captivating journey with great characters and a unique plot I felt like a lot of the verbiage was just crammed into the story for the sake of using the references to places, languages etc. I liked the book and would recommend it for anyone who likes historical fiction, but the extra information just dragged out each chapter.

Esta is an excellent story of two friends (Esta and Naiomi) and their lifelong paths during early Christian/Roman era. This novel could have gotten five stars but the plot and characterization are not fully developed but instead used as a backdrop for the author’s treastise of various philosophies and the depths of the meaning of what Christianity encompasses. Had the author not expounded and disbursed his views so much within the novel, reading its entirety would have been easier and much more enjoyable. Illustrations within the novel are superb. Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This lovely novel is the first book that I have read by Bryce Gibby so I can't say much about his other books but I will say that Esta is a wonderful book. Gibby did a tremendous job of providing images to give us an idea of what the character physically looked like. He also provided a detailed works cited page at the end of each chapter to explain where the information came from. Overall I was very impressed and I was happy I took the time to read it.
Our main character Esta grows up being the apple of her parents eyes. As a young girl she survives becoming a victim of drowning and afterwards it is discovered that she has a deep love for learning. Afterwards, her parents decide to invest money in tutoring because they believe that she is destined for great things.
When she is a teenager her parents are brutally murdered and her brother takes over the household. He is appalled at the amount of money his parents spent on tutors to educate a girl. Longing to get away from her brother and his horrible intentions she and her friends hop onto a ship and set sail for the adventure of a lifetime. From there she will rise to greatness.
I received an arc copy from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.