A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones Trilogy #1) by Kate Golden

 

Summary (from the publisher): Captured by a king of darkness. Forced to find the light within.

Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother’s. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent, and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King.

Arwen knows better than to face the ancient, wicked woods that surround the castle on her own, which means working with a fellow prisoner might be her only path to freedom. Unfortunately, he’s as infuriating as he is cunning—and seems to take twisted pleasure in playing on Arwen’s deepest fears.

But here in Onyx Kingdom, trust is a luxury she can’t afford.

To make it out of enemy territory, she'll have to navigate back-stabbing royals, dark magic, and dangerous beasts. But untold power lies inside Arwen, dormant and waiting for a spark. If she can harness it, she just might be able to escape with her life—and hopefully, her heart.

Review: Arwen Valondale finds herself taken prisoner, forced to using her healing magic to heal enemy soldiers, and imprisoned in the Onyx Kingdom, condemned to serving a sentence for her brother's crimes. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was reeled in pretty immediately by Arwen's story and found this easy to follow and without a super complicated world building or magic system understanding required. The MMC was intriguing with his morally gray character. I always enjoy a secret identity plotline, as well as slow burns and this book offers both. It is the first in a trilogy, so the book ends with lots of loose ends. 

I typically have a hard time listening to fantasy on audio. For whatever reason, I have a hard time suspending my disbelief and end up laughing at elements that are definitely not meant to be comical. However, I think because the magic system is relatively subdued in this, it was easy to follow and enjoy on audio. 

Still, despite being entertained, I am only giving this three stars. That is largely because I did not think this novel was original in virtually any way. It seems to have drawn on most loved elements from other best-selling romantasy books on the market. In fact, it almost read like the author had written a to do list of what to include beforehand and just went down the line to check the boxes. Poor but gifted beautiful heroine? Check. Handsome, powerful, and mysterious leading man? Check. "Who did this to you?" Check. Dragons? Check. I think if I hadn't already read numerous other fantasy books, I probably would not have had this reaction but since I had, I was distinctly unimpressed with the originality on display here. 

All that being said, I did still enjoy this book and may continue going with the series just to get to see the slow burn romance play out and see where the author goes with the story. Additionally, I recognize that this was the author's debut and she is greatly beloved, so I am very curious to see what her more recent releases are like. 

Stars: 3