"In all my years, I have never been so bewitched. You are the brightest constellation in my sky, and I forever find myself searching for a way home, to you."
⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � I did it everyone; I finished this eARC before the publishing date! 541 pages later and here we are! I was pleasantly surprised as to how much I actually enjoyed this. This is a 3.5-star-rated book, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, which I'll get to in a little bit.
Tanwen Coslett is a Mütra, the daughter of a winged Volari father and a horned Süra mother. She lives in Cādra, where the rich Volari and their High Gods rule the skies and live decadent lives while the Süra and their Low Gods live on the earth and work for the Volari. Mütras are the result of a forbidden relationship, and if anyone finds out that she and her twin brother, Aberthol, are Mütra, they could be sentenced to death.
The Crown Prince of the Volari, Zoyla, has been raised to become a carbon copy of his father, the king. When he has orders to find a former Volari court engineer that's allegedly been disguised as a Mütra--aka Tanwen's father, Gabreel--he takes both her father and Aberthol as captive for the king to make him design a new mine for the Süra to work in. It's up to Tanwen to infiltrate the once place she said she would never go to rescue her family.
Scorched Skies was everything I've been looking for in a high/epic fantasy. Greek mythology-inspired? Check. Royal courts and political intrigue? Check. Headstrong FMC? Check. MMC who respects women? Check. Lovable side characters that care about Tanwen? Also check. Forbidden romance? Check, check, check.
In case you haven't figured out already from my version of the synopsis of the story, I want to emphasize that this is an epic/high fantasy. Sure, E.J. Mellow based this story off of the classic Icarus myth from Greek mythology, but you can tell that it was merely a baseline idea that the story was based on and a lot of the plot and worldbuilding were completely original, as with any typical high fantasy story. I was intimidated by the whole glossary of terms, a whole list of the High and Low Gods in the story, a map, and even pictures of what horns the Süra have based on what clan they're from. These were all found at the beginning of the eARC before the story even started!
With that being said, it was VERY difficult to get into at first. I found the beginning to be very slow and dry; admittedly, I almost DNF'ed the eARC but pushed through because I know that with any new fantasy series, you have to push through the worldbuilding to get to the action. For me, I didn't really feel like the plot picked up until around the 35-40% mark of the story, so you have to commit and push through the worldbuilding and exposition to get to the good parts. But holy crap, once I pushed through, I felt like I couldn't stop turning the pages. (Well, swiping them, since I was reading the eARC on my phone. You get the idea.)
E.J. Mellow did NOT hold back when it came to the character development with Tanwen and Zolya. Both, in their own ways, felt held back and were taught to do as they were told because society told them to. Tanwen was raised not to draw attention to herself because she could be exposed as a Mütra at any point while Zolya was raised to follow in his tyrannical father's footsteps. Both had to break their molds of obedience to make a change and take charge of their own fates: Tanwen infiltrating the Volari's society and lifestyles to rescue her family and Zolya breaking the mold to do what was best for his sister, Azla, and the sexist, oppressive, society his father created by silencing Volari women. There was a lot of good discussion about classism, racism, and sexism. all of which are rampant under Zolya and Azla's father's rule, and it was so interesting to see Zolya's character development throughout the story as he struggles with his cognitive dissonance to obey his father's wishes but also knowing that if he were king, that things would be totally different because he doesn't agree with his father's morals.
The only thing I have a critique on is Tanwen and Zolya's relationship. Sure, it's a forbidden romance, so if you like that trope, it's there! The only thing about it though is that there was no buildup to their relationship at all. Zolya's so busy with his royal duties while Tanwen is busy with the duties of her job and trying to figure out a plan to rescue her father and brother that they hardly have any meaningful interactions with each other that deepen and develop their relationship until about the halfway point of the book, which I feel like is way too far into the book for something like that to develop. Even with that, the relationship felt like it came out of nowhere. I can't go into that further without spoiling part of the plot, but all I'll say is that at no point did I go through a "giggling and kicking my feet in the air" phase where I was swooning over their interactions with each other. I actually stopped reading and went, "Huh?" before continuing because that's how out of left field it came.
The action-packed ending of the story came with so many twists and turns that it left me wanting more. Not only did E.J. Mellow keep her characters on their toes, but she kept ME on my toes as well! The book doesn't end on any major cliffhangers, but I have so many questions that I need answered. I'll be patiently waiting for the second book in the duology to come out! ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � ⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎｡ ⋆｡ ﾟ☀︎｡ ⋆｡ � Trigger warnings (provided by the author at the beginning of the eARC!): mature language, violence, sexual assault, substance use, death, animal cruelty, racism, classism, explicit sexual content, grief
"I spent so much energy worrying that I was behind, or that the world was moving on without me, or that having a passion would fix me, but I realized that I'm the only one who can fix me. No one else. Not a fancy job, not a passion, not you, and not even a therapist. Me. So I'm not waiting for some magical key to unlock my life anymore. I'm doing it myself."
⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆ Kim ⋆˚୨ৎ˚⋆
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