Thank you St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for allowing me this arc copy.

This book is the first in the series and was a fun read. It’s a set in a world similar to Ancient China where magic is forbidden and magicians are put to death.

Zhara is living quietly and invisibly as possible. She takes care of her sister and the house as well as making money for survival. She meets a young man and her whole world turns complicated.

Now she has to deal with people hunting her, monsters, and a secret organization. There’s also a chance that something even more sinister awaits,

I really liked this book. There was a nice build up with the world and the characters. It starts out small with only Zhara’s world before expanding to other places and people. I liked Zhara, Han, Xu, and the the other characters. They were flawed and feisty in their own way. The world is rich in intrigue and subterfuge.

For me the climatic ending was a bit rushed. I wanted a bit more to the ending. It was only a small blip in my opinion.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Books for this opportunity to read this book..

Content Warnings: body horror, gore, death, child abuse, ableism, confinement, homophobia, transphobia, animal cruelty, death of parents, and genocide.

This is my first read by S. Jae-Jones and WOW it was great! Such beautiful and intricate world building, characters that are easy to relate to and love. We get to meet a cast of, mostly under 18 year old's, who are finding out they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. Being a teen is hard enough but imagine trying to save the people you love from possession and destruction?

Fantastic read and I can't wait to see what will happen in the continuing books!

I loved the world building and the setting, but the characters seemed so much younger than their ages, so it was a bit difficult at times to focus on the story. I did appreciate the focus on sibling relationships and friendships too.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an e-galley of Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First of all, I think that something must be said about the cover of this book. It is, without a doubt, one of my most gorgeous book covers to come out this year so far and while I don't usually pick a read based on its cover - it definitely helped with the initial appeal. The way in which the story was pitched - Sailor Moon meets Cinder - was also a huge draw for me as I love both references. And so expectations were high heading into Guardians of Dawn: Zhara.

In Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, we meet Zhara who has been hiding her magic powers for her entire life as the kingdom she lives in has banned magic. Her own father was killed years ago for possessing magic abilities as well and now Zhara lives with her stepmother and sister. In a chance encounter, Zhara meets a boy while she's defending herself against one of the abominations that magic creates and before she knows it, she finds a chance at a different kind of life in which her magic is revered and appreciated, not feared and illegal.

The world building in this story is intense and drew me in from the get-go. I liked the cast of characters - the secrets and depth to their stories. Guardians of Dawn is full of magic, humour, and memorable dialogue. This is definitely not your typical fantasy story and cast of characters.

On a note about a personal pet peeve of mine, I don't really enjoy books that reference to Kpop idols and groups. Don't get me wrong - I am a fan of Kpop since the early 2000s but I find that references to idols and names throw me out of the world that's in the book. Especially when it doesn't really add to the plot and seems to be deliberately put in - just because. So that is why I found myself distracted closer to the end of the book and unable to complete the story completely immersed and invested.

With that being said, I did enjoy Guardians of Dawn: Zhara and look forward to reading more in this series.

This pains me to write because I was so so so excited about the Guardians of the Dawn series. When I saw "Sailor Moon meets Cinder," I immediately added it to my TBR because those are two series that are extremely near and dear to my heart, and I was low-key screaming when I found an e-ARC in my inbox.

And then I actually picked it up and had such a hard time reading it. I wanted so badly to love this but ended up having to force myself to get through because it was just so painful. I don't even know where to begin. I feel like Guardians of Dawn: Zhara is such a hot mess. As clunky and awkward as the title is (why isn't the series name the subtitle?), the actual story is so much worse.

The world was built with as much finesse as a person dumping a ton of bricks on the ground, and S. Jae-Jones couldn't decide whether to write super flowery language or funny colloquialisms so she settled for both. (The number of times I had to read "Good Looking Giggles" 😩). The characters were so underdeveloped and flat, it was frustrating. I'm all for a himbo prince charming, but Jae-Jones laid it on wayyy too thick with Han. Isn't the whole point of a himbo that he's cute but kinda slow on the uptake? Because there was nothing attractive about how obtuse Han was. I didn't even care about Zhara, to be honest, who was sad, mopey, and 12 other melancholy dwarves. Reading Guardians of the Dawn just gave me a headache. The magical system and world building was a mess, and I do not understand S. Jae-Jones' penchant for refusing to reveal her characters' genders during the initial character introduction. At first I thought she was trying to make some kind of point about gender identity, but what's the point of trying to play coy if you're going to later exclusively use a gendered pronoun for the character?? It was honestly so confusing.

