The Cover: The cover is a hot mess in my opinion. Sure, it has a stone in the middle to represent the Godstone which gives the lead character powers, but why everything else? The colors are muted and dark. Nothing commands your attention to sit down and start reading this book. This might be the reason it sat in my Nook library forever without being touched. What a pity too because this series is something special.
The Concept: One person every century is chosen by God to have a jewel gifted in their navel during their naming ceremony when they are very young. The Godstone is the source or great power although there isn’t much information or instruction on what to do with it. The people only know it’s to be used to fulfill some prophecy which usually ends up in the bearer’s death. Even though no one is quite sure what to do with a Godstone, everyone wants it. They also don’t mind killing Princess Elisa to carve it from her stomach.
The Peeps: Elisa is a princess being married off in an arranged ceremony to strengthen two kingdom’s relationship. She’s overweight, not very attractive, and the opposite of a born leader. While this may seem like the set up for every main character ever, the way this one is written is quite endearing. The details in the desert settings, the unique food, and religious interpretation makes this a unique read from her perspective. It doesn’t take long to be endured to her plight.
The supporting characters changes throughout the novel with makes it even more interesting. They are well developed in a short time what they are trying to accomplish. I think this is what I enjoy the most in this story is you can appreciate what everyone is trying to do.
The Ending (spoiler alert!): The spoiler is this is a trilogy. But unlike other trilogies, I read up the other two to complete it. I’m not one where that’s a given. If the first book is okay, I’m not committing to two more. This book had been chomping for the next ones.
In this book Elisa loses a lot. Her first love dies and then her husband is also killed. She is able to unknowingly summon the Godstone’s power to defeat the bad guys, but it doesn’t finish them off. There’s still the threat about her kingdom rejecting her, rebuilding the damage done, and more bad guys are out there. How can you not pick up the next books?
What I Cooked Up: Although there were great food descriptions from interesting recipes they fixed, I wanted something to highlight the Godstone. This was the star of the show. To represent it, I made a thumbprint cookie and filled it with a blueberry preserve to match Elisa’s blue colored gem.
Breaking Books 