I love YA books, especially fantasy. I’ve never been a big fan of much sci-fi, especially aliens. However, I do like Star Wars, so I gave The Quest a chance. It was a bit hard to get started, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised! I love Arcadia. She’s a wonderful & complex character. When the story caught my attention, it held on, which is difficult. And the ending??? What a cliffhanger! Can’t wait to start the second book! Curious to see where the story goes.

As a child Arcadia was raised by her father until the day the empire came after him for rebelling against them. Arcadia’s father was killed and her brother managed to escape but Arcadia was caught by the guards and taken to a place known as the Kamps where they try to break down the prisoners and steal their memories.

However, after four years in the Kamps the Emperor rescued Arcadia and brought her into his close trust where she became known as the Emperor’s Shadow. A sometimes brutal killing machine that was meant to protect the Emperor and the laws that he enforced Arcadia never expected that the latest assassination attempt would come from the brother she thought must have been long gone since he’d never made an attempt to rescue her himself.

Eleven years after that fateful day Arcadia and her brother have found themselves on opposite sides of the war. Arcadia is fiercely loyal to the Emperor since he had saved her but when her brother seems to believe that their father knew of a planet called Sanshll that can rewrite the past and possibly change the future that they both now know Arcadia can’t help but want to find the truth.

The Quest is the first book of the Sanshlian series by Dani Hoots. The series falls into the science fiction category for the young adult/new adult age range and while normally this would lead in most books in this age range being romance mixed in there really wasn’t much of that involved.

The main character Arcadia after being taken from her family made a life for herself and became the strong character she was on her own. But even with being saved by the Emperor and being loyal for years when her family member came back into the picture it raised the question of what is stronger her blood ties or loyalty.

The story about a hidden place to save the world was highly interesting to follow. There was plenty of action as loyalties are questioned and the characters go about their journey which made this sci-fi adventure one that kept my attention even though it’s not a top pick for genre for me. Would definitely continue the story as this one left with quite the cliffhanger.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley.