The Unblessed Child - YA Fiction, 1st in a series

 

The Unblessed Child

by RJ Kaldanis

3.5/5 stars 

⭐⭐⭐✫

There are two types of people in The New Realm: those who are blessed by the gods of the four elements and those who are unwanted, unloved, and are simply known as The Unblessed.

Eighteen-year-old Aardriyah Veros is living in the shadow of her powerfully water blessed brother and little sister. With her elderly neighbor and newfound canine friend in tow, our unblessed child sets out on an epic journey to uncover the truth behind her dreams.

I hesitated for this review between 3 and 4 stars. If I could I'd do 3.5.

This is a good book, very intriguing, and the world is described well, with the divisions, etc explained. I enjoyed the concept, and even though I was admittedly reading a galley, the constant misspellings made me a little crazy. When nothing grows, something is BARREN, not BARON. I saw that word used a lot and misspelled every time. ..

I also felt that the action was a little confusing at times.

As I got closer to the end, it was apparent this is meant to be a series, and we would get little to no resolution. While I don't mind series books, I thought originally this was a stand-alone.

I also personally prefer series books where the end has some resolution, and they can be read either in series or stand-alone.

This series is clearly intended for YA readers, and I found it hard to believe the protagonist was 18. She comes off much younger to me, maybe due to her "woe is me attitude". I don't know if I would continue with the series or not. I did love the Fox sidekick, named Kit for the Japanese word for fox, Kitsune.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.