Zhara is a magician in a realm in which it is forbidden, and magicians have been mostly eradicated during the Just War. Magicians have been blamed for becoming dangerous monsters - abominations - though they cannot control if they contract this blight. She has a chance meeting with Han, the prince and heir of her kingdom, and together they join the magical liberation group, the Guardians of Dawn. Zhara discovers she is the key to determining the source of the blight, as she has the ability to sense and heal the corrupted magic.

This book in general was good, a bit slow for my tastes. I did enjoy the world building aspect of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley for the eARC

I had been highly anticipating the release of this book for a very long time. I remember coming across the listing on goodreads not long after S. Jae-Jones wrapped up the Wintersong duology. I was immediately drawn in when I read that this book would be Sailor Moon inspired. Finally after some time it will be released to the world and in my honest opinion...I was highly disappointed.

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara is the story of a teenage girl who is emotionally and physically abused by her step-mother and tries to survive everyday by keeping her head down. Oh and she is a magician while magicians are being hunted down and killed throughout the land. One day her life gets flipped upside down when the strength of her power becomes apparent to her and she starts to realize that she may be more than just a magician but a Guardian of Dawn: a legendary warrior of myth born to save the world from the chaos of demons. We also have Han, the prince who is desperate to find aid for his magician little brother who he suspects is being plagued by dark forces. When Zhara and Han cross paths they find themselves on a journey to save the realm from demons and magicians from persecution.

In theory this all sounds great. In execution not so much! This book started off really strong. I was immediately drawn into the world and I quickly took a liking to the characters. But as time went on my affection for everything lessened. I found Zhara to be a bland protagonist. She acted differently depending on who she was speaking with at the time and she was a classic YA protagonist heroine with insane magical powers she doesn't know how to use but miraculously is able to use them in dire situations every single time. There was no growth to her power, one moment she was clueless and the next she was pulling off amazing magical feats. Her power was also a little too powerful. The best way I can describe it is like Kirito from Sword Art Online a.k.a. God Mode. The power of the Guardian of Fire is transformation meaning she can basically create anything and shape anything to her will. It's too much and it led to action and plot sequences being less impactful because I knew there was never going to be any danger. As for Han he is literally the Ken to Zhara's Barbie. I have never read about a bigger himbo in my life. Han was too dumb and it became a running joke throughout the book that lost its humor after the first few mentions. He is actually clueless and one of my biggest pet peeves in people is stupidity. While Han is a very sweet and caring boy it was completely overshadowed by his main character trait: dumb jock. Another weird thing was the inclusion of BTS as actual characters. In this world they are the Bangtan Brothers, a wandering acting troupe that the realm is obsessed with. If it was just left to being easter egg mentions it would have been completely fine but it progressed to them being actual characters showing up on page with plot purpose and I was cringing a little not going to lie.

The plot was a bit all over the place. It was a bit confusing to follow since there would be random plot points or world info dropped at weird times in the book. Instead of the world building being given in the beginning of the book it was periodically sprinkled in throughout. A good idea in theory but it just left me scrambling to remember. I think this book would greatly benefit from a glossary and that would solve this issue. Since this was an arc I have no idea if the final copy will have one so keep that in mind. I have already mentioned the convenience of Zhara's powers really dampening the suspense.

The writing was extremely repetitive. Like how I mentioned above about Han's lack of intelligence being a constant reminder throughout the book this happened with many things. Another being Zhara's uncontrollable fits of giggles when she finds someone attractive. Or information being presented multiple times like it was new but it was not. This book reads very young and I think it would benefit in the middle grade category. The characters were quite immature but they were dealing with YA issues and mentioning adult themes (like pornography and Han's knowledge lack thereof being another constant joke?). I think younger readers, like actual teenagers, would enjoy this book a lot more than I, an adult in my mid twenties.

All this being said there were things about the book that I enjoyed. I really enjoyed Xu as a character. They are a gender ambiguous individual who is Han's best friend and confidant in the palace. Xu was funny and honestly an icon. I loved that they were unapologetically themselves and was not afraid to say whatever was on their mind. Jiyi was another fun character. She is a retired courtesan turned poet in her early twenties that ends up being somewhat of a teacher to Zhara and the only person for miles who can read the language of magic. She was also not afraid to give her opinion and she did not let danger stand in her way. The last character I really enjoyed was Yulana, the princess from the northern empire and Han's betrothed. She was not at all what I was expecting. Yulana was a vibrant personality, a strong warrior, and an intelligent individual. It was fun to watch her and Han's dynamic considering they both were every much not thrilled with the engagement and the fact that their interests are elsewhere.

