of the world, trying to imagine it expanding under ground. My heart ached for Shyla a number of times, as people judged her because she was that little bit different. She was a determined girl with a big heart and was willing to do anything to save a friend. She sacrificed so much, but also learned a lot about herself. This book was just the beginning of Shyla's journey, and I'm looking forward to coming back!

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Maria V Snyder is one of my all-time favourite authors, and I have loved everything of hers that I’ve read so far.

I love her characters and their relationships, her magic systems, her world building, and I really love that you can recognise Snyder’s favourite tropes in different series.

For example, Snyder loves to put her female main character in positions where she has to unwillingly perform a job for a high-ranking male character. Snyder loves to write two characters who are in conflict at first, and then become love interests. Snyder loves to write kindly plutonic caretaker-type characters who can’t help but kind of love the main character. In this novel, Shyla is an outcast Sun-kissed in a world where the sun literally scorches the ground every day. Everyone lives underground, and Shyla specialises in finding old artefacts. When Shyla is accused of stealing a valuable artefact, she needs to find them for real before her only friend is murdered by the arrogant Water Prince.

So you see, I love seeing the familiar way Snyder’s mind works. I love her world-building, and I did really love this unique world with a killing sun and lost underground civilisations, and this rigid societal structure where everyone is fighting to live in such limited and dangerous space.

I was also intrigued with Shyla herself, who has to constantly prove herself in a society that shuns her because of an accident of birth. Shyla has blonde hair and blonde eyes, which makes her sun-kissed, and everyone treats her like she’s cursed apart from the monks who rescued her as an abandoned infant. She has worked hard to prove her own usefulness and resourcefulness, but it’s never enough for her society. It’s a treat to follow her logic and watch her figure out what she needs to do to achieve her goals.

But what I didn’t love was the repetitiveness of the plot. Shyla was kidnapped, tortured, and almost murdered countless times in this novel to the point where I actually grew bored with it, and this was before the half-way mark. Everything in the novel happens in the span of a few weeks, and that’s including the several weeks Shyla spends prisoner or resting, recovering from injuries. There is your typical Snyder caretaker character that continues to hassle Shyla to sleep and eat, as if she’s incapable of looking after herself. Shyla is constantly betrayed, or under-estimates all the characters around her who have their own motivations, and it just gets so repetitive.

She literally can’t trust anyone because everyone is trying to kill her, which made it difficult for me to form my own emotional relationships with anyone other than Shyla (even the potential love interest, which is most definitely NOT an insta-love and might be hard for your to identify at first, like me). Most of the large cast of characters don’t stick around for long enough for me to like any of them, and the ones that do don’t endear themselves to me.

On the other hand, I loooooved the violence. Snyder didn’t shy away from showing it on-page, and it could get pretty gruesome and almost even border on horror. The scheming and machinations and motivations of every single character reminded me of the later Study books, where, at one point, I think Snyder was writing 20-something characters on page, each with different motivations. She doesn’t make anything easy for Shyla.

The other thing that ended up being pretty cool was the ending, but I don’t want to spoil it. Just know that it’s worth reading through to the end.

I’m hoping the issues I raised were just part of the ARC. With Snyder being a favourite author of mine, I’ve pre-ordered the book, and I hope that one day when I pick it up to re-read it, I’ll love it just as much as I’ve loved her other novels.

WOW!!! Maria has done it again!!!!
The Eyes Of Tamburah is an epic start to what I think will be a fantastic fantasy series! Poison Study meets Tomb Rader as described in the synopsis. Set in the underground city of Zirdia ruled by the Evil Water Prince and the Heliacal Priestess. TEOT follows Shyla a researcher finding lost artefacts to survive, she is shunned by all of Zirdia because she is sun-kissed blessed by the sun goddess. Blond Hair and Light coloured eyes she is determined to show the people of Zirdia that she is a survivor when all they want to do is see her fail. Shyla is tasked by the Water Prince to find the lost Eyes of Tamburah which are rumoured to have magical powers and will give him ultimate control over Zirdia or her only friend and employer will be killed.

Maria has given us another strong independent female lead character! Shyla just wanted to make her way in the world but she is thrown into this race to find the stones for the evil overlord before her only friend is killed. the poor girl is beaten, threatened with death on multiple occasions, and betrayed more times then I can count … but she still keeps going! her character development throughout the book was fantastic. The way she starts to realize that she's only been seeing what she wants to see and not what's actually going on.