Guardian of Dawn: Zhara is one of those rare cases where the book actually lives up to its comp. The story is, quite literally, a mash-up of elements from Cinder(ella) and Sailor Moon but only in the most shallow and superficial ways. It's a great concept that, unfortunately, is really poorly executed. What hurts is that this could've been a really cool book. If the fantasy version of BTS is any indication, meant to be a fun Asian-inspired fantasy with fairy tale elements and nods to everyone's favorite pretty guardians. Instead, we got a really random hodgepodge of pieces that don't fit together.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored 'The Guardians of Dawn'! With its strong female protagonist, captivating mystery, and a touch of magic. The story had me hooked from start to finish. While the pacing was a bit slow in the beginning, the beautifully crafted world and realistic characters made it all worth it. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next installment and can't wait to explore more of the author's works. This was SO CUTE and I can't wait for the next one!

I'm incredibly grateful to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with the opportunity to read an advance copy of Guardians of Dawn: Zhara. The novel had the potential to be an incredible story filled with magic, love, betrayal, and adventure yet unfortunately fell a little flat.

During my reading, a few elements took me out of the storyline. Firstly, the concept of "good-looking giggles" that Zhara experiences whenever she sees someone she considers attractive felt quite ridiculous and diminished the strength and maturity of our female lead. Secondly, the representation of the main character's sister as blind due to Zhara's magic seemed like an afterthought, with her blindness not being consistently addressed throughout the book. It lacked impact on the story, making it feel underdeveloped.

Another issue I had was the author's frequent use of different nicknames and titles for the characters without proper explanation. This led to confusion, as names were interchangeably used in the same sentence or conversation. I would have appreciated clearer associations between the characters and their respective nicknames.

Despite these concerns, I enjoyed the romance book storyline between Han and Zhara and found it a fun way to bring them together. I also liked the idea of Zhara working at an apothecary, but I wished this aspect was explored more thoroughly throughout the entire book, rather than being left aside towards the end. The magic system and the inclusion of anti-magicians added depth and uniqueness to the story, which I appreciated.

In conclusion, I rate this book 2 1/2 stars. While I found some enjoyable moments, like the magic system and certain conversations, I wouldn't recommend it to a friend due to the issues with character development and clarity in storytelling.

Really enjoyable. I loved the world and the characters. The lore really sucked me in so much so that I didn't realize that there were some Cinderella retelling interwoven into the story until much later than I care to admit.

I adore the Sailor Moon mix and honestly Han is a giant himbo love interest which makes this ten times more lovely.

I really wanted to love this one - I mean, look at that cover!

Unfortunately, the maturity level of the FMC was way too low for me and I really struggled with her so I did end up DNFing this book.

That said, I do think there is an audience for this one so I do encourage you to pick it up.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Throughout her life, Jin Zhara has had to hide her magic. Magic is forbidden where she lives in the Morning Realms, but as the remaining magicians come under attack and dark forces seem to be at work, Zhara’s magic may be what is needed to save the land.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Cinderella retelling. We get the little cinder girl who sleeps by the hearth, the evil stepmother, and the prince, but there is much more at stake than falling in love with him (although that happens, too). I liked the girl power—how the females in the book are repeatedly shown to be the strong, clever, intelligent ones. I relished in Han’s endearing bumbling and his cluelessness. I loved watching Zhara’s confidence grow. I appreciated the queer representation. And Zhara’s giggles that she can’t control around those she finds good-looking are just adorable.

I look forward to the next installment in the series. (Is book 2 a Beauty and the Beast retelling? I hope it is.)

I received an advance copy of the book from St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley. All review opinions are my own.

I think there are a LOT of high / specific expectations about this book, which I am guilty of myself. I'm a huge fan of Sailor Moon and other ones that are mentioned with this book. I think the voice/tone caught me off guard because it does skew younger and less mature than some other YA fantasies out there. This is not a bad thing, it's just an important note to make before starting the book. Overall, the world building is very interesting and well thought out. Some of the plot feels familiar and less fresh (of course the love interest is the prince!) But that might be what younger readers want with a new and exciting setting. While this book might not have been for me, I DO think it's an important book for younger teens looking for things to read that are less heavy and intense as a lot of the YA that's out there right now.

Zhara has been on my radar for years; this isn't a surprise given that Sailor Moon was one of the comp titles used. It's been pushed back a few years, but I finally had the opportunity to read it recently. My verdict? It's good, but not a YA book that I find particularly memorable. This is a young adult fantasy story that reads younger, which is a nice change from the way it's tended to trend to the opposite in my more recent YA reads. It has interesting elements - the magical lore (a mishmash of legends, magical girl vibes and elemental powers), Asian cultural nods, and a large cast of characters to follow (very reminiscent of anime in the collect them as you go kind of appearances). The plot and the relationships played out in largely predictable ways (to me, at least), but it didn't affect the overall solid likability of the tale. It's not a new favorite, but there's certainly potential for the next book to take things up another notch... which is enough to keep the series on my radar, despite the fact that I feel no urgency to prioritize reading the sequel right away.