I really enjoyed the close yet strained relationship between Zhara and her stepsister Suzhan. They care for one another but there is this underlying resentment that is hard to place until you learn why farther into the book. They did not have the perfect relationship and one of my favorite lines in the book was Suzhan telling Zhara that she would never sacrifice her own happiness for anyone, even Zhara. The dynamic was really interesting.

The manipulation and abuse by Zhara's stepmother was really well written and those parts, while dark and hard to read, were actually some of the best parts of the book. Watching how the stepmother's manipulation and emotional abuse had such a hold over Zhara her whole life was really interesting to see. While it's sad it was one of the few plot points in the book that had suspense due to Zhara not being able to solve it with her magic.

I really loved the Wintersong easter eggs/references in the story. Wintersong is one of my favorite books of all time so it being included as a famous light novel called "The Maiden Who Was Loved by Death" in this world was such a fun little thing. I really got a kick out of the characters quoting lines from the novel that were actually straight quotes from Wintersong that I recognized. I just think it was a really fun thing for S. Jae Jones to do and to subtly connect the two worlds like that.

While this book was supposed to be Sailor Moon meets Cinderella it was mostly its own thing. The Sailor Moon inspiration is there but not overdone and same with Cinderella. I actually did not even know this book was supposed to be inspired by Cinderella until I read it in another review. This world is very original and I would like to read more stories in it so long as they do not follow Zhara and Han. I will try out the second book in this series so long as it is not in Zhara's POV. Her story was not for me but I am very willing to give another guardian's story a go. I would recommend this story to an adolescent/teen audience or readers who have not read a lot of YA fantasy. I look forward to the next book which I believe is inspired by Beauty and the Beast. I'm a sucker for a good Beauty and the Beast story.

Overall I enjoyed this book. The magic system is intriguing. I am enjoying the world building, this idea that magic is illegal and those with it have been hunted. The idea of the 4 guardians being reborn to face the princes of hell is fun and interesting.
Some of the humor is a little heavy handed as is the foreshadowing/big reveals.
It does have LGBTQ+ rep which I liked.
A few things I found off putting was the numerous names for everyone, at times it got a little confusing. A map would also have helped with visualization, as well as a cast of characters glossary.
Overall I’d probably continue the series.
I was given an arc by netgalley my opinions are my own.

good story but I didn't get hooked into the characters. I also didn't love how MANY modern day references there were (or allegories that were very close - looking at your BTS). Also didn't love the mid gendering of the NB character.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the eARC. This was a solid beginning for a younger YA series. I would say it reads as more younger YA as the characters felt juvenile. There were several phrases that the characters used which were overly repetitive (“Good-Looking Giggles” being one). The other side characters could have been further developed. Overall, I neither loved or hated the book. I am curious to see where the rest of the series goes, especially if the next book is focused on a different Guardian of the Dawn.

This book started slow and was pretty confusing, but pushing through to the half way point was worth it as it picked up. I probably wouldn't read it again, but I'd recommend sticking with it, it becomes a really good fantasy!

Thank you to the publisher for providing a review copy

The concept sounded so promising, and I was really looking forward to it. I’m such a huge fan of Cinder and the lunar chronicles and the fact that it was also Asian fantasy? HELL YEAH. However, as I started to read it and get to know the world and the characters…I could tell that this was not for me.

I can’t talk too much about the plot because I only got 20% in but from what I got up to, nothing was really happening. It was very slow to start and I feel like a lot of scenes felt very random and could have been condensed. Being completely honest, if you asked me what was going on in this book, I would not be able to tell you because I had no idea what was happening.

As for the characters, this was what made me put down the books because they were just so annoying. Zhara, the main character definitely had so much potential as a character, as she’s a girl who’s had to hide her magic her entire life and is terrified of using it, especially because it harmed her little sister in the past. However, as I kept reading about her, the more and more I didn’t like her. I honestly don’t know how to properly explain this, but to me, it seemed like she had two completely different personalities, which threw me off. At first we see this shy, quiet girl who keeps her head down and is just trying to survive, and then the next thing you know, she’s flirting around in a way that feels very much unlike her personality. She also had a bunch of weird character quirks, such as stammering every 3 sentences (I am not even exaggerating) and the “good-looking giggles.” I kid you not, every time someone attractive interacted with her this girl was GIGGLING, and the phrase “good-looking giggles” was brought up way too much. I just couldn’t do it.

