Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for giving me access to this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was beautiful, with vivid descriptions and feelings. I felt transported into the world and I felt connected with the characters. I look forward to more books from this author!

I could not get through this novel. Unfortunately, while the cover and the promised story line were intriguing; I had a hard time getting through the few chapters I read. There was too much telling for my tastes and the format seemed off. It had a lot of promise based on the blurb, but ultimately the writing style was too difficult to pull me into the story.

A rare jewel to be relished like precious fruit. You bite savoring the complexity of sweet, sour spicy & textures. This incredible tale is created around old ancient Armenian tomes & beliefs Before & perhaps the beginning of Turk invasions of the area from the far east. There ways & Deities were very similar to Yazidis & absolutely loved this & can't wait for more. The author pulls you effortlessly Into another world
filled with beauty & pain. Sheer poetry: "And the trees that
line the borders of the meadows never cease to captivate. Every vein on every
leaf is sacred. The wild pomegranates are the true treasures for me,
symbolizing life in a way foreigners rarely could envision. Every seed is a
child, a man, a mother. Each can grow into a new tree to provide even more
fruit with even more seeds.And the color! Princess, the color of a pomegranate
is impossible to forget.." Also the dakhanavar a holy terror created for protection the forerunner to vampires & golems. A must read to delight your senses

i really loved the plot of the book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going through the book. I look forward to more from the author and this series.

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book. All i can is WOW and where is the next book? I loved this story. The whole thing. It took a while to read but that was only because I am back to work full-time and did not have as much leisure time but i now wish i had taken a vacation day to finish this wonderful story. The details, the mythical storyline, top of the line story.

Judging by other reviews, it seems this book is connecting with a lot of people. But that wasn't me.

I was drawn to the cover, and the promise of a prophecy and all the drama surrounding that sort of quest. However, the first chapter was a torrent of expository dialogue (less than 5% not in quotations), and the pattern continued from there. In both narrative and dialogue, I was told about this prophecy, told about visions and sight and powers, told how this secret prince felt, but I didn't see it. Alas, very little imagery, and that left me feeling lost even as the narrative moved forward with interesting events and conversations.

http://<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49522119-rise-of-the-phoenix" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Rise of the Phoenix (A Tale of Hayara, #1)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563363061l/49522119._SX98_SY160_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49522119-rise-of-the-phoenix">Rise of the Phoenix</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19371343.T_Isajanyan">T. Isajanyan</a><br/> My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3131980127">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /> <b>Overall: 4.8</b><br /><br /><b>Cover: 5</b><br />Just gorgeous. Very adequate and in tune with the title.<br /><br /><b>Writing: 4</b><br />The author's prose is absolutely beautiful, if a bit too wordy at times. It includes very awesomely written dramatic as well as action scenes. It starts out slow, but picks up very well after a while. My only issue is that this wordiness sometimes filters through to the dialogues. At least for me, it's hard to imagine people talking the way her characters do sometimes, even in ancient times. <a class="jsShowSpoiler spoilerAction">(view spoiler)</a><span class="spoilerContainer" style="display: none">[For example:<br /><br /><i>"What is love, exactly?" She asked so timidly, he could barely suppress his mirth. <br /><br />"An unconditional giving of happiness, I presume. Perhaps it is more than that, but in the simplest description, I would say it is an individual's deepest desire to bring the one they hold so dear insurmountable joy."<br /><br />(Page 94).</i> <a class="jsHideSpoiler spoilerAction">(hide spoiler)</a>]</span><br /><br />Don't get me wrong; it's beautiful. But as I said before, I just can't imagine anyone <i>actually</i> talking like this. This is not an easy read at all. I would say a typical fantasy book would need around 600 pages to accommodate the word count in this 365-page. I almost put it down a few times but then I read some more and be like "whoa..." and decided to dig further in. <br /><br />The maps at the beginning make up for the lack of world building. The author focuses more on the lore and the customs of the region. Characters were a little confusing, mostly at first. <a class="jsShowSpoiler spoilerAction">(view spoiler)</a><span class="spoilerContainer" style="display: none">[For the life of me, I can't yet fully understand Hayadusta's reaction and consequent course of action in the face of her abduction, or Aris' acceptance of it for that matter; her family's baffled me even more. <a class="jsHideSpoiler spoilerAction">(hide spoiler)</a>]</span> But well, it <i>is</i> fantasy, and even in the real world, some people's actions are beyond my comprehension. But I digress.<br /><br />In short, I am glad I overcame the laziness and kept on reading, because the buildup paid off greatly in the end. I was thinking "I'm almost done and this doesn't seem to be going anywhere concrete... this better be good." Holy cliffhanger! I'm definitely looking forward to Book 2.<br /><br /><b>Editorial: 5</b><br />Perfect, as far as I can see. Kudos! <br/><br/> <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/38974141-michael-rhames">View all my reviews</a>