A good read, but admittedly I struggled with the first half of it. For me: the pacing felt off and the characters, flat. There are also a number of details that didn’t quite make sense (in my perspective) — for instance: conclusions that are leapt to without much backing or substance. Mostly for the sake of advancing the plot. Given that I believe much of what happened could have been carried into a second book, this feels like an unfortunate side effect of having rushed through the story in this one. I will say that a lot of what distracted my focus, however, was the language. There’s something that feels very modern in some of the descriptions and dialect, which took me away from the depicted ancient setting.

Overall, however, I think this will be a solid (if not great) read for anyone who enjoys multi-pov fantasy novels with prophecy, mysticism, and chaos.

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗 [4.5]
🌶🌶 [FTB]

His Face Is the Sun is the first book in a captivating multi-POV epic fantasy trilogy inspired by Ancient Egypt that follows four compelling characters: Sita, a spoiled princess burdened by secrets she must keep; Neff, a girl in a village doing alright, but she became a priestess overnight as she’s unexpectedly chosen by a goddess; Rae, a rebel who takes things in stride and never backs down though frequently lets her emotions drive her; and Karim, a tomb robber thrust into a world-altering prophecy and is now set on an adventure that may help or bring the world to ruin. Their journeys intertwine, fulfilling—whether they like it or not—an ancient oracle.

Before I continue, I'll mention that romance isn't central to the plot. The only established relationship is between Rae and her crush with a girl in her village. There's also description of suggestive content, though they are lyrical and mostly kept brief, not explicit, in case it matters to those who will be reading this book.

I'll be honest and say it: I had a hard time getting into the book at first, and the early chapters were pretty lengthy, which was a bit discouraging for me. It took time to establish the scene for the story and introduce the characters and world building to the audience, which is a good thing, but I assumed it was going to be fast-paced and all action, which I was wrong. As the story progressed, the chapters became a bit shorter, and action and adventure began to unfold. After that, the reading experience went quite smoothly.

I loveee the characters and I feel like they are really well written and that they do feel like individuals instead of characters that were created just for the story. Each character has unique goals, motivations, personalities, and relationships, creating a diverse and engaging cast. The best aspect of it all was that each person's personality seemed so unique that it felt like fate’s design • ᴗ < . There were no encounters between the four of them at first, but some did cross paths and felt the strings of destiny tug them together. I adored every interaction, especially Karim and Neff because they clearly have witty banter that I would love to see more of.

The book alternates POV’s, and they aren't in any specific order, so I was definitely playing favourites because Karim's POV was my most anticipated, followed by Neff, Rae, and Sita. Sita's stubbornness initially frustrated me, making her chapters slower to read, but I have high hopes for her character development, especially near the end of the book, because I can see some steps she's taking to mature herself and her mindset, and grow from being ignorant to being someone reliable.

I was plenty immersed in the story that I could practically feel sand in my eyes, if that’s worth noting. It was satisfying to puzzle through parts of the oracle and the events happening in the present and if the characters’ actions will change the prophecy or if every action is all part of the plan. The ending leaves with a cliffhanger which is criminal to say the least. I hope more could be answered in future instalments, and I'm really looking forward to them because I need a group gathering scene at least once.

I definitely suggest this book to anyone who is interested in the premise and setting. The jargons and names take some getting used to, but it's not so insane that you'll be straining to catch up with everything, because the book begins gradually and helps you comprehend how things function in this new and unfamiliar world.

All in all, the best character is obviously Behkai and Paws, and I'm sure many will agree (ദ്ദി ๑>؂•̀๑)

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⋆ ★

𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺, 𝘚𝘖𝘜𝘙𝘊𝘌𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘒𝘚 𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘣𝘦̀𝘴 𝘊𝘰𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴.

I enjoyed this book to an extent. It was refreshing to read a fantasy book based around a lesser known mythology but it wasn't anything overly special. The characters were a little bland and the story line moved a little fast, some of it could've probably gone into the next book. There are also somethings that require more explanation into how and why they're happening that we don't really get explained to us I will say that there is a lot I loved about this book as well though. The author did a great job giving explanations into the gods and mythology so you're not lost and overall the story is interesting and I will be reading the next book in order to see what will happen. I like that there isn't a whole lot of romance in this book (but there is some hinting of it in the future) because it allows the reader to be more focused and engaged to the plot

Thank you to author and publisher for the arc!

I truly get why they call this an Ancient Egyptian version of Game of Thrones, it felt exactly like that!

I was afraid going into this purely because of it being YA, and I notice that YA these days just doesn’t hit the same but wow, this book was incredible. These characters were so well put together and the worldbuilding was perfectly balanced.

I’m so incredibly happy this is a trilogy because that ending is making me desperate for more!