Also the humour in this book… Being so honest right now, this felt like not even a millennial trying to write Gen Z humour. This felt so much worse. For a book that is supposed to be YA, and is filled with a lot of aspects that felt very middle grade or lower YA (i.e. the writing style, world-building, immaturity of the characters) there were so many juvenile jokes. And while I appreciate a good dirty joke…this just wasn’t it. From what I’ve read, the absolute entirety of the humour comes from these ‘dirty jokes.’ The amount of times sex, or pornography was mentioned was just way too much to the point where it felt repetitive, redundant, and just icky.

All in all, I don’t think this was the book for me and I’m sad to give this a 1/5 stars. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ZHARA releases August 1st 2023.

"I would rather light the flame knowing it will go out, than sit forever in darkness."

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Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

In a world where magicians are accused of being abominations and responsible for the rising numbers of monsters terrorizing the Morning Realm, magic is forbidden!

Between caring for her blind sister, serving her wicked stepmother, and trying to subdue her magic, Jin Zhara lives a quiet but secretive life.

All that changes when she stumbles upon a boy who has a secret, too. With the help of Han, Zhara finds a hidden magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn. Magicians are being transformed into monsters by a mysterious plague, and the Guardians of Dawn believe evil demons are to blame. With news of the monsters re-emerging in the Marsh, action must be taken.

Zhara must uncover the elemental warrior within if she is to restore harmony and peace to her world or let chaos reign forever.
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First and foremost... S. Jae-Jones and her writing style... I am constantly impressed. I will read whatever her heart desires to write because it just flows!

This was a fun and entertaining read and held true to YA. The love was so innocent and sweet, the characters were a united friendship fighting evil, and the resolve left me satisfied but wanting book two.

You can easily jump into this epic world with tons of loveable and enduring characters. The monsters were so exceptionally creepy and vivid that I thought of them long after they left the pages.

I will definitely continue this journey!

This retelling with a twist will be available on August 1st, but you can pre-order now🌸

Zhara
Zhara, named after the main character, is so cute! I loved the way the author intertwined comedy into the story and had a main character that also serves as comedic relief. After reading several darker/serious fantasy books, this was a very nice respite.
In this universe, magicians are burned alive, and we follow the story of Zhara, a magician, and His Grace Han. They are introduced very early in the story by a book swapping meet-cute. Han switching his book of magic with Zharas romance novel. The magicked people of the world are slowly turning into demons and they believe they figured out why.
the story did lose me a smidge in the middle but it picks back up. Really good read and a palette cleanser.

I was immediately drawn to Guardians of Dawn: Zhara after reading the captivating description that included Sailor Moon, Cinderella, monsters, love, and hidden magic. By the end of chapter 2, my heart was captured by S. Jae-Jones' relatable, endearing, and genuinely kind protagonist, Zhara.

S. Jae-Jones weaves together a compelling narrative that explores mythology, intense family dynamics, and a sweet romance. The characters are beautifully written and evoke a range of emotions, from love and affection to fear and rage. Zhara's character is reminiscent of Cinderella in that she is mistreated and manipulated by her stepmother, but she is determined to protect her blind sister at all costs and has a passion for romance novels(SAME Girl).

The fantasy elements and world-building are captivating, and I felt fully immersed in the world S. Jae-Jones created. If you're a fan of fantasy, romance, and beautifully written characters, Guardians of Dawn: Zhara may be the perfect read for you.

ALSO as an artist by day THE COVER IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara (Guardians of Dawn #1) by S. Jae-Jones, 416 pages. Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), 2023. $20. lgbtqia
Language: PG (5 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Being discovered as a magician means death in order to prevent abominations from running rampant again—except that abominations are coming back anyway. While she is still unsure about the nature of her magic, Zhara (16yo) will do what she can to help find the guardians and heal the abominations. Hans (17yo) also wants to find the guardians and offers to help, all the while hiding the identities of himself and his betrothed.
Forbidden magic, unwanted arranged marriages, and a search for the heroes to save them all—fantasy troupes we all love. Zhara’s story has a lot of potential, but setup for the action was slow going. The fantasy world built by Jae-Jones could be cool, but there was too much textbook-like explaining and I skimmed a lot of it. I admit that the parts with meeting the secret society, backstabbing, and the powers were engaging; I hope this book got all the boring details out of the way for the sequels.
Zhara is described as having “brown” skin, and the majority of characters are implied non-White. The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol and pornography, innuendo, scary images, and attempted sexual assault. The violence rating is for mentions of genocide and murder, implied physical abuse, child abuse, and fantasy violence.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I really enjoyed this book. The tagline suits it perfectly because it is truly Sailor Moon meets Cinderella. I loved the use of humor in the face of danger and the banter between the characters. I also loved the world building and am eager to read the next book in the series.

