Jetta’s family is famed as the most talented troupe of shadow players in the land. With Jetta behind the scrim, their puppets seem to move without string or stick—a trade secret, they say. In truth, Jetta can see the souls of the recently departed and bind them to the puppets with her blood. But the old ways are forbidden ever since the colonial army conquered their country, so Jetta must never show, never tell. Her skill and fame are her family’s way to earn a spot aboard the royal ship to Aquitan, where shadow plays are the latest rage, and where rumor has it the Mad King has a spring that cures his ills. Because seeing spirits is not the only thing that plagues Jetta. But as rebellion seethes and as Jetta meets a young smuggler, she will face truths and decisions that she never imagined—and safety will never seem so far away.
If For a Muse of Fire had been 60 or so pages shorter it would have been the perfect book for me. heck, even at a whopping length of over 500 pages it was still immensely good, I just felt like this book felt a little longwinded and the pacing was a little... awkward.
What makes this book so good is the fact that there was no infodump, the world building was so natural. I was a little frustrated sometimes that the answers to my questions never came fast enough but they did come. The world was so interesting, a mixture of far eastern and french colonialism, magic and necromancy mixed in with war and racial tension. It was pulled off so well as well.
There were so many things that made this book special, but without a doubt Jetta's magic and powers and the shadow puppetry was a highlight for me.
I'm not really going to cover a whole lot on the mental illness side of things. All I will say is that it was very subtle, and it was never explicitly stated only implied. I found that so well done, I don't feel qualified to say much more about how authentically it was portrayed.
Overall, For a Muse of Fire was a well written, well developed novel that really gripped me. I do feel like it was too slow in places and definitely too long and it won't be many people's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it.
Book released 25th September 2018 by Greenwillow Books
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review
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