Im so glad there are no love triangles for a moment there I was afraid it was heading in that direction! but we steer clear from the dreaded love triangle. I loved the romance in this book , it wasn't forced , its not insta-love , its natural and so believable that as a fellow bookstagramer pointed out the relationship gives you Yelena and Valek vibes!!!

The villain's!! OMG I was actually afraid for Shyla and certain points! I usually don't really react that way because im mostly like " yeah they will be fine" but with this book I was like "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING .. BLOODY HELP HER!! "

The writing was amazing as usual, the world building was fantastic, there were so many twists and turns you don't know who you can trust!, who's good , who's bad and that ending holy crap!!!! that actually happened! this book had me hooked from page one I will be first in line to grab a physical copy to add to my shelves.
I CAN NOT WAIT FOR BOOK 2!!

This novel was fantastic. Maria V. Snyder is one of my favorite YA authors and there aren't many anymore that I enjoy.
I loved Shyla adventuring around and fighting all the intrigued.
I also enjoyed the mystery throughout the story. I'm usually quick on picking up plot twists or can guess, but I still didn't see a lot of the events coming.

I can definitely recommend this to anybody who loves a good YA fantasy-mystery adventure and I cannot wait for the next installment.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Thank you to Harlequin Australia and Netgallery for the opportunity to read an ARC of The Eyes Of Tamburah.

I did find it a little hard to get into but once I was there; I didn’t want to put it down.

To begin with, I found it a little hard to follow as I had no basis of reference for the time telling language. But once I figured out it was referring to time I was good.

This is a fantastic book. Like most of Maria’s works it is action packed and seems like everything is happening at once. Lol.

Also I loved the main character and her personality. She is strong willed and feisty.

I’ve enjoyed a lot of Maria Snyder’s other novels, so I was pretty excited to read this one. Our MC, Shyla, is an outcast in her underground city. She makes a living reading old maps for treasure hunters and living on one of the hotter, upper levels, close to the killing sun. When a priceless artefact goes missing, she and her employer are blamed, and adventures ensue.

Firstly, the world building in this novel is phenomenal. We’re introduced to a completely new world, with a killing midday sun and a whole eco system and civilisation built around that fact. There’s a lot of information to convey, but it never felt heavy handed. We learn quickly and seamlessly as the plot progresses.

And what a plot. Twists and turns and betrayals. A diverse cast of characters, action aplenty and so many possibilities for direction. The romance is secondary but very present, and feels very Snyder-y. Shyla is strong and capable and realistically shaped by her experiences.

All in all, an enjoyable fantasy YA, definitely recommended!

Instagram review to come once I can take some photos.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Harlequin Australia, HQ, MIRA and the author, Maria M Snyder, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Eyes of Tamburah in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
This book was a really good read and is a very promising start to a new series. I am excited to see where the story will take us.
The storyline was well thought out and written with intriguing characters. The scenery was descriptive. I felt like I was right there amongst the action.
Well worth a read.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

I really wanted to like this book. There were aspects, such as the setting and description of time which were so interesting. I loved the idea of cities underground and the surface of the world uninhabitable due to the extreme climate. It was a little to close to my fears for the future really.

But, there was something about this that didn't read smoothy, I'm really not sure why. While I was interested in the plot and what would happen, actually reading it felt like a slog. Shayla didn't quite feel like a fully fleshed out character and I couldn't really emphatically root for her.

Despite this, I would be interested to see where this story goes.

An exciting new series, that started with a bang!
Featuring Shyla, a "sun-kissed" outcast, living on the outskirts of the underground city of Zirdai, the book follows her plight when accused of stealing a priceless treasure.

The book wonderfully built the 'world' Shyla lives in, and Snyder has beautifully constructed a very in-depth plot for the most part, although I felt that the end of the book was a little weak for my taste. Big points for the book being rather descriptive, and having an AMAZING set of characters that I adored (or hated- depends on the character)!

Rating: 4/5

Another amazing start to what looks to be an epic series. Snyder has awesome world building skills which she definitely uses in this one. I will certainly keep on with the series. She's one of my fave authors!