Title: Wings of Ebony (#1) Author: J. Elle
Published by: Denene Millner Books
Released: 2021
Source: Electronic Review Copy from Netgalley / Physical Copy from Library
Synopsis: “Make a way out of no
way” is just the way of life for Rue. But when her mother is shot dead
on her doorstep, life for her and her younger sister changes forever.
Rue's taken from her neighborhood by the father she never knew, forced
to leave her little sister behind, and whisked away to Ghizon—a hidden
island of magic wielders.
Rue is the only half-god, half-human
there, where leaders protect their magical powers at all costs and
thrive on human suffering. Miserable and desperate to see her sister on
the anniversary of their mother’s death, Rue breaks Ghizon’s sacred Do
Not Leave Law and returns to Houston, only to discover that Black kids
are being forced into crime and violence. And her sister, Tasha, is in
danger of falling sway to the very forces that claimed their mother’s
life.
Worse still, evidence mounts that the evil plaguing East
Row is the same one that lurks in Ghizon—an evil that will stop at
nothing until it has stolen everything from her and everyone she loves.
Rue must embrace her true identity and wield the full magnitude of her
ancestors’ power to save her neighborhood before the gods burn it to the
ground. (Synopsis from Goodreads)
My Thoughts: I received a free electronic copy for honest review from the publisher. Thanks so much to them for letting me read it. I read a physical copy through my library.
I didn't really like this. I feel a little bad, because I wanted to like this, but I just didn't really have a fun time.
One of my big problems was the order in which the story was told. The synopsis has the way the story should have played out, in my opinion. We meet up with Rue, her mother is murdered, she meets a father she's never known, she learns she's half-magic, she's whisked off to her father's world of Ghizon, and then the rest of the plot continues. That makes sense to me. That would have made for a more enjoyable story. Instead, we begin a year after everything has happened with Rue sneaking back to her old neighborhood to secretly check in with her sister. Rue is given rules that she's not to let her sister know she's there, and she can't touch her sister or the secret of Ghizon will be revealed to her, which would put her in danger. Rue proceeds to not follow any of these rules and then everybody's in trouble.
We never really got to know any of the ins and outs of Ghizon because there wasn't really any world-building there.
I didn't really enjoy Rue. She's very impulsive, which causes a lot of problems in this book. She can also be a little useless. She thinks her way is the only way. She's not very nice to the people that are trying to help her. She definitely doesn't give her father a chance. It seems like the whole year she was in Ghizon, she skipped all her classes and just listened to her earbuds all the time. I just wasn't that impressed with her.
She was unfair to her friend Bri, who spent the whole book just trying to help her.
It does have a fast-paced plot that was interesting to follow.
There's an evil Chancellor guy. There's secrets when it comes to Ghizon.
I didn't really, fully understand everything about the magic, because it wasn't explained. It was just kind of there.
I don't know if there's supposed to be a love triangle thing happening in this. It was rushed.
The ending was pretty abrupt. It just felt like a set up for the next book.
This book had some cool ideas, I just didn't like how it was executed. I wanted to like this more than I actually did.
BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5
ehh