I received an ARC of Zhara from Netgalley for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Unfortunately, Zhara has been added to the list of books I've been unable to finish. While the idea and synopsis are promising, the execution is lacking. Perhaps because I'm older than the usual YA demographic, it wasn't clicking, but I felt that the writing was more childish than I'm used to. YA fantasy is one of my favorite genres, always has been, but this felt too young, almost. The female main character, Zhara, had this constant habit of giggling and blushing around attractive boys, which is all fine and dandy, but it was mentioned so many times that it became less of a quirk and more of an annoyance. Hans, the male main character, I don't even want to get into. I did not enjoy him as a character.

What I find more odd, is that although the characters felt underdeveloped with a focus on one specific thing about themselves that ended up becoming their whole identity, they were still quite mature. For as young as the writing felt, the characters still felt mature enough. Does it make any sense? Not particularly. But here we are.

I really wanted to like Zhara. The idea behind it (and the Cinderella retelling, of course) are right up my alley of enjoyment. However, because of the writing, I couldn't continue. I'm sure there are people who will really like this story, but it wasn't for me.

DNF at 32%

The concept for this sounded so fun and exciting and the world-building seemed cool, but the execution of it didn’t work for me. I read about 30% of the book before I realized nothing had happened and the characters weren’t notable enough to continue reading about. A lot of the plot and magic aspects read more like middle grade than YA, and I think I would have stuck with it if it had been written for younger readers. But since it's targeted for YA, it didn’t capture me. It was trying too hard to do too many things, and there were way too many characters to keep track of. I also could not get over all the giggling. It was just too much, and after reading other reviews, I learned it continues throughout the book.

Perhaps the right reader will enjoy and admire this, but it wasn't for me.

I read this because the sailor moon and cinder comparisons, two of my favorite things? Yes please. I absolutely loved the world building and the magic system but I struggled with the pacing. It just felt too slow at times and too long.

This book should have been marketed as middle-grade. I think all my frustration stems from this because it was not a bad book but I found myself struggling with it. I thought the world was interesting, the abominations and bad guys were kind of cool, and I felt like I could really picture everything as it was happening. But I wasn't expecting the characters to feel SO young, to need things to be spelled out for them constantly, and make (and repeat!) really silly jokes all the time.

That said if you go into it knowing that there will be lots of giggling, dirty jokes that go over the main characters' heads, and BTS references (from what I gather) you might have a really good time!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun book!

I absolutely love Asian-inspired fantasy, and when I saw this cover combined with it being Sailor Moon inspired? I was absolutely sold. This was such a fun read. The humor was cute and funny, the pacing was well balanced (if a SMIDGE fast at times, but I’ll get back to that), and the world felt full and ready to be explored. I loved learning about the guardians, and I’m always a big fan of a secret rebellion organization.

My qualms are small: the pacing was nice for character and relationship development, letting us have action interspersed with slow moments between our characters, but it wasn’t quite right for world building. It felt like when we learned about Zhara’s magic, there is never a clear explanation for how she uses it, only that it is unlike how other magicians do. I felt like I wanted more from the historical conflict as well, which did unfold well when it came to the demons and guardians, but not exactly how the different kingdoms came into play before the purge of magicians.

Ultimately, though, I thought that this was a fun YA fantasy. It lands on the younger side of YA, in terms of the complexity of the world and the quality of the humor, but this was still something I was able to enjoy and felt very much intended for that audience. I will absolutely come back to this, and am excited to see what happens next!

Thank you to Wednesday Books, St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this eArc!

I've been looking forward to reading Zhara for YEARS, ever since I heard about the hook of Sailor Moon being a comp and just being one of the most anticipated books for a long time. I dove into it as soon as I could. While I enjoyed the story with well developed characters, an interesting magic system and an enjoyable story, there were some pacing issues. I also feel this was partly due to sky high expectations due to the extended wait as S. Jae-Jones had to deal with personal issues, but I'm glad they dealt with it and it's finally out (it was first scheduled for release in 2019).

There is a short note about language in the book, which was appreciated. Also, the prose felt authentic, there wasn't any jarring modern day phrases that took me out of the story.

Another thing that caught me off guard was the comps weren't quite matching with what I actually listened to. For years, I was expecting this "Cinder meets Sailor Moon" narrative, and didn't feel it. After reading, Zhara felt more like "Tales of Zestiria meets Cinderella with the vibe of Avatar: The Last Airbender" as ToZ deals with the protagonist being the only one being able to purify human turned monsters with elemental powers and demons. Either way, it's fine with me.

