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A review by starrysteph
May A Divine Awaken by Michael Tinsley
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Wheww this one made me sweat!
Marcus is a young soldier with vitiligo – he’s left on his own after his adventurer parents go missing, his people mock him for his skin blemishes, and he’s just a norm in a world of Divines (superpowered humans). After a brutal attack on his village, Marcus feels survivor’s guilt and is ready for revenge. He soon learns that his skin may indicate huge power, and that the land he has been so loyal to might be planning something pretty terrible.
The world and lore were really unique & interesting, and the world-building felt natural. There’s a large cast of characters, but I never felt overwhelmed.
Marcus is definitely likeable and boy, does he go THROUGH IT! He learns a lot about himself, he’s starting to melt away his internal shame for his skin marks, and he’s slowly starting to form a circle of friends (and maybe romantic partners) that will actually have his back.
The plot is very fast-paced, and there’s a good central mystery with plenty of twists. There are a lot of battle scenes, and they’re messy!
My stumbles were mainly around the writing style and uneven pacing. Everything that happened was interesting to me, but the flow of the story felt stilted and sentences themselves were sometimes a bit unnatural and choppy. The switching of tenses was a little awkward (especially when it would go back and forth within one chapter) and sometimes information was repeated again and again.
As for the pacing, we’d spend pages and pages on small moments with a LOT of detail, and then battle scenes would fly by. Often, crucial things were left unresolved and the tension dissipated for me.
I’m curious to see where the gender segregated storyline will lead. Some of the language used to describe women was a little peculiar, so I’m hoping that all gets unpacked really well during the next book.
CW: death (parent/child), murder, violence, blood, gore, bullying, sexism, abandonment, torture, violence, war, genocide/mass murder
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(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail