unique and refreshing addition to the LGBT YA genre, Diverse and exciting, with some of the best mythical creatures I'm ever seen those mermaids!, Can't wait for more of Julia's writing! Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
A nice, goodpaced adventure story, It was an easy read, entertaining and I liked the way mythology was used in the story, The mythological creatures were introduced in a way that it felt real, like any other animal that could be found on a safari trip.
I liked the way representation were used, The GLBTaspect was woven in without making it be shown as something weird or extraordinary the love story was woven into the story just like any other heterosexual love story in other books.
I also liked the representation of body types, with Kara being presented as more round in figure and Mnemba as darkcoloured.
The ending could spin on an interesting debate, the advance and wish to modernise and have advanced technology but at what cost, and is it good or bad to modernise a society Have you ever thought "I really wish someone would write a book about two girls going on an adventure, there is some unicorns and other fantastical creatures, the setting draws some heavy African inspirations, and maybe those two girls have some hot kissing scenes" All right, maybe that's a very niche wish.
I didn't know I really wanted it either until I read the synopsis for Unicorn Tracks, And this book blew my expectations away,
It's on the shorter end of fantasies, but the pages are dense with gorgeous descriptions and thoughtful details.
I knew I would be reading up on unicorns, but I hadn't expected to get a fabulous bestiary about other fantasy creatures found in Nazwimbe.
Like there's a line talking about the difference between river and ocean mermaids, and I was stupefied by such simplicity and genius.
The book also covers cultural differences between the main character Mnemba and her white, Europeanish love interest Kara,
The cast of characters is just terrific, Mnemba has a traumatic sexual assault in her past which continues to haunt her and keeps her from seeing anyone in her family but her cousin Tumelo.
But she's also strong and resilient, a flower thriving in winter, Her attraction to Kara is immediate and beautiful, hope wrapped in a thick layer of fear, Kara herself is amazing and hella sexy, Unfortunately, she's also engaged to a guy back home, Yikes.
The side characters are wonderful too I really adored Tumelo, and he had such a playful relationship with Mnemba.
But he was also fiercely protective of her and vice versa, Kara's father was a surprisingly great character too, I thought for sure I would hate him, but nah,
For all the danger and excitement lurking in these pages of Mnemba and Kara's journey to fight off unicorn poachers, the most thrilling parts of the book is the kissing scenes.
No kiss is the same, and every emotion attached to the liplocking is intense and beautiful,
But the book covers a lot besides unicorns and kissing, don't get me wrong! There is a narrative about standing up for your history, your rights, your family, yourself.
And it's amazing.
Seriously, throw this on your TBR list if you like F/F or fantasy with a unique setting.
You don't want to miss out on this,
eARC
generously provided by the author I received this book from the author in exchange of an honest review
Full detailed on my blog: sitelinkWord Wonders
The writing in this book is good.
Really good. The author has a way of telling her story that threads through your mind and keeps you flipping the pages.
At some points, it was just straight up beautiful, it took me by surprise, Just read this and judge for yourself:
“A shrill melody floated on the air, rising higher like the climax of a song.
Bending thr muscular crest of his neck, the stallion touched his muzzle to his knees, And I could have sworn he was taking a bow, ”
The setting of the book was probably my favorite thing about it, It is set in Nazwimbe which is a fictional land inspired from southern African countries, everything from the actual place, to the culture and the beliefs were heavily empreinted with that.
While were on it, the world building is well done, especially for a book this short, Everything was so detailed and well thought out that I never felt confused or disoriented by any of it, it just made sense and flowed very nicely.
One thing that nagged at me though is that I didnt know WHEN it was set, today yesterdayyears agoyears in the future I DONT KNOW.
At first, the mystery was kept alive and a real pageturner for me but as the story progressed and the plot unfolded it started becoming more predictable, the girls just got away too easily with things theyve done and from situations they were trapped in.
There was no real stress for me or fear for them not getting out of it whole because I just knew they would.
Just. Like. Every. Other. Time. And that kind of bummed me a lot because the premise was so interesting and some impredictable twists and turns wouldve made it better.
