“Don’t you know? Animals like you have no soul.”
Could God ever love a half-blood all of society looks upon with such fear and disdain? Jace once believed so, but when a tragic loss shatters the only peace he’s ever known, his faith crumbles as the nagging doubts he’s tried to put behind him descend on his grieving heart. With them come the haunting memories of the bloodstained past he longs to forget, but can never escape.
Taken from home at a young age and raised to serve the emperor, Kyrin Altair lives every day under a dangerous pretense of loyalty. After her unique observation skills and perfect memory place her into direct service to the emperor, Kyrin finds herself in further jeopardy as it becomes increasingly difficult to hide her belief in Elôm, the one true God.
Following the emperor’s declaration to enforce the worship of false gods under the penalty of death, many lives are endangered. But there are those willing to risk everything to take a stand and offer aid to the persecuted. With their lives traveling paths they never could have imagined, Jace and Kyrin must fight to overcome their own fears and conflicts with society as they become part of the resistance.
(Christian Fantasy/Clean New Adult/No Magic)
Available for purchase on Amazon May 20th!
View book extras at www.ilyonchronicles.blogspot.com
My Review: I agreed to be part of this blog tour mainly because I liked the cover of this book and thought that the description looked intriguing. I also had heard of the author (and knew her by various names) so I thought I would like to get a taste of her writing. In some ways Resistance was not what I expected, and I mean that in a good way.
By reading the description, I thought there would be at least a little romance in it. However, there was none. But that does not mean it won’t be in the next two books in this series. I was surprised at how separated the two main characters were. Jace and Kyrin lived totally separated lives and did not meet until the last 30% of the book.
I found it quite interesting how the author mixed Roman times with her own imagination. Resistance focuses on faith in the one true God and the persecution that comes with that belief. Many characters of the book had to either bow before idols or face death because of their belief in the one true God. It brought to mind the courage and bravery martyrs of Roman times—and even today—have to have in order to face torture and death. This was a great and sobering theme throughout the novel.
I did feel as though Resistance dragged on unnecessarily sometimes. There were parts that could have been condensed. As it was, I got more than a glimpse into Kyrin and Jace’s day to day lives, creating a rather monotonous aura at times. However, I will credit the author with being excellent in creating realistic and exciting fighting scenes. There were many fights and battles, which broke up the monotony somewhat though not entirely.
I liked learning about the different races and cultures the author created. It was interesting to learn about them throughout the course of the book. I hope that she will reveal more of how Jace came to be half ryrik and half human in her future novels.
To anybody who is considering reading this book, don’t be intimidated by the list of characters at the forefront. It seems like a lot and it will be to anybody who does not keep track of who is who. However, after I glimpsed how many characters there would be I took special note of them. I was rarely confused. One thing I found strange was how the author mixed normal names like Richard and William with names like Kyrin, Kaden, and Rayad. Not that it matters, but usually when writing a novel the author either goes with plain names like the former or more unusual, creative ones like the latter.
I really liked the characters. Jace was a tortured young man who needed to believe in what God thought of him more than what others did. Kyrin was a special young woman who needed to be brave in the face of persecution from the emperor himself. The story is also told from many other viewpoints, but this was simply done to better draw out the theme of the novel. I didn’t feel as though it took anything away from the book as a whole.
All in all, Resistance was a creative, intelligently written, interesting book, though perhaps too long for my taste. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
**I received an ARC kindle copy of this book from the author for my honest opinion, which I have given. The opinions expressed in this review are mine and mine alone.**
About the Author:
Jaye is a homeschool graduate and has been penning stories since the age of eight. She was previously published as Molly Evangeline. You can learn about her latest writing projects at www.jayelknight.com.
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