Review of Even the Darkest Stars by Heather Fawcett

Read for: TBR/ Beat the Backlist

Synopsis: "Kamzin has always dreamed of becoming one of the Emperor’s royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. She knows she could be the best in the world, if only someone would give her a chance.

But everything changes when the mysterious and eccentric River Shara, the greatest explorer ever known, arrives in her village and demands to hire Kamzin—not her older sister Lusha, as everyone had expected—for his next expedition. This is Kamzin’s chance to prove herself—even though River’s mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor means climbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain in the Aryas. Then Lusha sets off on her own mission to Raksha with a rival explorer who is determined to best River, and Kamzin must decide what’s most important to her: protecting her sister from the countless perils of the climb or beating her to the summit.

The challenges of climbing Raksha are unlike anything Kamzin expected—or prepared for—with avalanches, ice chasms, ghosts, and even worse at every turn. And as dark secrets are revealed, Kamzin must unravel the truth of their mission and of her companions—while surviving the deadliest climb she has ever faced."

My Review: First off, I love the cover of this book. But even with a beautiful cover, I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the story. The first chapter had me hooked and I ended up really enjoying this adventure/explorer fantasy more than I ever expected. It did have some slower moments but over all the pacing was pretty good and there were enough events to keep the heart rate up. I wasn't a fan of the love triangle that wasn't but the way the book ended with the relationships up in the air does have me wanting to read the next book. With that said, it does end rather abruptly and leaves you hanging on a cliff (literally & figuratively). I did see the twist coming rather early on and I think there might be another pretty big one coming in the second book. As far as the characters, I really enjoyed most of them, Kamzin is stubborn and determined, Tem is the ever loyal best friend, Lusha the infuriatingly perfect older sister, Ragtooth the little tenacious familiar whom I adore with all my heart, and of course River the aloof mystery. It was a great read for a chilly winter night with the constant cold wind howling, it suited the atmosphere of the book perfectly.

My Rating: This book really surprised me, I wasn't sure what to expect but I thought I might enjoy it and went well over that bar. I did find some things predictable but I didn't mind it too much because there are still questions to be answered and things to discover.  I give it a rating of Four Paws!