Thursday, February 9, 2023

Review: Calor (The Nightingale Trilogy #1) by J.J. Fischer

About the Book
What if you could edit memories with a single touch?

The world-that-was is gone, lost to everything except living memory . . . but remembering comes at a terrible price. Sixty-two years after the apocalypse, a new society has emerged from the ashes of the old world where highly valued memories are traded and nostalgia is worth dying—and even killing—for.

Enslaved by a cruel master, Sephone Winter is forced to use her rare ability to manipulate memories to numb the darkest secrets of the ruling aristocracy.

Then Lord Adamo appears, speaking of a powerful relic capable of permanently erasing memories and recovering Sephone’s own lost childhood. But not everything about the young lord is as it seems, and soon Sephone must choose between helping Lord Adamo forget his past or journeying deep into the land of Lethe, where the truth about who she really is might finally be revealed . . . and a long desired future restored.

The Nightingale Trilogy is a fantasy transformation of Hans Christian Andersen's beloved 1843 tale The Nightingale, with echoes of the myths of Hades and Persephone.


MY THOUGHTS

This book was fantastic. I was captivated from the first sentence. The world building was fascinating. It felt wholly unique and, yet, there was something familiar about it, too. The post-apocalyptic atmosphere was harsh, cold, and unforgiving, but there were strong undercurrents of hope, love, and freedom, too.

I was incredibly intrigued by Sephone's gift of memory manipulation, not to mention all the other alters' powers too. The vast array of different powers, what they could do, and how they affected others was very interesting. There were plenty of characters to root for, many villains, as well. Of course, I liked Sephone and Dorian, Bear and Bas, even Cass, but my favorite character had to be Lady Jewel. She was just flat-out awesome.

This story was constantly on my mind. I was thinking about it even when I had to set it aside to do real-life things. It even invaded my dreams. If you're a fantasy fan, this book is a must-read. The next book can't come out soon enough.

FIVE STARS

2 comments:

  1. What an unusual, unique story! I don't typically read fantasy but am always amazed at the imagination of fantasy authors. I love the name of your blog too....very original :)

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    1. Thank you, Shellie! I had the hardest time trying to figure out my blog name. I finally settled on this because I like rustic things and reading, lol. I wanted to name it the Rustic Reader, but that name was already taken. :)

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