Book Review: Sunbolt, by Intisar Khanani

“Untrained Promises aren’t merely fined or sent to school. At my age, there would be only two options. I could choose to have my magic stripped from me, which would likely take my mind with it. Or I could agree to become a source slave, living in a mage’s household and being forced to funnel my magic into the mage’s own spells.”
“Sunbolt”, by Intisar Khanani

I’m delighted to have been a panelist for the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) 2022, and to be taking part in this blog tour celebrating one of the 15 finalists.

My review today is on “Sunbolt”, by Intisar Khanani, the fabulous 3rd place finalist!

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner. If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website or Twitter. BBNYA is brought to you in association with The Folio Society (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group TheWriteReads.

The story:

The winding streets and narrow alleys of Karolene hide many secrets, and Hitomi is one of them. Orphaned at a young age, Hitomi has learned to hide her magical aptitude and who her parents really were. Most of all, she must conceal her role in the Shadow League, an underground movement working to undermine the powerful and corrupt Arch Mage Wilhelm Blackflame.

When the League gets word that Blackflame intends to detain—and execute—a leading political family, Hitomi volunteers to help the family escape. But there are more secrets at play than Hitomi’s, and much worse fates than execution. When Hitomi finds herself captured along with her charges, it will take everything she can summon to escape with her life.

My thoughts:

“Sunbolt” by Intisar Khanani is Book One of The Sunbolt Chronicles, and introduces us to Hitomi — a young ‘Promise’ (person with magical ability) who has lost both her parents and, when we meet her, is working for the Shadow League, an organisation that is opposing Arch Mage Blackflame.

The author immediately immerses us in a world of magic, people who can transform into creatures, and the first of eleven kingdoms — the island kingdom of Karolene. Here it seems that a formerly thriving place has fallen under the power of Blackflame, who crushes all who oppose him and where the ruling sultan is no more than his puppet.

When a League plan to smuggle a family out of Karolene goes wrong, Hitomi finds herself first a prisoner of Blackflame, then cruel and sadistic ‘fang’ Kol (a type of vampire). He in turn imprisons her with ‘breather’ Val (like a vampire, but who drains life force rather than blood).

This book moves at a fast pace and immediately plunges the reader into the action. The author has created a detailed world, and there’s so much left to learn in subsequent books. I was left with lots of questions, and can’t wait to read more!

The main character of Hitomi is one you can root for from the start, and her loyalty and sense of honour shine through. There is also a great cast of side characters which I hope we’ll see again and learn more about in the next book — particularly the equally mysterious Ghost (leader of the Shadow League) and breather Val.

By the end of the book things are set up nicely for Hitomi to learn more about her magical powers, but with plenty of unfinished business with Blackflame! I look forward to diving into the second book in the series, “Memories of Ash”, and recommend this to all fans of middle and young adult fantasy.

Pages: 152
Published: 17th June 2013
Rating: 🐈🐈🐈🐈/5

About the author

Intisar Khanani grew up a nomad and world traveler. She has lived in five different states as well as in Jeddah, on the coast of the Red Sea. Intisar used to write grants and develop projects to address community health and infant mortality with the Cincinnati Health Department, which was as close as she could get to saving the world. Now she focuses her time on her two passions: raising her family and writing fantasy. She is the author of The Sunbolt Chronicles, and the Dauntless Path novels, beginning with “Thorn”.