I first heard of this book through my best friend. She said that it was a really creepy, but fantastic book and since I love reading things that make my skin crawl, I thought this would be a perfect book to read! And I am so glad I did!

 

The story is so interesting with its magic and how horrible it truly is. The writing style is brilliant! It's told from dual perspectives; one story being told in the past in third person and one being told in the present in first person. I really love how clever it was of Duey to tell the story in such a manner. Really helped the readers keep the time difference separated.

 

I love the characters. All of them! You can tell they each have multiple layers to who they are and what they want to accomplish. And some characters just really tore at my heartstrings! (Hahp and Gerrard being those who gave me all the feels! ;w;) There were characters that I didn't like as people but that I like as characters (if that makes any sense). Duey did an amazing job at creating so many different and interesting characters.

 

I really liked this book and if you like books that's slightly horrifying with a unique magic system and interesting characters, you should give this a try. However, know going into this that this might contain some triggers to people with eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. Also, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger so if you don't like those kinds of endings, make sure you have the sequel on hand.

 

I really did like this book and I am really looking forward to seeing what happens next in the story!

I loved everything about this book except the (lack of an) ending. Terrific dark fantasy with a fascinating story structure--alternating chapters skip back and forth between two storylines that take place decades apart. Sounds strange, but Duey makes it work. The book just ends--there's not really a cliffhanger, nor any kind of resolution in any of the storylines, otherwise, it'd be a five-star read.

Written in alternative chapters this story of a girl who lives in a world where magic is frowned on, ridiculed and punished and a boy where magic is rampant but to become a magician you have to survive the school. A place where you starve until you work out how to create your own food, a place where your other classmates disappear and where you're told only one of you will go on to become a magician. Hahp is one of these students, a disappointment to his parents this is his last recourse. He learns but can he learn quickly enough. Sadima is from the earlier time, her mother died giving birth to her and only for her dedicated brother she wouldn't have survived much longer. She can hear animals speak to her. When opportunity brings her to the big city she finds herself with Franklin and Somiss and their obsession to discover the truth about magic. The cost may be too high. The story ends on a cliffhanger and I really do want to know what happens next.

I'm not going to rate this book because I just don't want to and I don't feel like rating anything. But this was awesome.I read this slowly. Or rather, erratically. Started this back in Feb, read a few chapters, left. Then picked it up after a few weeks, read it halfway through, abandoned. Read a few pages in the months in between and finally finished it today.Don't know what was going through my head when I felt it. But let's move on.The last hundred pages of this book are the most commendable, IMO. Not only because more stuff happens in those pages than in the entire book but also for the fact that I finally started to care for the side characters as well. I hated Somiss throughout the book, but towards the end I appreciated his character a bit as well. Plus, I really, really like Gerrard now, and when the hell are Gerrard and Hahp going to get it on. On the back of my copy of Sacred Scars, it's written,'...Duey's dark and powerful trilogy.'Those two words describe this novel perfectly. They are subtle yet vicious, the emotions in this book.Man, it's refreshing and unique but at the same time leaves me with a gutted feeling. My stomach feels hollow and I'm scared to start Scared Scars and who knows how long I'll take to finish that one. I can laready predict there won't be a happy ending. Heck, there is no need for prediction, it is glaringly obvious once you start the book that shit is gonna go down and for the first time, i want shit to go down but at the same time don't want it to hit the characters.

More like 3.5 stars

I'm really conflicted about how to rate this book, and sat in front of the review space for at least 30 minutes thinking about how I wanted to write this. I can see what my friends were saying when they point out this wouldn't be a crowd pleaser, or an easy read, but it wasn't nearly as dark and depraved as I was expecting and hoping (and I don't care to think about what that means about my psyche, lol). It's actually two stories that barely connect, and I was equally intrigued by both, though I think the school should have shocked me more between the two.

Sadima's story is back when magic was gone from the world; where the kings reigned and wars were waged. She was raised by her brother Micah after her mother, and her, were left to die by a "magician" who stole everything of value from them, and resulted in a crippling depression for her father. With their hatred of magicians running as deep as it was, they refused to believe that Sadima was able to understand animals and she ended up hiding her ability until a chance meeting with Franklin, who was seemingly a real magician, and not the usual charlatan. Years go by and Sadima ends up finding him again in another city leaving her only family behind after a heartbreaking fight. Slowly she helps Somiss and Franklin gather old songs so that Somiss can resurrect magic, but she is really a maid and slave to Somiss. I don't understand why Somiss was so obsessed about his father not finding him either, if he would end up walking in the King's Day procession like they were one big happy family.There is a scene where Somiss chases after some boy that he had beat bloody, and it was mentioned that his bed sheets were bloody; was this alluding to rape like I think it was? What nature of relationship did Franklin and he have? It wasn't clear to me after that scene. I would have liked more from the book, even though I can't say it didn't work as it was.

I really, really hate Somiss.

The other story is about Hahp, and a few other boys, who are sent to a wizard school, but like you might expect from the synopsis, this was more like a death camp than school. Centuries have gone between Sadima and Hahp's stories, but they're connected by Franklin and the abhorrent Somiss. In this school the boys are starved, isolated in the extreme, wear robes that chafe them bloody, and not allowed shoes in the stone prison they live in. They're forbidden to help each other and boys die of starvation.

Now, this is where I get frustrated, because I came to understand why Somiss would want to see them fast (that man is crazy and evil), but I really want to know why he wouldn't just let them go instead of killing them?! I can't say I know much of anything about Somiss beyond him being a spoiled rich kid who apparently can't control himself and must always be kept calm. Franklin is devoted to him so completely that I was as angry at him as Hahp was, but don't expect there to be any sort of resolution in this book, because you'll not find it. In fact, there's no climax at all, and it ended awkwardly in my opinion. What the hell was Somiss doing with the cage full of boys in the cave?! I know that one beggar boy ended up being a wizard, but what the hell was that whole thing about?!

I enjoyed this book, and even though I've complained about it, I really did like it, though I wouldn't easily recommend it. It's great for people like me who like the twisted stories, but it's not quite as twisted as I thought it was going to be.