NetGalley Review: Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S Jae-Jones
Hey all, Sam here.
We are just a few days away from Gen Con…and David and I are trying to adjust to our work schedules…for this week and next week they are a little wonky because of our vacation as well as some co-worker vacations, but it’ll be okay. We’ll get through the next few days at work and then we’ll get four days straight of geeking out, which is always a fun time.
I will admit that it has made me feel a little bit of pressure to keep my blog posts and my blogging schedule consistent though. We’re on like a 180 day blog streak, and I like seeing that achievement notification pop up each day. And I’ve been able to mostly keep up with my NetGalley reads and reviews as well, even though there are some books I still haven’t been able to get to quite yet, and I have a pretty big backlog thanks to my nearly two year reading slump. Honestly, I already have my regular posts for August planned out and written up on a calendar. The only major changes will be adding in bonus posts if I sneak in some extra reads. And yet…it still doesn’t feel like I’m doing enough.
That’s the problem I’ve always seemed to have when it comes to my blogging journey. I know that I’m doing a lot and putting out a decent amount of content, but I still feel like I’m slacking, like I’m not reading enough or blogging enough or interacting enough…which is silly because I’m back to reading 20 books or so a month, and I’m blogging every day, and I interact with every comment I get (which is very few) and try to reach out to others content creators too. It all takes time, and there’s only so much time in a day. So I know that logically I do enough, but I can’t help the way I feel, and sadly I feel like I’m not achieving my potential.
Anyway, today I have another slightly early book review for all of you. I feel so grateful that I get early access to these books on NetGalley thanks to the publishers, and at least for now I’m mostly getting the reviews up around the release day, although I hope in future to be able to review books a couple weeks early. I just need to work myself up to that point (hopefully).
Don’t worry, there’s not long to wait for this book…it will be released on August 1st (in the US).
Let’s jump into the review.
My Thoughts
Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.
Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.
Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.
Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.
In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.
Rating: 4 stars
I have to say that declaring this book as Sailor Moon meets Cinder is a fairly accurate comparison. I definitely got the Sailor Scout vibe from the Guardians, especially since our protagonist Zhara has a cat companion. I don’t know exactly how accurate the Cinder comparison would be, aside from the elements that are Cinderella related. (Because yeah, I haven’t read the Lunar Chronicles).
Overall though, I fell into this story really quickly, and I found the writing and the descriptions to be really nice. What’s always interesting to me is the formality in the characters conversing with each other, and how they address each other. Just that one small element really shifts the tone and vibe of the story. It’s just a great cultural perspective.
There’s just something about being able to use the rules of propriety, the rules of formal addressing, to hide any wrong-doing done by some characters onto others. It makes the conversation have more layers and undertones that some readers would enjoy reading into. It adds more complexity to the characters, their relationships, and the plot/action of the story as well.
The magic system here was also interesting, although I would like to learn even more about it. What can I say? I like getting deep rich world-building in my fantasy reads.
Oh, and the characters…that was a fun time. I enjoyed that both Zhara and Han were adorably into reading light romance novels. It was so cute that Zhara would dissolve into “good looking giggles” at times when around someone she found to be attractive. I enjoyed that Han was a bit awkward and somewhat like a puppy…cute and fun, but maybe not the smartest of the litter (to continue the puppy metaphor). Then when you add Xu, Han’s friend and protector, and then Yuli, a tall warrior princess from another country…it becomes an interesting core group to follow.
This was my first book by S. Jae-Jones, and I read it fairly quickly. I might have to go back and snatch up some of the author’s previous books to check those out as well.
Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
