"Guardians of Dawn: Zhara" by S. Jae-Jones is an incredibly fun fantasy retelling of Cinderella, with a four horseman spin. The story crafts a landscape of a beautiful Asian city where we follow our main characters, Zhara, an orphan, Suzhan, Zhara's blind half-sister, Han, the crown prince, and Xu, Han's best friend and child of the ruling regent. Very loosely following the tale of Cinderella, we follow our characters as they try to fight for magic equality and for the very lives of their closest friends and family. This story offers representation on many parts of the LGBTQ spectrum and disability representation. Zhara starts off as a meek character, riddled with gratitude to her stepmother who she believes is doing what is best for her, despite the constant verbal abuse and manipulation she is being dealt. As Zhara starts to break away from her step mother, she evolves as a character, but the story still offers insight into the trauma she is recovering from due to the step mother's emotional abuse. The story has great plot and character arcs for everyone involved and I found it quite refreshing. Also, the vocabulary used in the novel was great for teen readers, offering familiar words as well as incorporating words that will continue to help better their vocabulary, which I think often gets lost in YA and Adult books. Over all, I had an incredible time reading this book and was feeling feelings akin to those I felt when reading "Cinder" by Marissa Meyer.

I absolutely love S. Jae-Jones' books. I was absolutely swept away by Guardians of Dawn: Zhara! Jae-Jones wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were.

The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story.

This book was okay, I wouldn’t say anything special. I loved the idea of it, and the magical mystery fantasy element it imbued. However, i feel for me, there were a bit too many characters, which meant attempting to keep track of everyone was really difficult. It also meant there wasn’t really time to flesh all the characters out enough, so i don't feel we got enough of who they were, or why they behaved the way they did. While i loved the world itself, the worldbuilding at the start took quite a while to fit in, so i really struggled with what felt like a quarter of the book before anything really happened.
There is a large variety of rep here, which i liked, and i enjoyed the authors use of ‘they/them’ pronouns through out as well. However i just feel this missed a mark a little. I think it tried to be too many other things and not its own unique piece.

If I'm honest, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. The cover is beautiful, but only gave me vague "magic feelings." However, it only took 25 pages or so for me to be completely hooked - and that never let up until the final lines. Unlike many fantasy books, where the plot twists do not take me by surprise, I can genuinely say I did not see the twists coming in this book. The storyline is the true shining star of this story. In my opinion, the characters served as worthy vehicles to move this story forward; because I was so engrossed by the story, I was not as absorbed in evaluating the characters themselves or their development.

I also very much appreciated the use of "they" pronouns until the individuals gender themselves. I know the author did so as a homage to the Korean language, but I also think it's an excellent move for society in general. I was curious to see if I would find it distracting; instead, I hardly noticed it since I was more captivated by the storyline.

Unlike many of the other negative reviews, the "Sailor Moon" comparison meant nothing to me because I've never seen/read (?) it. However, I would urge the publishers to consider whether they're using the Sailor Moon reference simply as a generic reference to something Asian - in which case, that's really a terrible choice.

I'd like to express my gratitude to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with this digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts. My reviews have been posted on Goodreads and Storygraph. I plan to post on IG on release day, but can post ahead of time if desired. Links are below.

I was intrigued by the tag lines but figured out this wasn’t meant for me when the main character fought off the Good Looking Giggles for the third time in one chapter. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC

Sailor Moon + Cinder. I loved the world building and felt it was done right. Not huge info dumps, no huge gaps leaving you wondering how it all works. It is a bit slow paced, so you have to be okay with a developing story versus all action .

Zoomed through this fantasy (series? duology?) novel and enjoyed all the Sailor Moon nods (I believe this comparison is in the description). Found all the characters delightful and fun to follow. Excited for the follow-up!

Within pages, the pieces of Cinder are obvious. Very YA, doesn't have much adult crossover so not the perfect fit for our libraries. I stopped at 6% but I imagine it will go over well with the target demographic.

The cover is lovely. It immediately threw me to "Magic Steeped in Poison."

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

One of my most anticipated reads, the synopsis, Sailor Moon meets Cinder? Say less, I am all for it, and the cover? the COVERRRRRR is so beautiful!
Sadly as I read through the book I found it hard for me to connect and engage with the characters and the storyline. Some of the characters I could not stand and found them to be immature, so much so that it lessened my enjoyment of the novel. It also took me a long while to read as I could not deal with the characters and engage with the story. For these reasons I am sad to say that my rating is a 2.5 - 2.75 stars.

