Title: Nemesis
Genre: Fantasy/High Fantasy YA
Author: Anna Banks
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Publication: October 4th 2016
Cover Rating: 5/5
I wanted to read Nemesis because I have been interested in Anna Banks's writing for a while but I have this extreme aversion to water/mermaid/under the sea books so I was super excite when I heard this was coming out. Then I saw the cover reveal and I was SOLD!
Princess Sepora has a gift. A gift her father locks her away and uses to get himself rich. Having that as the main plot line give the book a sort of Rumpelstiltskin type vibe. So Sepora gets tired of her dads crap and leaves. This causes a lot of chaos in all of the kingdoms that rely on the Spectorium(a type or metal/ore) she can make. It seems like a pretty weird gift to have, but, hey, I wish I could spew shiny rainbow goo from my sweat glands. I would build a house from that stuff! It sounds so pretty and the fact that the author even came up with this idea is very unique and ingenious.
Then we have "Prince" Tarik. He is a very odd character. He is supposed to lead his kingdom but he has different views on the world than most royalty would have. This makes him both the same AND different than most other princes I have read about. A lot of the male royalty I have come across in YA books are normally brutal or harsh on the outside but are hiding their true selves on the inside. Tarik is not harsh and he shows his kindness, or weakness depending on your point of view, everyday. He doesn't hide who he is and that is pretty admirable.
So, the two of them play pretty crucial roles in the life and death of Tarik's people. There is an illness going around and it is killing people. One of the Lyceum(their form of doctor or medicine man) came forward to meet with Tarik about a cure. Has this person came and tried to talk to Tarik's father he probably would have been killed or whipped for even suggesting such things. But Tarik listened and was willing to see what Cy has to say. Sadly, the cured involved something that nobody had anymore. But Tarik didn't let that stop him. He sent people to each kingdom trying to procure the item that was needed to cure his people. But... Would needing something THIS BAD mean that Tarik would be willing to give up anything to get it? Or would it start a war? Hmmm.
I am one of those people where I can read a book and it will start playing out as a movie in my head. I have this thing so badly that sometimes I will be out or at work and I will think "OMG I can't wait to go home and watch more of this move" even though it is a book. So this book did that to me. There was a character in the beginning of the book, his name was Chut, then ENTIRE time I was reading about him I couldn't help but to picture him as Ralph from Wreck-it-Ralph. It was the most vividly I had ever pictured a character before and that added a little bit of humor to the overall crappy situation that Chut's character was involved in. I was also sort of picturing the two main characters as Aladdin and Jasmine except reversed because the prince had the cat and the girl was that "street-rat".
This is a rather short review for a few reasons but the main one being that I don't want to give away ANY spoilers. But I will say that if you are a fan of An Ember in the Ashes then check this out. This book contains more fantastical stuff that AEitA, though. There are magical elements, and this book is overall higher fantasy, but I feel like the two main characters of this book fit well with the main characters from AEitA.
Sadly, for me, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I was hoping but I feel like that was ENTIRELY due to the fact that I read another very big, high fantasy book right before I got to this one. BUT I will be continuing on with the series and will reread this book before the second one comes out.
Overall, I gave the book 4/5 stars.
Princess Sepora has a gift. A gift her father locks her away and uses to get himself rich. Having that as the main plot line give the book a sort of Rumpelstiltskin type vibe. So Sepora gets tired of her dads crap and leaves. This causes a lot of chaos in all of the kingdoms that rely on the Spectorium(a type or metal/ore) she can make. It seems like a pretty weird gift to have, but, hey, I wish I could spew shiny rainbow goo from my sweat glands. I would build a house from that stuff! It sounds so pretty and the fact that the author even came up with this idea is very unique and ingenious.
Then we have "Prince" Tarik. He is a very odd character. He is supposed to lead his kingdom but he has different views on the world than most royalty would have. This makes him both the same AND different than most other princes I have read about. A lot of the male royalty I have come across in YA books are normally brutal or harsh on the outside but are hiding their true selves on the inside. Tarik is not harsh and he shows his kindness, or weakness depending on your point of view, everyday. He doesn't hide who he is and that is pretty admirable.
So, the two of them play pretty crucial roles in the life and death of Tarik's people. There is an illness going around and it is killing people. One of the Lyceum(their form of doctor or medicine man) came forward to meet with Tarik about a cure. Has this person came and tried to talk to Tarik's father he probably would have been killed or whipped for even suggesting such things. But Tarik listened and was willing to see what Cy has to say. Sadly, the cured involved something that nobody had anymore. But Tarik didn't let that stop him. He sent people to each kingdom trying to procure the item that was needed to cure his people. But... Would needing something THIS BAD mean that Tarik would be willing to give up anything to get it? Or would it start a war? Hmmm.
I am one of those people where I can read a book and it will start playing out as a movie in my head. I have this thing so badly that sometimes I will be out or at work and I will think "OMG I can't wait to go home and watch more of this move" even though it is a book. So this book did that to me. There was a character in the beginning of the book, his name was Chut, then ENTIRE time I was reading about him I couldn't help but to picture him as Ralph from Wreck-it-Ralph. It was the most vividly I had ever pictured a character before and that added a little bit of humor to the overall crappy situation that Chut's character was involved in. I was also sort of picturing the two main characters as Aladdin and Jasmine except reversed because the prince had the cat and the girl was that "street-rat".
This is a rather short review for a few reasons but the main one being that I don't want to give away ANY spoilers. But I will say that if you are a fan of An Ember in the Ashes then check this out. This book contains more fantastical stuff that AEitA, though. There are magical elements, and this book is overall higher fantasy, but I feel like the two main characters of this book fit well with the main characters from AEitA.
Sadly, for me, I didn't enjoy this book as much as I was hoping but I feel like that was ENTIRELY due to the fact that I read another very big, high fantasy book right before I got to this one. BUT I will be continuing on with the series and will reread this book before the second one comes out.
Overall, I gave the book 4/5 stars.
*DISCLAIMER* I received this book in exchange for an honest review but I also ended up buying my own copy as well. Thank you!
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