Before
Mira Minkoba is the Hopebearer. Since the day she was born, she’s been told she’s special. Important. Perfect. She’s known across the Fallen Isles not just for her beauty, but for the Mira Treaty named after her, a peace agreement which united the seven islands against their enemies on the mainland.
But Mira has never felt as perfect as everyone says. She counts compulsively. She struggles with crippling anxiety. And she’s far too interested in dragons for a girl of her station.
After
Then Mira discovers an explosive secret that challenges everything she and the Treaty stand for. Betrayed by the very people she spent her life serving, Mira is sentenced to the Pit–the deadliest prison in the Fallen Isles. There, a cruel guard would do anything to discover the secret she would die to protect.
No longer beholden to those who betrayed her, Mira must learn to survive on her own and unearth the dark truths about the Fallen Isles–and herself–before her very world begins to collapse.
Oh no, Jodi Meadows. Why oh why do you insist on doing this to me.
An author as renowned in the YA market as you, and you insist on writing and publishing a book that - in my opinion - is a step back for inclusivity in YA.
I am not a black woman. I have no right to comment on how this book may represent black women in a way either positive or negative. I am, however, someone who has suffered with mental health issues for as long as I can remember and I do not feel that this was well represented in this book.
Mira has panic attacks... then her anxiety is not mentioned again for a while. Then she suddenly has an obsession with 'counting', but then this isn't really elaborated in. What is Mira's 'thing', Meadows, because I am seriously not sure who she even was.
This book is about a character who goes through lots of bad things, and whilst we are meant to see he grow throughout, the only time I saw this growth was right at the end of the book... and as awful as it is for me to say, by this point it was almost too late for redemption.
If there is one pro for this book, it's that the writing is gorgeous. No question that Jodi Meadows is a brilliant author, she just tried too hard with Before She Ignites, I think... I think maybe she just sort of lost direction.
Book released 12th September 2017 by Katherine Tegan
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review
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