This Dark Descent (This Dark Descent, #1)
Kalyn Josephson
The Shadows Between Us meets Six of Crows in this spellbinding new fantasy full of intrigue, romance, and pulse-pounding action, where the eldest daughter of a renowned family on the verge of ruin joins forces with a mysterious, rogue enchanter and a handsome, ambitious heir to win a deadly race. Mikira Rusel’s family has long been famous for breeding enchanted horses, but their prestige is no match for their rising debts. To save her ranch, Mikira has only one option: she must win the Illinir, a treacherous horserace whose riders either finish maimed or murdered. Yet each year, competitors return, tempted by its alluring prize money and unparalleled prestige. Mikira’s mission soon unites her with Arielle Kadar, an impressive yet illicit enchanter just beginning to come into her true power, and Damien Adair, a dashing young lord in the midst of a fierce succession battle. Both have hidden reasons of their own to help Mikira -- as well as their own blood feuds to avenge… Steeped in Jewish folklore, This Dark Descent is a pulse-pounding new fantasy full of forbidden magic, sizzling romance, and epic stakes. In a world as dangerous as this, will the need for vengeance butcher Mikira’s chances of winning the Illinir … or will another rider’s dagger?
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0 0Thanks so much to NetGalley and to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for access to an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book. This book scratched all the right places in my brain.
This Dark Descent is a dual POV story coming from the points of view of Mikira and Arielle and follows the two girls as they befriend one another as well as Damian and Reid and the four form an unlikely team and band together to win a race against what seems to be insurmountable odds. Mikira makes a bargain to enter the Illinir, a dangerous and often deadly horse race, in order to save her family and their home, and is quickly recruited and sponsored by Lord Damien Adair who, with the help of his friend Reid and Arielle, an unlicensed enchanter secretly creating golems out of her workshop, plan to help her win the race, though they each have something important of their own riding on Mikira's hopeful win.
This book has quite literally everything I could ask for: action, violence, romance, mystery, beautifully written characters and friendships, compelling villains and flaws for even our 'heroic' characters, and *so much* Jewish symbolism and folklore woven in that I was learning new things about the Judaism as I read and loving every second of it. I can't wait to dive back into this miraculous world and to see where our characters find themselves next, especially after that ending!! Hands down one of my favorites so far this year, and I have every intention of getting my hands on as many Kalyn Josephson books as I can now.
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