The story is told in first person from our MC, Mnembas POV and I have a love/hate relationship with her.
She made really rash and nonsensical decisions that ALWAYS put her and Kara in danger, she didnt think things through and defied authority when it was for her own good, on the other hand there was just something preventing me from disliking her, I simply COULDNT.
I really liked the mix of strength and vulnerability she was made off, Kara, I dont think much off to be honest, she was there, pushing Mnemba into taking the rash decisions, but still she had a bold personality and thats not something to dislike.
Their romance though was quite cute, BUT also instalovey which annoyed me knowing how I cant deal with rushed romance.
Overall, even though the book didnt live up to my expectations, I liked it for its premise, its setting and most of all for its diversity.
It felt rich! And lest not forget about the Unicorns, I have never read a book about them and now I want more, theyre so amazing !
Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a readtoreview basis.
Thanks to author Julia Ember,
“Unicorns arent tameable, Everybody in Nazwimbe knows that, ”
This was an interesting YA fantasy story, featuring some mythical creatures,
I liked Mnemba, she was a strong character, and I also liked Kate, I also thought that they worked well together as a couple,
The storyline in this had lots of interesting mythical creatures such as unicorns and mermaids, and also had poachers trying to steal unicorns.
We also got a GLBT romance between Mnemba and Kate,
The ending to this was pretty good,
out ofWhen I read a fantasy novel, I usually have to work a bit with myself to get into its world and believe in it.
With Julia Ember's novel, I found that the worldbuilding was so believable it could have taken place somewhere in our actual world, and this is a feeling I rarely get from fantasy stories.
The setting is described with vivid and evocative language, and I often wanted to highlight passages of beautiful writing.
Several mythical and fantastical creatures are part of the setting, and the most gorgeous and enigmatic of them all are, of course, the unicorns themselves.
It's impossible not to admire them as if they were real!
The plot is well crafted, with good pacing and action sequences where our heroine Mnemba, with the help of Kara, act realistically to the challenges faced when discovering the danger that the unicorns, and the local way of life, are in.
The love story is sweet and touching, but the book is about far more: it tackles pretty serious and heavy subjects such as poaching, fauna crimes, human rights violations, violence against women, and the importance of family and your family's support.
I wouldn't have minded a slightly more detailed last chapters, but maybe I shouldn't be so demanding since I really liked the book overall :
I received an arc of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
With tragedy one can find sweet beauty, This sums up UNICORN TRACKS for me,
Mnemba takes a job with her cousin as a safari tour guide in a mystical wild, filled with griffins, mermaids, and other creatures.
Here she takes the elite from the city of Echalend, But her next group, Kara and her father, are a pair of naturalists who study the elusive unicorn, taking Mnemba into an adventure tracking poachers who are as dangerous and rough as the land they take advantage of.
Among it all, romance blooms, tension builds, and bravery is born, Don't miss out on this lovely LBGT friendly YA,
I received an arc of this book for an honest review I went a little backwards here, reading the author's first book after another one, but sitelinkThe Seafarer's Kiss converted me to Ember's style, and a title with Unicorns I was not going to pass that opportunity.
Unicorn Tracks blew. Me. Away!!
The world building is amazingthere was not a single moment where my mind was allowed to take a step back and say "yeah, alright, this is all fictional".
No. It all felt real, from the heat described so well by Ember that I could feel it even in the temperate weather I live in, to the vivid colors of the mythological animals that are the fauna of the story.
I have to admit, the lovestory took a stepback for me when facing the story of the main character, how she grows, how she becomes the person she was always meant to be through Love, sure, sure.
I can't wait to read Ember's take on all the myths all of them!!! :D sitelinkQuite The Novel Idea Words from the Clouds
This was such a nice read! I'll be honest though and say that it's hard for me to review shorter books because there's usually not that much to talk about.
Not that this book lacked substance, Not in the least. Unicorn Tracks managed to meet my expectations and then some!
The writing in this book was very vivid and I really felt like I was there with Mnemba and Kate sometimes.
