“Weysh reveled in the warm air currents gliding across his wings. Yenni was perched firmly on his back, her presence a comforting heaviness. The clean, sweet spice of her teased his nostrils from time to time. He loved how she smelled: new but familiar, like a long-lost relative. Something had happened between him and her as a man, a physical contact of some kind. He didn’t completely understand why it made his man-mind so jubilant. All he knew was in that moment, his dragon hear was swollen with contentment. As long as Yenni was near, he was happy. “
-Given, by Nandi Taylor
This book was suggested by me from a friend on twitter as it was going to be published on the 21 January by Wattpad Books so I hurried to read in on Wattpad to be able to give a review and I enjoyed this Young Adult book. It is categorized as YA fantasy but I would say that it leans more towards romance though it is set in a fantasy world and some parts do focus on the well-developed magic system but overall the plot is focused on the romance with the fantasy plot in the background.
The story starts by introducing our strong female lead Yenni-Ajani-Femi, Ka Yirba. A princess from the Moonrise Isles, a nation heavily influenced by African culture. Their tribe the Yirba faces calamity as their king, Yenni’s father becomes ill and Yenni travels to the Creshen Empire to study at Prevan Academy for Battle and Magical Arts in hope of finding a cure. There she meets the rude dragonshifter Weysh who after a look finds out that Yenni is his Given. His soulmate, chosen by god. There is just one slight problem. She does not want him.
The story has several themes to spice the plot up such as Yenni facing racism while delivering some herself, and the crash of two vastly different cultures. The problem with these two though is that they are very shallowly displayed. The writer seems to touch on them but do not want to dive deeper into the subject. Maybe she felt that it was outside her expertise or maybe it was never meant to be a large part of the plot but it was one of the most interesting plot development and since the two main characters were from the two different cultures, you could have easily shown the perspective of the two cultures. One wants to stay secluded and holds their tradition close to heart because it’s necessary for their survival as the tribe constantly tries to wage war against each other. While the other believe that knowledge should be shared so everyone can prosper even if this means to steal the knowledge from those who do not feel the same. A perspective only achieved by a large Empire.
Another thing I noticed is that there is a lot of telling that does not match what is shown. For example, Yenni is said to be a fierce warrior, a runemaster but is bad with Creshen magic. Two strengths and one weakness. Seems fine. Then when the arrogant teacher of magic tells her to cast a spell she has never heard of, creating a light, she does it but it is vague. Doesn’t really matter, does it? She cast it. That was the purpose, right? Then she cast it again in anger and it lit up to strong. The magic teacher tells her she has failed because she blinded them. The test was, create a light, how did she fail? If it had been centered around racism and he failed her only because of spite, I would understand. But then it is claimed that she failed and it did not convince me of how she failed.
The consistency of her power is also a bit shaky. Sometimes she fights of men and women alike, other times she falls only to have Weysh save the day. It is apparent to me it was done because of the plot and not because she was overpowered.
Either way, I did like the characters. Yenni is proud, strong if a bit too headstrong and refuses to ask for help when needed which always gets her in trouble. If I would nitpick her character, I would say that the writer was a bit too lenient with her flaws. Yenni is almost perfect both in personality and abilities making her a tad too much of a good person for it to seem unnatural. This is not something I was bothered by but I could see others being bothered by it but it makes a big contrast to her love interest.
Weysh has so many flaws that it might be harder to find what’s good. I like a flawed character but it did stick out like a sore thumb against the female lead when he is so full of flaws making her seem flawless. He is rude, stubborn, arrogant, selfish and a bit broken because of a turbulent past. He pretty much insults everyone in the book because of his ignorance which most likely will deter some from liking his character.
They work off each other well enough and frankly, it’s a hilarious story which made me laugh several times as the dialog in many cases was on point. The simple modern style made it easy to follow and will please the younger generation but might be disliked by the traditionalists among the readers.
Overall, I think this is a charming story if a bit shallow that will entertain you for a couple of hours. It has plenty of recognizable tropes though such as a strong female lead who is a princess, the concept of mates often showing up in shifter stories and a girl finding a cure for an illness. I liked the concept of mixing African culture with Western fantasy but I do think that the writer is more experienced with Western fantasy as the African one was a bit lacking such as Runes being a Scandinavian writing system while there are similar African ones that would have sufficed. Such as the Ge’ez scrip called Abjad. It also was quick enough to transfer the plot to the Western-inspired Empire which removing almost all traces of the African one. I did read that the second book might remedy that but I did think I should mention it.
Either way, I would give it a 7 out of 10. It is an enjoyable, easy read. It might not be one for the history books but I don’t think it was meant to rival that of Tolkien or Game of Thrones. It was meant to entertain and it did so for me. I would recommend it for younger people at the age of 13+ who wants a light-hearted Fantasy romance to read.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
Read with Senefer 