This was a fun story! I fully enjoyed the setting and descriptions. The magic system was intriguing as well, and I did want more of Zhara learning to control her magic. Suzhan was so interesting and I loved watching her story unfold and I hope we see her again. Sweet Han! Thick muscles and good looks and so kind and caring. The fact that everyone kept remarking on his intelligence drove me a bit crazy. Boy must have a complex. The threat of the Mother of Demons seemed less pressing than it should have. I can’t wait to meet the other Guardians of Dawn in future volumes.

Oh my god! This was absolutely a blast. I know, I know that sounds cliche. It sounds like I’m just hyping up another book. But please give this one a shot if you haven’t already. The vibes were immaculate!

It felt like sailor moon and a ghibli movie all in one. The characters felt like magical girls in anime. I don’t know if there’s another book but I know I need one ASAP.

Honestly I think this book would go over a lot better if it was aimed at a younger YA or older middle grade audience. The writing style and characters seem pretty young (maybe it's just because I associate YA with dark angst now). I wasn't sure about the Sailor Moon comparison at first but I could see where it was coming from by the time I finished, although I think ATLA is much better comparison because of the four elements.

I think the strength of this book lies in the plot and worldbuilding. The author has created a very intricate and vivid setting that was a lot of fun to read about, like the culture of serial novels. There's a lot of infodump at the beginning though and I really wish there was a map. The mythology was also very interesting and the plot, though slow in the beginning, really does pick up in part 2 and becomes very engaging from then on, although the ending feels a bit rushed and wrapped up too neatly (for instance there was an important character whose parent died and their reaction to that isn't described). There's also a lot of good representation like a potential WLW couple and a nonbinary character.

The characters aren't as engaging but still fun enough. Zhara is your typical teenage girl heroine who's insecure and unsure of herself (which also causes her to be kind of slow on the uptake), but she also giggles when she sees good-looking people and it's kinda annoying ngl. and Han is a kindhearted himbo who feels like a bit of a punching bag for the other characters sometimes. Their romance feels more like a middle school crush, but I honestly prefer that to the usual "destined lovers" stuff popular nowadays.

All in all I did enjoy reading this book a lot. I want to know what happens next and I'll probably get a copy of the book when it comes out. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a lighthearted fantasy with Asian influences.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC!
I loved the idea of this novel. However, it fell flat to me. The characters seemed downright unintelligent. Han was supposed to be a fun-loving and light character like Mushu in Mulan, but he was too much and annoyed me most of the time. I hated his character. I wanted to learn more about the magic system, but it wasn't discussed nearly enough, and if I heard "good-looking giggles" one more time, I was going to lose it. Xu was my favorite and seemed the most complex. I continuously got characters confused due to their one-dimensional nature, and the final battle was confusing and rushed.

Overall, I appreciate the intention of the book. With more editing and fleshing out of the characters and plot, it could easily change my mind.

This book was a lot of fun! I was originally interested because of the inspiration from Sailor Moon and Cinderella, and my growing need for more Asian inspired fantasies made me pick this up.

What worked well: the imagery was very vivid and the story is fast paced. There is a deadline to get to and the plot constantly moves towards it. Our main character is slightly goofy but is fiercely loyal to her little sister, and I can definitely see the Sailor Moon inspiration. The love interest had his own storyline and motivations to be involved in the story as well, and his imperfections made him all the more real.

What I struggled with: mostly the magic system and keeping track of the multiple characters. I never really got a clear view of how the magic worked or what powers was happening, and as such it made it harder to read at a constant pace. As such, I ended up putting down the book a lot because it felt too stressful to keep my attention.

Even so, I would still be interested in the next installments in this series. 3.5 stars for me!

I was so charmed by this and NOT ONLY because of the magic cat but magic cats do, of course, help. Logging onto GoodReads and seeing the author's note about the circumstances of writing it during the pando and wanting something more simple and joyful (hence the Sailor Moon comp) and I get it. This book is super tropey and the characters are often adorably clueless. It reads like pretty young YA and we need that!! And we need more magic cats!!

4/5 Stars

General description: Zhara's world has always been a trial where she has no control. Her father was taken from her since he was a magician and her wicked stepmother saved her from the same cruel fate. She accidentally blinded her sister. She's the only one that seems to work to provide for the family. However, Zhara is having a harder time keeping her magic under wraps, especially once abominations (magicians turned into evil creatures). Luckily, she isn't alone. Han (the royal heir) wants to escape his palace life and bumps into Zhara one day. He doesn't reveal his identity, but does work by her side. Those two and a cast of other loveable character have to work together to keep their city safe from the abominations, but little do they know, a greater evil is lurking and only time will tell if they're able to protect themselves.

