Oh I loved this. I especially loved the opening chapter and then we go right into the story about the children who are being raised to be sacrifices. I love their caregivers too. The world building was exceptional. Thank you for the ARC.

First, I’d like to thank NetGalley and Blue Handle Publishing for the opportunity to read and review Sovereign.

This novel features a dual POV—one from the past, told through the perspective of a grey-haired woman, and one from the present, following 332. I’ll admit, I was a bit confused at first, but as the story unfolded, everything began to fall into place.

332 is one of ten orphans chosen for sacrifice to The Sovereign, a ritual meant to ensure the continued prosperity of their community. The grey-haired woman’s perspective reveals how this sacrifice came to be. Throughout the book, I found myself really invested in 332, 331, and 333 as they navigated their fate and grew as characters. And then—boom! The final three chapters completely caught me off guard. I did not see that twist coming, and what a cliffhanger!

I can’t wait to read the next installment of this saga. This book is perfect for YA audiences as well!

I was blown away by this book. I wasn't expecting it to amp up the way it did when it started out slow.

I had no idea why it was happening. I felt wrong footed and it was delicious. I had soooo many questions. I wish it had been longer. I feel like this could have been a full novel. The writing was amazing and I loved all the emotions I felt reading it.

Is there going to be a sequel? Here is hoping!!

4 stars

As a fan of Dystopian literature I was glad I got a chance to read the first of the trilogy. The story is told from two perspectives: an older in the far past of a group of people who still remember electricity and AC. but live hand to mouth farming and trying to get by and a young orphan girl with no name being prepared for the Festival in the even farther future. As the tow stories unfold we see how the bargains and beliefs of the past have shaped the future where ritual sacrifice is believed to be needed to ensure the lives of the others in the community. How much of this is true? How much is fantasy? No more spoilers from me but do not skip the epilogue and I look forward to book 2.

In this dystopian, for centuries orphans have been sacrificed to the gods for abundant harvests. Now it's time for orphan Number 332's along with nine others' turn.

While this book was short, it was fun and easy to read. This book was really good. There's gods. There is some sort of cult feeling. The only bad thing? It's so short, it's below 250 pages.

Thank you to Blue Handle and NetGalley for the e-book.

Thank you Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. The opinions written are completely honest and my own.

I loved The Lottery by Shirley Jackson in high school, so when I read the comparison it became a must read.

The first half of the book was terrific, but it started losing its momentum when the orphans began getting names. It got a bit confusing until the the the last swerve. Then iit made some sense, very much a trust the thought process situation.

I felt like this was written more for children than YA. It was super slow and never really picked up the pace. I think there is potential for this writer, but maybe with a different book.

Sovereign by A.J. Whitney is a dystopian young adult novel about an orphan named 332 whose destiny is to be sacrificed for the good of her community. When the practice is questioned, debate rages about its continued relevance, leading to 332 questioning everything she believes in.
At its heart, Sovereign is a good concept, even if it has been done to death in the genre. The world is not as it seems. The status quo has been in place for centuries but one person comes along to challenge it. The problem with Sovereign is that the main character isn’t the one doing the challenging.
She’s pulled along by forces out of her control. The adults in her life, and in particular the loving caretaker Maggie, are the ones who try to affect change. It leaves the story feeling disjointed and distant, as though we’re looking at events from the outside. That’s not to say that she doesn’t have any agency, but it’s hard to get a sense of them against the world when half the world is on their side. For the most part it feels as though the plot is just going through the motions and hitting plot points as it needs to with very little tension to keep things interesting.
The physical descriptions of characters are quite good and I felt as though I could really visualise them, but there isn’t the same level of description for the village itself. The prose is simple, which can be forgiven somewhat due to the genre, but I think that it might be too simple even for young adults. Ultimately, it feels like things could have been more focused and 332 could have had a greater part to play in the narrative than she did have.

The concept of this book had a lot of potential, however, I felt as if I wasn’t a reader in the target audience (adult/mature YA) as I wasn’t drawn into the story as much as I had hoped. The writing style bounces between two points of view, and I found myself speed-reading through parts. I did finish, so the plot wasn’t terrible, but it was also on the shorter/novella side in length - if it were any longer I may have felt the urge to skip sections where not much happened to further the story. I would recommend this book to a younger audience that may be interested in mystery novels, but isn’t ready for more mature reads

This one starts off slow and the time jumping made it a little hard to follow if you weren't focused on just reading. It's written from the views of two orphans one present and the other who lived about 300 years ago. They are a part of a group of orphans that the town sacrifices every decade to the "gods" to insure a good harvest. For me the past orphan story was a little more interesting and I also feel like this story should be geared towards YA then Adult.

