**Sticks snap under my shoes and leaves crunch as animals scurry over them across the forest floor. The sound of a bird chirping creates a harmony with the stream flowing to my left, which has risen due to the recent storm. I pull my loose cardigan tighter around me, though it is still too warm for one. The sun shines between gaps in the trees and I follow it the whole way home.**

Book: The Eyes of Tamburah

Author: Maria V. Snyder

Page Count: 427 pages

Genre: Young adult fantasy

The first book I have finished so far in the month of September was The Eyes of Tamburah by Maria V. Snyder. I randomly found this book and bought it on a whim last month and finally finished a few days ago. This is a young adult fantasy following a girl named Shyla, a sun-kissed cursed by the Sun Goddess, who uncovers lost artifacts with the help of an archeologist named Banqui. They live in the underground city of Zirdai, ruled by the Water Prince and Heliacal Priestess, since the sun has gotten too hot to live aboveground. Shyla helps Banqui locate the Eyes of Tamburah, artifacts said to contain magical powers, but they are stolen and Shyla is to blame, so she has to clear her name and save herself and Banqui while everyone is after her and the Eyes.

I am someone that looks into every book before they buy it. I read the plot, I look at reviews, and most of the time I have seen someone discuss the book online which is how I find out about it. However, I really wanted to just find a book and pick it up like I used to do. I saw this one and decided to give it a try.

The story was very interesting. The fact that the whole city is underground in this desert setting because it has gotten too hot to spend much time aboveground was so interesting and different from the typical fantasy book. I also think that this was relevant to the story. We can see that the main character gets affected by the heat and needs to retreat to lower levels. We also see that the people of Zirdai are given water rations controlled by the Water Prince who has a fresh supply of water while the citizens don’t, an effect of being underground. I like that there are actually references to the fact that they live underground and a reason for it instead of it just being something that is in the book but irrelevant to the plot. I do wish we knew more about the lore of the Sun Goddess. I would like to learn more about that aspect of the story so we can learn more about Shyla’s background and why people consider her cursed. I think this story did a lot of things different, such as the setting and the fact that the main character locates objects for archeologists, which is different from many other professions I’ve read about in fantasy books. The only thing I don’t really like about the story was that it could be a bit repetitive and boring at times. There were a lot of scenes of Shyla just eating and drinking or going to different levels in the city.

Shyla was an interesting character to read about. She was an outcast and we can see how people treat her in the book. She is ignored and people are rude to her since she is sun-kissed, but she has made an honest living for herself in the city and seems to be an intelligent character who can stand up for and defend herself. However, I still didn’t really feel any connection to the characters. We have several important characters in this story, but none of them really made an impact on me. I don’t know if they just didn’t have enough depth or if it’s just me because I may be in a reading slump still.

I believe this is an indie published book, so I feel like I shouldn’t judge it the same way I would a traditionally published novel, but there were several spelling mistakes I picked up on in here which doesn’t ruin a book, but can definitely make you see more flaws in it. I also had a hard time remembering some of the language in the book, such as a sun jump and a circuit.

As a whole, I would say that this book had a great idea with lots of potential. I do think that I was a bit let down though and wanted something more from the story and the writing. There were some stand out moments however and I would be interested to see what happens next, so I may consider finishing the series since there are only two books left.

xoxo,

Just another reader