I haven't read many books with Africa as a backdrop and it was very nice, It definitely would make want to visit the place if I wasn't so sensitive to the heat, I mean, I would die there, For real. But I really liked the worldbuilding with all the creatures, Also major props to the author for managing to work unicorns into the story without making it corny!
I do believe the story itself could have benefited from more development, which is what I usually think with short stories like this.
There's a lot going on in this book and it defintely would have brought this book to the next level.
It also would have helped with the secondary characters, They felt a little too onedimensional to me, though they weren't uninteresting, if that makes sense, I just wanted more from them, But the two girls, Mnemba and Kate were really welldeveloped and I loved them, Their romance is very very sweet and wellpaced, It gave me flutters in my stomach on multiple times,
Overal, Unicorn Tracks is very magical, adventurous and romantic, It's a fun and quick read that I do highly recommend, So check it out, if you can, more of a. I loved the setting of this one so much, The unicorns and other mythical creatures being woven into the story, as well as the South East African inspired setting was the best.
Like, honestly unicorns UNICORNS. I love them. I also liked the "stop the poachers" plot line, and another review noted it felt like The Wild Thornberries movie, which I totally agree with
But on the flip side, I had trouble engaging with the writing style.
It was easy to read, but for me there was no spark, nothing that made me feel emotional or deep about the characters.
It was just entertaining but not mind blowing, I also think the romance was insta lovey, and while I liked the characters individually the whole "I love you" after they just met did make me eye roll a little
BUT I mean I'd still recommend this book, because I think my issues are personal.
It has some great characters and fun action sequences and a good depiction of a rape survivor that I liked.
I just think the writing style and romance aspects weren't for me
Full review to come
Bookof SapphicAThon, A sf/f book complete! Check out this review and more on sitelinkmy blog!
If you somehow didn't already know, I love unicorns.
I also love stories that feature leading LGBT ladies, So when I discovered that Julia Ember's debut novel combined these two things, I knew I had to have it.
I've had the pleasure of speaking to Julia Ember quite a bit on Twitter and she's absolutely lovely, as is her debut.
Unicorn Tracks takes place in a world not entirely unlike our own where fantastical creatures are the norm.
It's common for tourists to travel to Nazwimbe to go on safari and see everything from mermaids to phoenixes, but unicorns are somewhat rarer, so when safari guide and tracker Mnemba is given the job of leading a researcher and his daughter, Kara, into the wilderness in search of unicorns she has a real challenge on her hand, especially when they discover that unicorns are going missing.
Mnemba and Kara decide to investigate and stumble into something much bigger than they anticipated, all while trying to resist the growing attraction between them.
I love the ideas behind Unicorn Tracks as far as I'm concerned there are way too few unicorns in fiction, and I mean that in all seriousness.
There are classics like The Last Unicorn and they pop up in series such as Harry Potter, but they're very rarely included as a main feature in a story, especially if said story isn't aimed at children.
There are dragons, vampires, werewolves, mermaids and faeries everywhere, but unicorns have been left behind,
What I love about Unicorn Tracks is this completely new take on unicorns I've never seen them in anything but a European/Europeaninspired setting, so to place them as safari animals in a country that I'm assuming is an alternate Zimbabwe is such an original idea and I loved it.
I mean if I could go on safari and see unicorns I so would, and I'd never want to leave.
Ember's characters are a lot of fun, too, Through Mnemba and Kara, Ember explores themes of forgiveness, choice and cultural differences, and I really appreciated that this is a book with an LGBT relationship at its centre that isn't about the characters' sexuality.
The only thing I wanted from this book was more, I think Unicorn Tracks could have benefited from being longer, as there'd be more time to discuss everything Ember has included the story, and Mnemba and Kara's relationship in particular, felt a little too rushed for me.
There's so much here that's great, so I would have loved even more scenes of Mnemba and Kara exploring the wilderness and encountering even more mythological creatures.
What's most exciting about Unicorn Tracks is what else we can expect from Ember as an author.
We need more voices in fiction that don't treat LGBT characters like parables of what it means to identify as queer, but instead write fun, exciting stories where the characters just so happen to be LGBT.
I'm looking forward to whatever Ember does next!,