I loved this delightful story and I truly cared for the characters. Bravo. I can't wait to read other stories in the series.

This felt like it was a children's book. Everything happened too quickly and easily, people's thoughts and feelings changed instantly, it wasn't great. It wasn't awful either and the glimpse we have in the epilogue does make me a little curious where the story will go, but I probably won't seek it out when it is released.

This story started off really great. That first chapter hooked me and I was ready to see what would happen....only then it jumped to a teenager in an orphanage and the story from their point of view in a different time. Which I didn't love. I was enjoying the grey haired lady's chapters, but they were few and far between and started getting just okay as well as the story went on. Like I said it felt like it should be a children's book, but the characters also didn't really feel like real people. I...it wasn't terrible, I kept reading even though a lot of what happened was really obvious, but it wasn't great either. It felt like a very familiar story done in an okay way. The only real interesting part for me was the epilogue and if the other books were out already I might give the second one a try just to see what is going on. As it is I will probably forget about this one by the time it comes out so I am not sure I will seek it out.

This is a book that starts out great but slows down and can't hold my interest up thorughout the book. The pacing needs some work. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a fascinating concept and worked with what was happening, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the sci-fi element that I was looking for. The characters were everything that I was looking for and enjoyed getting through this. A.J. Whitney has a strong writing style and was able to create characters that I cared about.

Starts slow but the set up is necessary, once this book has its hooks in you it won't let you go. YA Dystopian Literature fans will devour this. I am BEGGING for a sequel!

This is my first NetGalley book, and it was a great start! This is a short (202 pages) and fast-paced YA dystopian novel revolving around a town who sacrifices orphans every 10 years to keep their harvest healthy and bountiful.

I don’t typically gravitate toward YA novels, being a person in my late twenties, but I will never turn down an interesting premise. I also don’t usually reach for dystopian/sci-fi reads, but this one comes to life more as a thriller/mystery than anything else.

Told in two different timelines in the same small community, we learn how and why the practice of sacrificing the town’s orphans came into being. In the past, we follow the POV of an elderly woman charged with keeping her community alive. In the present, we are led by a thirteen year old orphan who knows that her life’s purpose is to serve her town by going to Sovereign. Both characters are strong and their motivations are clear and sensible, even if we, as modern readers, could never imagine making the decisions that they make.

The ending sets up a sequel, and upon further research, I’ve found that there are two more books in the works to continue this series. I wasn’t aware of that going in, but I could see myself picking up the next books and seeing these characters through to the end! If the premise is at all interesting to you, I definitely think you should give it a chance!

This was a very easy read, easy to get through. The language and vocabulary was slightly advanced in some areas, which I appreciated. The plot was intriguing and quick moving throughout, and kept me completely guessing. A good few twists, and the ending left me wanting more. Pretty sure this is the first in a trilogy(?).

I am super excited for this to be published! As soon as I heard that e-ARCs were availabe, I went and grabbed it. I've known this author for years, went to elementary school together! I will be buying a copy, for sure!

First my thanks to Blue Handle Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity for an ARC copy of this novel 🫶

This book gave me strong The Village/Hunger Games/Maze Runner vibes. A small group of orphaned children are chosen to be sacrificed to The Sovereign every 10 years to keep their town safe and crops growing.

You read from two POVs- one of the Orphans (number 332) point of view, you find out that not everything is as it seems and the other, from one of the village founders who lived 300 years in the past.

The first half of the books is a little slow, background information and setting up for the second half of the book in the exposition The second half definitely has the riding action and climax in the last few chapters that will get you hooked.

I will say- this book is probably more appropriate for a younger YA/teen audience. I could have seen myself reading this between the ages of 10-14 and being OBSESSED with it. That being said, reading it as an adult, there is much to be desired by the sentence structure, basic word choice, and in your face story telling.

While I found it a little juvenile for an adult read, like I said, I think this would be an AMAZING story for your young teen to get their hands on and will for sure be recommending it to my niece to read!

A unique story line that follows the legacy of a town that sacrifices 10 orphans every decade to the "gods" to insure a good harvest. Told in two parts with two POV, we see the original Sending.....sacrifice.....and see the current year's Sending through the eyes of one of the orphans. The story moves between the two timelines, setting the reader up for an ending that takes a step forward an unknown future. Short read that raises several questions then leaves the ending open to a sequel.

Well this was a book of three phases for me. It started with a Sci Fi mystery which I found intriguing but then it moved on to something which felt like a middle grade novel and I was quickly losing interest. But then there was a sharp turn and quite a bit of action. I became interested again and was eager to get to the conclusion and find out what was going on. Needless to say I was frustrated to find that there was a cliffhanger and I would need a second book to answer all my questions.

I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. And I'm still confused as to whether it's an adult or a teen novel.