What I liked: This book is fantastic in the way it explores the possibilities of melding science fiction and fantasy into a world. The types of gourds this story introduces and the way that the story explains them is so fascinating and (for me) easy to understand. I think it was so interesting to see how the gourds were used and the different types there were, and not to mention you could still eat them afterwards! It was an amazing concept and I love how the trees were used as well in this stor

What I liked: This book is fantastic in the way it explores the possibilities of melding science fiction and fantasy into a world. The types of gourds this story introduces and the way that the story explains them is so fascinating and (for me) easy to understand. I think it was so interesting to see how the gourds were used and the different types there were, and not to mention you could still eat them afterwards! It was an amazing concept and I love how the trees were used as well in this story. How they could be harvested in minor ways to benefit the people of Lumin, how they could shape themselves and not only power places and provide heat and warmth where a hearth was, and it was all so complex and fascinating. It was worldbuilding that was different and intriguing and made me wonder how everything worked and kept my attention closely to find out more! I also love the first several chapters, how it switched between two characters to give a glimpse of what was happening in the past, and the present with out main character, Mia. Mia is a girl who I could understand in the way she goes about solving her problems (although they may have not exactly been the best choices at the time I did understand). She's also slow to trust, and I think that's going to be an even bigger part of this series after the matters that went down in this book. I liked the other characters, although I feel like Brother SainClair was made out to be a bad person in this book and it felt a little off with how aggressive he was all the time towards Mia without any real explanation. I adored Brother Cornelius though, he was very quirky in his own manner and the passion he showed about the work he does is so apparent that it was amazing to see!



What I didn't like: This story starts off so quickly without much introduction into the world I had just stepped into. While for some books that works, this one made me read the first chapter of the story a couple of times to understand everything that was happening. It took a little putting together but I did manage to understand it and what was happening after a couple of passes.



Overall Review: Despite a slightly confusing and fast paced beginning, the novel is a bit slower after that as the world is introduced in bits and pieces that are fun and interesting afterwards. The characters were fun to learn and the world they live in is fascinating with its ecosystem and how it operates. While the ending wasn't exactly what I was expecting, and there was a part that basically laid out exactly who Mia was (which, was really obvious in the first few lines that it was being told, I'm not even sure why Mia didn't pick up on it as he was saying it), I really do look forward to what the second book, Ocularum, brings to the series and where everything is going to go after what happened in this book. I can't wait to see how it goes!



Recommend?: Yes definitely! If you can take the book slow where it needs to be, you'll definitely find that this book is worth the read!