"Sylvie has always known she deserves more. Out in the permanent twilight of the Dusklands, her guardians called her power to create illusions a curse. But Sylvie knows it gives her a place in Coeur d'Or, the palais of the Amber Empress and her highborn legacies. So Sylvie sets off toward the Amber City, a glittering jewel under a sun that never sets, to take what is hers. But her hope for a better life is quickly dimmed. The empress invites her in only as part of a wicked wager among her powerful courtiers. Sylvie must assume a new name, Mirage, and begin to navigate secretive social circles and deadly games of intrigue in order to claim her spot. Soon it becomes apparent that nothing is as it appears and no one, including her cruel yet captivating sponsor, Sunder, will answer her questions. As Mirage strives to assume what should be her rightful place, she'll have to consider whether it is worth the price she must pay..."
Amber & Dusk by Lyra Selene - release date November 27, 2018
If there are any publishers reading this: ORDER THE SEQUEL TO THIS BOOK ASAP. WE NEED IT! You can't leave us hanging like that!! I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. But anyway, this book was SO gorgeous. Everything that was described was so fantastical and wonderful and so beautiful. I've heard of "purple prose" where the "ornate" and "flowery" writing took away from the plot but not in this case; it really did a great job at making me see the beauty of their world. It was so cool having a world with eternal daylight, how the clouds would change color, the sky was red or orange, they had bells to determine what time of day it was, they never had night or moon or stars but there was an entire other section of their world (the Midnight Dominion) that just had night. It really made me feel like I was there myself.
I loved Sylvie/Mirage. She did have her moments where she was stupid and entitled and had to understand that just because she fought her way to the heart of the empire from the Dusklands doesn't mean that she understands how a court works (not that I do either, but just saying). But it was all part of her character and you love her regardless. She is clever and prideful and full of a beautiful magic- her legacy. All the courtiers had legacies, which was super cool. Lullaby could sing and influence people with her voice. She was amazing and I wish her the best. She has been through a lot. My wish for her is that she will be able to see the ocean again. Thibo, her fashionable best friend, deserved better. The Suicide Twins were very complex and I adore them. Sunder, able to cause anyone pain with just a glance, is learning how to love and how to accept himself as he is so there BETTER be a sequel so I can see what happens next because I need to know (no spoilers though). His twin, Bane/Oleander, is full of poison. She can kill someone with a single poison kiss, which is also really sad because she can never be loved without killing the person (hang in there Bane, I'm sure someone someday will be able to work around your poison and if not I will find a way to go into the story and do it myself because you deserve love). Also I love how her name is Oleander; that's so pretty. Then there is Dowser, who is like a father figure to Mirage who has his own trials and tribulations who I will talk about a bit more later. Finally, we have Empress Severine, who is mysterious, beautiful, and hiding MANY things that you will just have to read to find out about. On the back cover of my ARC, the bottom line promised a "dangerous story of sacrifice, secrets, and star-crossed love" but I have to say, this book was the definition of a "slow burn." Almost too slow at times and I was sitting there like, "I was promised a star-crossed love story!! Where is it?!?!" But don't worry, it is worth the wait.
The plot was just as secret-filled as I expected and I loved it. I love books about courts and secrets and royalty, etc, so this book hit the spot for me. (At some point I am going to read the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas and I already know I am going to love it.) Also there are many twists, as to be expected, but there is one that seemed obvious after it was revealed but totally comes out of no where! And if you know me, you know I love a good plot twist.
One thing I can really say I appreciated from the author is how she named the empress. There are many cases where the royalty doesn't ever get a name and it REALLY annoys me but this time the empress is named Severine! So that was really good. I also liked how they called their magic their "legacy" because it was new and different from just saying "my magic." I like when the magic has names. There were a few things where I am in the middle about, where I can't tell whether or not I liked it. There were a lot of "Vocab PowerPlus" words in here. (Context: Vocab PowerPlus is the vocabulary book we use in English class to prepare for the SATs. Maybe having these books made me hyper-aware of these words anytime they are used in real life, but I saw MANY of them. It's probably a coincidence, but still.) Another thing I'm on the fence about was all the new words the author put in. Ambric is super easy, it just means amber, and kembric I'm pretty sure is like a gold? But I still have no idea what dristic is supposed to be. Maybe a silver? I'm still not sure after finishing the entire book. Also, a ton of the words are in French. I don't take French so I didn't realize it until I got annoyed that palace was spelled "palais" every time and googled the word to see if it was correct and it came up with a French-English translator. Then I tested it out with more of the weird words and guess what, I was right! French. Coeur d'Or, the name of the court, actually means Heart of Gold. Luca even referred to it as Heart of Gold at one point and if I didn't know Coeur d'Or was French I would have been totally lost. Genévrier is just juniper. Jardin is just garden (a more obvious one, but still). Soldat is just soldier. Garde is just guard. But they're all in French for some reason. I don't know how I feel about so many unnecessary words being randomly in French because it was kind of annoying that I didn't know what she was talking about, but it was kind of cool at the same time. Then for the things I definitely don't like: Dowser's name being Dowser. Ugh. The entire time I kept thinking of Bowser from Mario Kart. Awkward. And the Meridian god guy also being called Scion? I'd rather them just have referred to him as Meridian the whole time. For some reason when I read Scion I kept thinking of loincloth so that was a bad time but mostly it was my fault for making the connotation like that. Also, I wanted to know more about the Midnight Dominion. Are there people out there? Do they know that they are missing the sun? HOPEFULLY it will be described more in the SEQUEL that NEEDS to happen. (Right now Goodreads has it listed as a standalone and I WON'T HAVE THAT. Can someone call up Lyra Selene and beg her to write a second installment? Thanks.)
I would rate this a definite 5 stars. I loved it; it was so beautiful. I would highly recommend it to everyone in the entire world so that everyone can back my claims of there needing to be a sequel (power in numbers, am I right?). Sorry this review was a little long, but I had a lot to say about this one! I read it in about 6 days.
-Taylor
Reviewed on November 24, 2018