One thing I wasn’t crazy about was the MC. Don’t get me wrong, I liked her. But I didn’t love her. She was a little too silly at some points to take seriously. I hope the other books in the series follow the other Guardians because I’d love a book about the Guardian of Wind (I won’t say who because of spoilers).

Overall, this was a great start to a series I can’t wait to continue and I will definitely be reading S. Jae-Jones’s other books.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars
Solid beginning to a series. Most of the characters were good, I think I liked some of the side characters more than Zhara. The world building was interesting and the magic system was as well. The writing style was so-so, there were times I was pulled out of the story, but it was easy to listen to.
Some of my favorite characters were (I'm hoping I don't butcher the spelling of these names as I listened to the audio) Chee who is the prince's best friend, Yulia, and the prince's young brother. Chee was just a great sidekick and added some humor. Yulia was the prince's arranged fiancee and she was very confident and I enjoyed the page time I got with her. The prince's brother, I have no idea why I really liked him as he's not in the book a lot. Both Zhara and the prince (Han?) were just ok for me. Zhara was very submissive to her stepmother and oblivious the the obvious abuse she was giving her. She doted on her blind sister who seemed to not want to be doted on. She was much more confident and a more likeable character when she was away from them. Han was juvenile, but a cinnamon roll. He was almost there. Oh, I also loved Sasha, the cat. He was sassy.
The world building was good, I really could picture the scenes in my head. The magic system was interesting, if a little confusing at times. Magic is forbidden, yet Zhara possesses it. She can make light with her hands and I believe a few other things (other than the *big* thing that is a spoiler). People also can get possessed by demons.
The writing style wasn't my favorite because there were times I was jarred out of the story, yet being a longer than (my) typical audiobook at almost 16 hours, I felt like I flew through it. It was so easy to listen to while doing something else which I don't always find with a fantasy book.
This book was marketed as Cinder meets Sailor Moon which is like 99% of the reason I requested it, but I didn't find a lot of them. At around 70% through I said to myself "ah, I see the Sailor Moon now." Granted, I haven't read Cinder in years, but I didn't see a ton of it. Zhara was the step-daughter who fell in love with a prince but that's all I can remember from Cinder that gives me the vibes.
The book was nicely wrapped up, but with a lead into the next book that makes you want to pick it up. I will definitely be continuing on with this series. I'm excited to see what happens next in Zhara's story!

This was a cute and fun YA with nice world building. It got a little repetitive at times and dragged a little in the middle, but overall I enjoyed this story and will continue to read the books to see where it goes.

I also loved the queer rep in this book. One of the side characters was non-binary while another was a lesbian. And these things aren’t a big deal. It’s just part of society and I loved that.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara is a Cinderella retelling where the main character, Zhara, has magic in a world where magic is absolutely NOT allowed. She lives with her stepmother, who is not nice, and her stepsister, who she actually adores. Her father was a magician, and he is no longer in the picture because magicians were essentially killed off. There is a mysterious happening occurring, which Zhara learns about through her part time work with an apothecary. She stumbles upon a book on magic, which begins the story.

This book felt *extremely* YA. I do not say that as a bad thing, I am just now a thirty year old woman who cannot always connect to a book written for a much younger audience. This book was very fun and enjoyable nevertheless. Zhara gets the giggles when she's around someone she finds attractive, which was adorable. I see this book being a very big hit for a younger crowd, and I am ok with not being a part of that crowd. The magic system was fun, though a bit under developed. I think this is a light fantasy with a side of romance that will work very well with those looking for a book like this!

I would say that overall this was an average read.

I liked the world that we are introduced to, and I found the politics and magic system very interesting. The book seemed to move at a fast pace, and I enjoyed the different POV’s.

My biggest disappointment while reading, though, was the dialogue between characters. While I liked the main characters (Zhara, Han, and Xu), they seemed to be very surface level. Their conversations between each other were very juvenile and cringy. The characters are 17, but speaking like middle schoolers. Some of the characters try to be funny, but it’s just childish.

