Guardians of the Dawn
By S. Jae-Jones

Look at that gorgeous cover 😍. Zhara is a YA fantasy in an East Asian setting. It’s marketed as Cinder meets Sailor Moon, but since I’m not familiar with either of those, I can’t really comment. (I did see a couple nods to Cinderella, but if they hadn’t said Cinder I may not have noticed).

The writing I thought was very nice. It wasn’t as flowery as Daughter of the Moon Goddess which was nice but it still created an atmosphere that reminded me of it. I really liked Zhara as a character, she has understandable motivations and trauma. A good balance of hopefulness and hopelessness. I enjoyed the rest of the cast as well, some more than others. The romance was sweet although I think some of the flirting could have been left out (as another character complains as well).

The world and the plot definitely has me wanting to learn more. The ending, though, was maybe a bit too tie things up in a pretty plot now to set up the next book. (If that makes sense). It will be interesting to see how Zhara continues to grow into herself.

Thanks to @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for this arc in exchange for an honest review

I received an ARC copy of this book from Netgalley. But all the opinions are my own.

I adored Guardians of Dawn: Zhara. by S. Jae-Jones. The characters were rich and I connected with Anyang the most. I love the non-binary representation. I also loved that S. Jae-Jones had used pronouns such as they/them. I loved the adventure and pacing. I never felt bored or wanting to put the book down. There is some Sailor Moon feeling elements. There are fairy tale elements. I definitely want to continue on with the series!

There are a lot of characters but I did not have a hard time keeping up with them. Each character had their own personality, story, and tone. The world building was beautifully weaved into the story and did not feel like it was info-dumping.

[Thank you Netgalley and Wednesday Books for an e-galley of this book, all opinions are my own.]

Oh, how a beautiful cover let me down.

Okay, but for real: Cinder is one of my all time favorite series, so seeing this book compared to the Lunar Chronicles really pulled me in. I have zero experience with Sailor Moon, so I cannot really compare and tell you whether this book gave me those vibes or not.

I was initially pulled into this book from the beginning, I was getting strong Cinder vibes, but very quickly I found myself confused and not sure what was happening most of the time. Even finishing the book, I have no idea what the purpose behind the books are, and why the characters wanted to find them so badly. I had a hard time following the story in the first half, it just completely went over my head.

The author made a note at the beginning of the book about her use of pronouns throughout, and how she shifted away from the generally Western-centric pronoun usage we all know and understand. I didn't think it would impact my reading very much, but there were multiple points where characters would use different pronouns for other characters, so sometimes I didn't know who was talking or who the speaking character was talking about. I understand the premise of using "they" for someone you're unfamiliar with and "he/she" for someone you are familiar with, but there is just a large cast of characters and it really tripped me up.

Despite that, the second half of the story was easier for me to understand and I definitely enjoyed some parts of it. I liked learning about the history of the Guardians and how that shifted into a revolutionary group today that helped saved magicians from certain deaths. I kind of understand the issue that the series is going to revolve around, with demons trying to walk the earth again, and that was another concept that interested me.

I also liked the characters, and despite there being a large cast they all felt unique in their own way. Since there was varying degrees of formality between the characters, different pronouns were used and I struggled when there was a lot of conversation happening, but otherwise I had a good general idea of who was who and who had certain features/abilities.

Overall, I am not sure if I would carry on and read the next book in the series, but man is that a beautiful cover. The concept of the book is very intriguing and I would definitely be open to giving the story a second chance later on down the road, I guess I will see what information comes out regarding book two. This was a pretty high fantasy book with a large cast of characters, a complex mythological history, and some adventure mixed in between.
Content warnings: genocide, death, loss of a loved one, confinement, child abuse, animal death, racism

This book was a breath of fresh and fun fantasy when the trend leans toward dark fantasy. I really got such strong Sailor moon vibes and it brought me right back to my childhood!

Magic is forbidden through the Morning Realms and blamed for the plague of monsters. Jin has enough to worry about without worrying aobut her own forbidden magic. But an encounter with Han brings her into contact with a magical liberation organization... Jin must disover the warrior within her self and save the world.....

A terrific story. Very detailed and imaginative. Love the characters and this version of the magical Cinderella. Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading more in this world....

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

Wow! Just wow!!!!
The setting, the cast… all top tier.
It’s really delivers on the premise of Sailor Moon meets Cinder, plus has immaculate historical Asian romance drama vibes AND BTS!! You can’t tell me the Bangtan Brothers aren’t based on them. AND magical girl pets!! It really does have it all
I really loved Zhara, but all the other cast were so good, too. I’m pretty sure Xu is my soulmate ;p
I truly hope I can nab a really nice copy when it’s published and look forward to the rest of the series!!