Empress Unveiled by Jenna Morland
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5-stars
Empress Unveiled is a debut YA fantasy novel by Jenna Morland. This is the start to a new series and with that ending…I can’t wait to get the next one! This book was highly addictive. I am not sure what it was about it. When I wasn’t reading it, I was kind of wishing I was…but I was confused about it…I couldn’t put my finger on what exactly was drawing me in.
Morland’s writing style does have a nice flow to it. It was a quick read that set the stage well for a continuation of the series. It left off on quite the cliffhanger actually. I would say as fantasy books go, this is a good beginner fantasy. Please note, that is not shade.
Fantasy is a genre, that to me, can be broken up into different levels: beginner, intermediate and high or advanced. Let’s clear something up, I am OLD. I have been reading fantasy for over 25 years and read a lot of epic fantasy and high fantasy – that is why I am calling this beginner. The concepts were very easy to understand and therefore accessible to younger readers or people who may want to try fantasy but are intimidated by complex magic systems, political systems, etc.
This story follows, Swazyi, a high school girl in ‘our world’ Alaska. When a portal to another world opens, that’s where the magic comes from. The portal leads to the world of Empress, home to many mythical/magical creatures and peoples that we all know and love, such as fae, vampires, witches, werewolves, etc. I think portal fantasy is a good way to introduce magic or magical concepts into an otherwise normal world and in fact, it is quite frequently used.
This story is heavy on your standard YA tropes as well. Most notably: instalove, angsty love triangle and the ‘chosen one’ trope. If any of these is not your bag you may not enjoy this as much. The love triangle was my least favorite aspect of the story but 16-year old me probably would have loved it. There are tropes for everyone, it’s all about finding the right books to tickle your fancy! I had a couple of other small, personal taste, things that weren’t quite for me but as mentioned earlier, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and that’s not a bad thing!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Oftomes Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. I always appreciate the opportunity to read a book early and provide my thoughts. For a debut book, this is solid. I had a lot of fun with it and look forward to continuing with the series. Jenna Morland should be proud of her efforts and I look forward to watching her develop as a writer! The sky is the limit…unless you find a portal to another world in the sky…then there is no limit!
Previously: So happy to finally be starting this new YA fantasy! Also happy I get to marvel at the beauty of this cover every day whilst doing so… I mean, look at it!!! 😍😍😍