This made the story not enjoyable for me because I love well done dialogue and character interactions.

This is marketed as YA, but with middle grade characters.
I would recommend this to a younger reader, but not to anyone over 16.

This was reminiscent of Cinderella and Avatar with its elemental magic. I enjoyed this quick read. Some dialogues were corny and juvenile-ish, but still entertaining. I just didn’t like that Zhara was still justifying her abuse from her stepmother’s til the. There was good chemistry between Xhara and Han, but Han’s character felt inconsistent. Like is he the charismatic dependable capable prince or is he silly half-wit?

This is such a fun introduction to the series! I loved the worldbuilding and the character interactions, it really gave me the same feeling as some of my favorite TV shows (as many have mentioned, The Last Airbender came to mind!) I love stories with a ragtag group of friends on a journey to save the world, so this was right up my alley!
My one issue was some of the phrasing is a little clunky, and the main character keeps talking about how she wants to “thrive, not just survive”. This felt overly cheesy to me and isn’t unique or inspiring enough for this to be a phrase that is repeated over and over throughout the book.

Sum of my review: as long as you don't mind a fairly typical plotline and can handle really bad jokes, this one might intrigue you with its unique world and magic system.

When I first read the description for Zhara, I was super excited. Cinder is one of my favorite books, so I eagerly dove into this one after seeing it be compared to one of the original YA sci-fi fantasy series. Unfortunately, this one did not work out for me. While I enjoyed the folklore and overall concept, I struggled to find a true connection to the characters and the story. The predictability and repetition in this book are why I gave this a lower rating.

The different plot's twists were all fairly obvious early on in the book (minor spoilers for the book in the next section). Jin Zhara's magic from the beginning does not operate like magic is supposed to, and there are other big clues that hint at who she truly is. Han's younger brother's very detailed dreams are mentioned quite often, which clued in that they were foreshadowing the rest of the book. Generally, I don’t mind when I figure out plot twists, but in this case, they were so glaringly obvious that absolutely nothing surprised me. These clues are major hints either needed to be toned down or left out completely.

The writing was not of the best quality, which unfortunately made the sharp wit in this novel fall completely flat. I have no problem with juvenile jokes in YA. In fact, immature jokes are a staple of the genre. However, the author was trying so hard to be funny, that it made me more painfully aware of how I never laughed. For example, Zhara nervously laughs when she finds someone attractive. While that might be endearing if used sparingly, it’s called the “Good Looking Giggles” and this phrase was used often. In fact, it was used twenty-two times. No joke should be used that often in a series, much less in one book. Han, who is seventeen years old, has no understanding of pornography. Which was fine the first time, but it keeps being brought up. This repetitive cycle dragged the book out even longer than it needed to.

Speaking of repetitive jokes, in general, this book is very repetitive. Dozens of times, Han's friend Xu almost calls him “Your Grace” or “My Prince” in front of Zhara and others, but always switched halfway through to address him more casually. There is no way at least one of them did not question why Xu was having a hard time addressing their best friend. Several times we have the trope where Zhara calls something beautiful/pretty and Han agrees, but while looking at her. This happened at least three times I can recall. I wish more page space had been dedicated to building the characters or the world.

If these things don’t deter you, go ahead and give this a go. It does have a classic Cinderella feel, and while I found the plot predictable, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad one. In fact, we see this plot structure often in YA because it is good and engaging. Just don't go into this one expecting a lot of giggles.

NOTE: there is a character with a disability in this novel. As someone with a disability, I found the representation to be a little uncomfortable. Since I do not have this character's specific disability, I won't say it was good or bad. Just something of note!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Magic is forbidden. Zhara is a girl from a poor family who just wants to take care of her blind sister - while keeping her magic hidden from authorities. When a mysterious plague hits, Zhara must help a secret society stop it with her magic.

My expectations were really high for this book and it was al little underwhelming. The banter in the book is hilarious and I really liked all the characters.

The characters seemed a little younger than their stated ages based on the way they were acting. Zhara stumbles through half her words and giggles every time she sees someone attractive. The plot was a little slow and I didn't feel like I NEEDED to read like I do with some other books.

You will like this if you enjoy: elemental magic, forbidden magic, tame romance, monsters and demons, YA, and banter.

Storygraph review to be posted 7/4.