Synopsis:
A World Through Sapphire Eyes
Vason had to be the only person in The Hyris Empire who wanted nothing to do with discovering the chosen one. So of course there she was, standing before him in the moonlight.
Her amber eyes glowed unnaturally as shards of ice rose into the surrounding air, poised to strike. She had already killed the other watchers.
He could not get caught up in this. His sister—who was still lost in the Knoxen Slave Network—had to remain his priority. With the right resources finally at his disposal, all he had to do was to keep his head down. Yet, the woman before him was the only one who could save their people.
Her body was tensed like a frightened bird. He was the only one that stood in the way of her escape.
Dammit.
Disclaimer:
I received a review copy of A World Through Sapphire Eyes from the author in exchange for an honest review. Her kind gesture in providing me with the book was both greatly appreciated, and completely irrelevant to my review/rating of the book.
Edition:
ARC paperback
My Thoughts:
Right off the bat this book is going to dump you headfirst into a world that is semi-similar to reality (in that there are humans, but I’ll come back to them later), but also totally different. There the people of the Hyris Empire, among whom most of the story takes place, and there are Anayans. And there’s Keepers, and also humans. I’m going to try to break this down for you, but bear with me, because I’m not 100% sure that I completely get it.
So, the Keepers are described as “A people who can control the elements.”
Anayans are described based solely on physicality: “Those with pointed ears, tawny skin, and auburn hair.” But here’s where I start getting lost – there are both Anayan humans and Anayan keepers. So…humans with pointed ears are human? This might fit in with the lore that I wish this book had infinitely more of. Because to me, the physical identifier ‘pointed ears’ didn’t jibe with human. They’re presented in a way that makes me think they are separate races, so I’m a little lost. And are keepers also a separate race? So they just mix races? In which case the Hyris people aren’t a race of their own? I gathered from the ‘The People’ list at the beginning of the book that the Hyris Empire is not a specific ethnicity, but it doesn’t mention race.
I don’t know – I guess maybe it doesn’t matter all that much, but the explanation confuses me a bit, which really kind of took away from my enjoyment. Like, I just wish I knew what the hell was going on, you know? Especially since so much of the story hinges on the prejudice between the groups.
As far as the story itself goes, I was really struggling to get into it up until about the halfway point (this could have been because of the aforementioned confusion I was suffering from, but also because that first half throws a lot of fantastical words at you with little more than contextual clues to help you decipher, and the context didn’t always follow immediately, so I spent a good portion of that first part writing things down in my notes followed by “well, wtf is that?”).
Once I hit that second half though, the reading got a lot quicker and a lot more enjoyable.
I did receive notification from the author that some additional exposition has been added to the final version of A World Through Sapphire Eyes, as well as the addition of some character drawings (!!), chapter titles, and a glossary at the back, so with those additions, I feel this will be a much stronger book. This is her first published work, and it’s really pretty good – especially, as I mentioned, that second half.
About the Author:
(from her website)
“Fantasy, as a genre, gives me invaluable freedom. I can craft the tales I need to tell without the stigmas of everyday life.”
A British-Canadian nurse, writer and artist currently living in BC, Canada. All the art-from the cover, to the illustrations within the pages-are her own.
“If I’m not in a coffee shop—typing up a storm, you might find me at my local writers group, beta reading with a hot cup of tea, or perhaps I’m off travelling somewhere epic (if I’m lucky). The voices I bring to the paper draw from the distinct social settings in which I have lived, the many places I have travelled, and from my time in health care.”
Rating:
I wish the first half of the story had been as tight and interesting as the last half was. But even still, I recommend this if you’re into fantasy stories.
A World Through Sapphire Eyes By Marie Mackay Self Published Published: July 1, 2020 (Amazon lists 6/25, but 7/1 came from the author directly) Paperback, E-book 332 Pages Author's Website Instagram: @mariemackaybooks