The good
- I loved the diversity.
- I really enjoyed how much the author put themselves into the book. While this was high fantasy, it felt very personable.
- The action was fantastic.
- The world building was impeccable. I would love to visit this world.

The loss of a star
- While the world building was great, the lore just kept going and going and going. I wanted just a bit to digest the information but more and more kept coming. It got a bit overwhelming at the beginning and even the end, when MORE new lore is introduced.

Overall: If you're looking for a unique new high fantasy, you NEED to pick this up and anxiously wait with me for the next one lol.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I liked the cinderella elements and like the description said, the book had sailor mood vibes. I loved Zhara and Han, they were so cute together!

I will forever be sucked into a book with a beautiful cover!

Y'all, I really enjoyed this one. Here's what had me talking my fiance's ear off ⬇️

Things I loved:

🌸 Look at this COVER 😍
🌸 An unexpected Cinderella retelling. I really enjoyed the close bond between Zhara and her stepsister. I thought that was a very clever change.
🌸 S. Jae-Jones intentional use of pronouns like they/them to reflect the East Asian background of this tale, where there is no gendered 3rd person pronoun. She does an excellent job of detailing this thought process before the story itself.
🌸 LGBTQIA+ rep that is so stinking cute. If I do not get future stories that feature some of these queer baby side characters I will be so upset!
🌸 The magical premise of this story is very cool! Magicians turning into monsters?? Excellent. As someone who reads a lot of fantasy, it was nice to see a universe that wasn't a carbon copy of the fae worlds we almost always see.
🌸 The twist (no spoilers) of one of our side characters becoming not such a side character indeed 😉
🌸 The pure, unadulterated love of romance novels by both our MC and the prince had me in giggles. Yes to a prince that reads dramatic romance.

What I wished were different:

😢 There were a lot of plot holes in this one. A lot of times our MC gets into some sticky situations and then magically (no pun intended) gets out of them. I kept scrolling back to see if I missed something.
😢 The prince is an idiot...and he's supposed to be an idiot but it really bothered me throughout the story. He doesn't seem to grow at all and I don't believe in their love story.
😢 There was a giant buildup to the ending and I was left unsatisfied. I wanted so much more, especially from Zhara and her other magical friends. I again felt like the MC got out of the situation way too easily.

All of this being said, I think if this book was 50 pages longer to flesh out these details, it would have bumped it a star rating for me. The world building was really well done and I do love this quirky cast of characters.

Zhara is the first book in the Guardians of Dawn series featuring a Sailor Moon meets Cinder vibe. In this first installment Jin Zhara lives in a land where the magic she harbors is forbidden. There’s also the threat of the magic turning her into an abomination - which is threatening the lives of all magicians in Zanhei. Can Jin Zhara get to the root of the demon rumors and restore harmony to her world?
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Jae-Jones created a richly layered and descriptive world for the characters to reside. I really enjoyed the thought put into both the magic system and the locations. I loved many of the characters individually — Zhara, Han, Xu, Yulana, and Jiyi. Zhara was such a sweet soul grappling with her magic and the challenges brought forth from living with her stepmother. Han is an innocent cinnamon roll that needs to be protected. His character was written incredibly differently from most MMC and was a refreshing change. Xu, I loved the sass of their character and how they owned who they are. Yulana was such a breath of fresh air — she was a fierce fighter but had a mind her own rather than blindly following her family’s views. Jiyi is just a fun character. The writing style itself was a little difficult for me to get into at the start of the story. For me, it made it hard to get into the overall plot at times. While I loved individual elements of the story, it took until the second half for it to flow smoothly in my opinion. I do need to mention the cover. I love the cover art for this book. It’s simply gorgeous and immediately drew my attention.

DNF at 26%.

i was really excited to dove into another ya fantasy but that’s not what this book is.

the main characters in the book are both 17 years old yet they act much younger making this book seem more middle grade. i personally struggle to comprehend how the fmc who gets uncontrollable giggles whenever she sees someone good looking is able to awaken the power within her and probably save the world.

additionally, this book was very slow paced things only started happening about 25% into the book. for a ya fantasy i expected much more action from the beginning. while there was no action, there should have been scenes to get me invested in the main characters but honestly i felt so detached from this story i did not care what happened to them.

lastly, there was a reference to a K-pop group which would have been fine in a contemporary book but this is supposed to be a fantasy world away from our current world, it just didn’t make sense to me.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.