Onto the story. Magic is banned in the Morning Realms as magicians are blamed for turning people into monsters, thus most of them were killed off. There's two POVs we follow throughout: Zhara and Han. Jin Zhara lives with her sister, Suzhan (who I loved her connection with) and step mother (neglectful/abusive), trying to get by and read her romance stories while hiding her magic. Prince Han and his companion, Xu, sneak out in ways to help Han's younger magician brother. Soon after Han and Zhara meet, they get wrapped up in a monster attack and entangled in The Guardians of Dawn, a mutual aid organization fighting against the current rule and to bring safety to magicians.

Zhara was easy to relate to. She's trying to stay alive and not get caught, but finds herself having to grow from an obedient good girl to someone able to stand up for what she believes in. However, throughout, she doesn't lose her core kindness and compassion. I loved her relationship with her sister and I felt for them as they had to deal with their abusive mother. Several moments with them toward the end tore my heart out. Han was also great, being a cinnamon roll, doing what he can to save his brother, but was hoping for a little more development from him besides love interest.

I really liked Han and Xu together, the prince and the supervisor, all throughout the story, and Xu just being annoyed with their prince at times.

I also liked Zhara and Han together as they became friends and dealt with their issues. I did like that Han kept calling Zhara "Mistress Brandy". Don't worry, there's no spice, just kissing, and it's more like a cute teen crush than high romantic drama, which I appreciate.

Overall, the characters weren't the deepest or most well developed I've seen, but they were interesting and somewhat fleshed out enough for the story.

The world building and magic was thought out and was fairly immersive and my favorite part. It felt lived in and I loved how there was trashy romance novels in this pre-industrial Asian inspired world. Though I did get lost at some points where Zhara was at certain points and I'm assuming the final version will have a map and wish the audiobook will have a map download handy. The magic was unique and had great depth. I was interested to hear more about how the guardians of each element worked, and I had ideas of why Zhara might have struggled learning magic, though it wasn't explicitly said. Though I do feel some aspects of the magic system wasn't explained well enough as I struggled to connect and had to re-listen, but I feel some of this was intentional to connect to Zhara's lack of understanding of magic.

This feels very YA in a good way. The protagonists all felt like teens, struggling with growing up and with authentic voices, and I feel is relatable to teens. There was plenty of levity and humor sprinkled throughout to keep things from getting too dark the whole way through. I know fans that see Upper YA as the "true YA" will probably not be as happy with this, and is something S. Jae-Jones has addressed in their newsletter. To me, it felt like a fun adventurous romp I would recommend for ages 12 and over (maybe even a little younger).

The biggest issue in my eyes was the pacing, mostly in the middle of the book, where the story dragged in sections. It felt like plot points were basically forgotten about for extended periods of time and was wondering when something was going to get brought up. Then it rushed toward the last few chapters with awkward info dumping and I still struggled to grasp what was going on. One of the plot twists almost went over my head. Also, some information repeated. However, I did understand the surface comprehension, which is fine for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the book despite its flaws and did enjoy the sequel hook and look forward to where it leads.

In this new YA fantasy about magicians, elemental warriors and monsters we go on a riveting journey through this Asian-Inspired fantasy world as our heroine tries to find balance in this chaotic world. The book follows Zhara and Han as they try to save the world from horrific abominations - magicians with corruption running through their bodies. Zhara is obedient, self sacrificing and a romantic at heart while Han is dorky, shy and lonely. There is romance between the two characters but I felt that the romance was a bit awkward and cringy - very anime vibes with how young and innocent the characters felt.

I would say this book felt very YA and a little predictable for me, however I still enjoyed the read and can't wait to read more about this world in the next book! I loved the fantasy world the author has created and the lore around the elemental guardians and magicians. I thought this was a fun YA adventure great for fans of A Song of Silver, Flame like Night who want more romance. I would recommend this book if you enjoy chosen-one trope and cheesy and awkward romance.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this book for me to review.

I think this really nailed the Sailor Moon vibe. And this book is the origin story. Young girl (who is constantly giggling) with secret magical powers is involved in an insanely complex world building with tons of characters (almost hard to keep track of), found family vibes, plot twists, action and adventure. This was very creative but at times it felt really drawn out and I had trouble staying focused. I’m also not a huge fan of 3rd person narrative. And I didn’t feel very invested in the characters or the story line. It felt juvenile at times and I felt like it just wasn’t really for me. But it was very creative and the found family aspect was done really well. I’m interested to see what the next installments look like, I think this could be something that gets better as it goes.