In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
In a Garden Burning Gold is Rory Power’s Adult Fantasy debut and I would argue she has brought her own unique stamp to that space. We love to see it.
There’s no denying that Power has a wickedly delightful imagination and a beautiful style of writing. Additionally, in the YA space, I’ve loved her body horror and vivid imagery.
In a Garden Burning Gold is a complex story following twins, Rhea and Lexos. The twins are gifted with special powers and use those to help their father rule their small country.
The twins have two other siblings, Chrysanthi and Nitsos. These children also have unique talents of their own, but they’re not close to as powerful as Rhea and Lexos. Therefore they are but a footnote in their father’s eye.
Rhea controls the changing of the seasons, but in order to do so she must select a consort and ultimately end their life in order to switch from one season to the next. That’s a heavy assignment, as you can imagine.
Lexos controls the stars and tides. Together, Rhea and Lexos have always been each other’s main allies, but what happens when they are no longer on the same side?
As I mentioned above, this is a complex story. The world-building takes up a lot of time and I still don’t feel like I understand everything that was involved in all of the political maneuverings.
Lexos and Rhea are in separates places throughout most of the story and they are both interacting with numerous side characters. I had a difficult time keeping any of these characters straight.
Honestly, I was barely holding it together for the first 75% of the book. Around that point there’s a shocking twist that dropped me back in and didn’t let up.
Prior to that point however, it was just okay for me. It was pretty writing, I could see that it was a good story, but I personally didn’t feel connected. The point behind it all felt very elusive to me.
Fortunately, the experience really amped up towards the end. There were some startling revelations that I would love to explore further. Therefore, I will absolutely pick up the next book when it releases.
So, even though it may seem like I was underwhelmed by this, I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that. I think this is a solid start to a very complicated story. Power is a gifted writer and I trust that she is going to up the stakes even further in the next book.
Overall, I would recommend this to Fantasy Readers who enjoy lush world-building, slow burn, political and familial drama based stories. I know that even though this one didn’t capture me from the very start, that there are a lot of Readers out there who will be engaged with it from the very first chapter.
Thank you to the publisher, Del Rey Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to the sequel!