Review - Trapped in Silver by Emily Sowden

Trapped in Silver by Emily Sowden 

Published February 7th 2017 by Oftomes Publishing 

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 61/50

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Courage comes from a shadowed place in our hearts; a blurred line that straddles love and sheer stupidity.
To seventeen-year-old Ava, wild woodcats, hungry stragglers, and simple-minded townsfolk are the evils she’s grown accustomed to. But when Ethan, an unusual man with eyes of smoke and fire opal, enters her world she quickly understands that there are worse things out there than drunken men and carnivorous forest creatures. She’s a specialised liar and a hell of a fighter, but against a group of animalistic men called Berserkers she struggles to survive the encounter as the desperate swing of a dagger is all it takes to change her life for good.
Half-dead and hunted by the Berserker’s leader when he forms a monstrous obsession with her, Ava escapes his pursuit in an unfamiliar land full of impossible creatures, unlikely allies, and the man she doesn’t know whether to kiss or kill.
But after dreadful news of her missing brother surfaces, Ava becomes more involved in the centuries-long war and begins to unravel the reasons behind her relentless nightmares, discovering truths long-buried in a violent history of love, loss and betrayal.

My Thoughts 

This is the story of Ava who lives on, and practically runs, her families farm alongside her 'brother' Roan. She has to dress up as a boy, Ceder, in order to trade, take part in town life and ultimately survive. She's not like the usual girls in town, she doesn't want to be matched and she often has strange recurring nightmares. One night Ava is attacked by a group of what only can be described as beasts. She is rescued by another group of strangers and suddenly she realizes that there's a whole other world out there.

I really enjoyed this story. I found it to be very mysterious and it pulled me in right from the beginning, I was totally gripped throughout. I thought the pacing of the story was great. It sped up with the tension and the anticipation and the action scenes were very fast paced. Emily was then able to slow it down again when she was giving us some important information so we were able to focus in on the details. I also liked how things were revealed in smaller chunks rather than all in one go. Often when I'm bombarded with information I can get a bit lost but that wasn't the case here. The slower reveals also enabled me to stay invested in the story with a want to know explanations.

I thought the characters were also well done. I loved Ava, I thought she had spunk. She was able to think for herself and make her own decisions. She didn't fall into the usual 'damsel in distress' trope that can sometimes be seen in fantasy novels. It was also nice to see that Ava was not afraid to admit that she was scared in certain situations and she was able to ask the others for help when she needed it. I found Ethan to be quite a mysterious character and I loved it when we finally got some chapters from Ethan's perspective. It enabled us to get inside his head and see what he was really thinking. I also really enjoyed the relationships between the characters. I thought Ethan's and Ava's relationship developed well overtime. There were some wonderfully intimate moments as well as some strong tension. I also enjoyed the friendship between Ric and Ava. It was very heartwarming and you could see that Ric genuinely cared for Ava from the was he always looked out for her.

Overall this was a really enjoyable read. I thought it was a really interesting story, set in a well thought out world with some really likeable characters. I really can't wait to get my hands on the sequel to see where the story goes. 

Overall Rating 

  

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