4 out of 5 stars
Review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley. Review was written in November of 2019 and may not reflect the final product. But I sure hope it does.
I know how it feels to lose everything. I know how it feels to be terrified and unsure. But I also know how it feels to be remade, to cloak yourself in steel and wash yourself in fire and refuse to be trampled. To stand and say ‘I am not what they make of me, but what I make of me.’
Enebish is the monster people use to scare children. She was once an elite warrior of the Empire, drawing on the darkness and stars with her Goddess-given powers to help expand their borders. But one unforgivable act – one lapse in control – and her powers make a monster of her. Disfigured and scarred from the horrific incident two years ago, Enebish is sequestered away in a distant monastery whiling away her punishment sneaking out of her rooms at night and training the King’s own falcon. And so her life goes, shunned by the monks tasked with her imprisonment and with only a heretical acolyte and the King’s falcon to call friends. Far from Enebish and beyond the monastery’s walls trouble is brewing in the Empire. Goha, Enebish’s sister and Right Hand of the King comes to her with a entente – capture the notorious rebel Temujin and her crimes will be forgive. People will no longer fear her and she can retake her place at her sister’s side. And all it will cost is one Rebel faction. Tracking down the charismatic rebel leader across the empire proves to be a worthy task for redemption, but coming face to face with the brutalities of war may be Enebish’s greatest challenge yet.
Nocturne Books 