** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own**
A Jigsaw of Fire and Stars by Yaba Badoe is out now from Head of Zeus.
"Sante was a baby when she was washed ashore in a sea-chest laden with treasure. It seems she is the sole survivor of the tragic sinking of a ship carrying migrants and refugees. Her people.
Fourteen years on she's a member of Mama Rose's unique and dazzling circus. But, from their watery grave, the unquiet dead are calling Sante to avenge them:
A bamboo flute. A golden bangle. A ripening mango which must not fall... if Sante is to tell their story and her own."
I'm feeling some random bullet points for this review, so I'm just going to go with it!
- First, can we just take a moment to admire this amazing cover? You know I'm a total cover lover, and this has to be one of my favourites all year!
- Now to the story. This is super quirky, and relatively short, YA novel (probably towards the younger end of YA, but there are some pretty heavy issues covered, so look out for that.
- It has a great twist of magical realism - almost to the point of fantasy - which I loved. I feel like that contributed to me feeling really swept up in, and transported by, the story telling. For me it was one of those books where it took a few minutes to come back to real life after each time I put it down.
- Whilst the circus setting in this was a bit different to Daughter of the Burning City, I feel like the overall vibe was a bit similar - a young female protagonist, the magical realism giving that sense as the reader of not quite knowing exactly what is happening, a pretty good ensemble cast of reasonably diverse characters. Because of this, I think it would be a good read-alike for people who enjoyed Daughter of the Burning City.
Xo Bron
I received a review copy in exchange for an honest review, but only chose to read it because it sounded like something I would enjoy (life's too short to read books we don't think we'll enjoy). All opinions on my blog are my own, and I wouldn't tell you it a book was good if I didn't really think so. =)
