A Different Kind of Fantasy

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MY THOUGHTS
This book wasn't even on my radar until I read a short excerpt from the book. I was drawn into the writing, the world, and immediately added it to my TBR!

Years ago, the Ilyacans overpowered the Illustrians, killing Ximena's parents and most of the ruling class. The only one of the ruling class left alive was Catalina, Ximena's friend and her same age. To protect the real Condesa, Ximena pretends to be the Condesa, but it's hard to try to lead her people when they are running out of resources and when her life isn't her own. When Atoc, the leader of the Ilyacans, demands the Condesa's hand in marriage, Ximena is sent. She must travel to the place where she used to live, where her parents were killed. She has vengeance in her heart for the Ilyacans and she is more than ready to find the opportunity for Catalina to come and take back her throne. But while Atoc must be overthrown, Ximena starts to question whether there is a way to end his reign without another war.

The world in this book is so fantastic and what makes it even more fantastic is how it is based on real history. This book is based on Bolivian history and I loved seeing that within the text. I wasn't familiar with Bolivian history and I have never seen it in YA (fantasy or otherwise). It was well integrated into the book. I could see the inspiration and the history, yet it felt like it's own fantasy world. The magic was completely fascinating. Ximena has a magical weaving ability. This allows her to hide messages and more in tapestries, using moonlight (hence the title). The magic in this book is subtle though, it felt like only a small part of the book, which was fine for the book. I actually liked how subtle the magic was because it made it feel like it was just an unquestionable part of this world. I wish I knew more about these abilities though and how they worked because that wasn't really clear.

The plotline of Ximena being a decoy Condessa really intrigued me about this book. At the beginning of the book Ximena struggles with her role because she is not able to be her own person. What she does and what she wants to do are completely different things, she does what the Condessa (or Catalina) would do. But they are two different people, Catalina wants to please her people rather than being real with them and all Ximena has is anger, anger at Ilyacans and anger at hiding who she is. As the book progresses and as she spends more time in La Ciudad, her need for vengeance diminishes and I could see her character changing. I loved seeing her character change and how she grew into her magical abilities.

This book does a great job of showing how there are two sides to a war. Ximena has anger for the Ilyacans for killing her family, but the Ilyacans had anger for years from being controlled by the Illustrians. Everyone was angry and I liked how the book showed Ximena's struggle with whether to act in anger and go into another war (which would surely cause more pain), or to find another way, but that other way would be acting against her Condesa. Atoc is a tyrannical ruler (which the author mentions is also based on history, much of it recent) and it is no question that he needs to be taken off the throne, but as Ximena's talks to others, she learns of their struggles and realizes that there is another way. I loved seeing her interact with the characters and realize that while they are on different sides, they all want the same thing.

As for romance, there is romance in this book. It took a while to show up although you do see it coming. It didn't take up much of the page, but once it appeared it happened a little fast. It was a bit predictable too me.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I really liked this book and I do recommend it. This was a solid debut and I loved how it incorporated Bolivian history. I do wish some elements were explained more, and some portions happened too fast, but I liked it overall. This is a standalone and I am honestly glad of that because there are so few fantasy standalone! But, there will be a companion book and even though little is known right now, I will be reading it when it comes out.