Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Romance, Retellings, Fiction
Rate: 3 stars
Synopsis:
A prehistoric fantasy—with allusions to Pride and Prejudice.
Hunting, gathering, and keeping his family safe—that’s the life seventeen-year-old Kol knows. Then bold, enigmatic Mya arrives from the south with her family, and Kol is captivated. He wants her to like and trust him, but any hopes of impressing her are ruined when he makes a careless—and nearly grave—mistake. However, there’s something more to Mya’s cool disdain…a history wrought with loss that comes to light when another clan arrives. With them is Lo, an enemy from Mya’s past who Mya swears has ulterior motives.
As Kol gets to know Lo, tensions between Mya and Lo escalate until violence erupts. Faced with shattering losses, Kol is forced to question every person he’s trusted. One thing is for sure: this was a war that Mya or Lo—Kol doesn’t know which—had been planning all along.
This is definitely a book about trusting what you believe, and learning that sometimes your perception of a situation isn't what it seems.
I think Kol and Mya both grow a lot in the story. It takes strength and courage to admit how you feel.
The darkness in this cave is so complete I can no longer see you, but I can smell your blood.
“I think your wound has opened up again.”
“No, it’s fine.” Your words echo against the close walls. Even so, your voice sounds small. “I
ran my fingers over it. It’s dry.”
We need light and heat. I pat the ground, feeling for the remnants of the fire we made in here
before.
“The wound is under your hair, Mya, and your hair is drenched.”
“My hair is cold—wet with rain and ice. It would be warm if it were wet with blood.”
Injured, bleeding, freezing—yet still stubborn.
“I’m going to try to get a fire going,” I say.
My hands search the floor, fumbling across silt and cinders, until they land on a chunk of
splintered wood that flakes at the ends as if it’s been burned. A short distance away the ground
drops down into a shallow hole—the fire pit.
I crawl farther into the dark, one hand extended out in front of me, my knees grinding against
knots of broken wood and nubs of rock. At last, my hand lands on what I remember as a
deliberate, orderly stack of firewood piled against the far wall.
It’s unnerving to be in a place so dark. It’s even more unnerving to be here with you.
Julie Eshbaugh is the author of the upcoming Ivory and Bone (HarperCollins, 2016). She used to have trouble staying in one spot, having lived in places as varied as Utah, France, and New York City. Julie eventually returned home to the Philadelphia area, where she now lives with her husband, son, cat and dog. Her favorite moments are when the unexpected happens and she cheers loudest when the pitcher gets a hit.
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