Nehal is a waterweaver.  She can manipulate water in just about any manner she sees fit. But Nehal has had no training on how to (safely) use her ability.  Her biggest desire is to attend the new Weaving Academy which trains those with weaving abilities and then to use those talents by joining the newly formed all-female military company.

But Nehal’s parents have other plans for her.

Rather than sending her off to school, which is expensive, Nehal’s parents have arranged for her to be married into a wealthy family.  Her intended spouse, Nico, is just as uninterested in the marriage as Nehal – he has a long-time girlfriend that he wanted to marry, but her status wasn’t high enough for his parents. For Nehal, this works out perfectly … once married, her parents have no control over her. If Nico will allow Nehal to attend the Weaving Academy, she would allow him to have a concubine, his girlfriend Giorgina. Of course no one asks Giorgina how she feels about this.  Being a concubine lowers her status, which is already quite low. She loves Nico, but wants to be his wife, not just something he has on the side.

Giorgina also has a secret.  She, too, is a weaver, and earthweaver with incredible powers that she can’t always control. With no money and now no marriage prospects, she joins a radical group, The Daughters if Izdihar who are fighting for women’s rights. But in a clash between the Daughters of Izdihar and the local police, weaving abilities get out of control and now the Academy’s presence is in danger as well.

Nehal and Giorgina have much more in common than Nico and they will have to find a way to work together.

This was a really impressive fantasy.  I was greatly interested in this story right from the start.  Nehal, with her enthusiasm and gung-ho attitude really hooks the reader.  She also goes through the biggest personal change through the course of the book.  She takes a dark turn, when there is a clash between the local police and The Daughters of Izdihar and she knows that the police incited the riot just to place the blame on the women.

This is the first book in a duology and I’m very interested in reading the next volume.  There are so many pieces to this book – I don’t know how they can possibly be wrapped up in just one more book.

Nico is a bit of an enigma for me.  I feel like he definitely has a larger role to play than what we’ve seen so far. But of course the bigger story are the powers that Nehal and Giorgina wield.  Will they be able to control them?  How will the use them?

When I was grabbing the image of the book to place on the blog post, I noticed that some of the tags for this book are “LGBT,” “Lesbian,” and “Queer.” Honestly, I think someone looking for a book in one of these categories is going to be sorely disappointed.  Yes, there is A MOMENT when there is a little discussion about one (or more) of the characters’ sexual preference, but that moment comes probably 90% of the way through the book.  It almost feels tacked on to the book just to include the tags.  Maybe this will play a larger role in the next volume?  I don’t know, I don’t care, but the moment was so brief in the book that I wouldn’t have remembered it if I had seen these tags on Goodreads.

Looking for a good book? The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai is a delightful fantasy, probably for a mature YA readership, with characters who grow/change through the course of the story, with a nice balance of upbeat enthusiasm and a darker note.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

The Daughters of Izdigar

author: Hadeer Elsbai

series: The Alamaxa Duology #1

publisher: Harper Voyager

ISBN: 9780063114746 

hardcover, 384 pages

Penny Farthing was nearly dead when surgeon Calvin Warwick replaced her heart with a mechanical ‘Ticker’. With the brass heart, Penny became the first of the Augmented.

But Calvin is arrested and put on trial for mass murder when it is learned that many people died as he’s worked on them, trying to build an improved Ticker for Penny.

On the last day of the trial, the Farthing factory is bombed, Penny’s parents are missing and she and her brother (Nic) receive a ransom note … they must turn over all the Augmentation notes if they ever want to see their parents again. On e problem … they don’t know where that research is! Penny and Nic know they are in over their heads and recruit three family friends to help them find and deliver the Augmentation research and get their parents safely home.  And they have to do it before Penny’s Ticker runs down.

I am personally not a fan of steampunk – mostly because it often feels as though the ‘punk’ takes precedent in a story at the expense of character and plot.  That would be one of my biggest issues with this particular book.

The first chapter was rather exciting and I enjoyed the descriptions and the set-up. Penny Farthing was a fun, energetic character and I immediately thought that this was the kind of character that teen girls would identify with and enjoy reading about.

But the rest of the book didn’t improve on that opening. Rather than developing the characters, which were off to a great start, they stay pretty much the same as when we first met them, all the way through the book. There is also a lot of emphasis on the gadgets. This is always a tough balance … you want to create a fun, unique world and YA and Middle Grade books want a high CTPP (Cool Things Per Page) quotient, but not at the expense of a story.

Looking for a good book? Ticker, by Lisa Mantchen, starts off well but never picks up speed. Young readers being introduced to steampunk with this book may find it exciting.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

* * * * * *

Ticker

author: Lisa Mantchen

publisher: Skyscrape

ISBN: 1477825282

paperback, 273 pages