Review: Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided both a print and audio ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a fun YA fantasy novel inspired by East Asian culture.  I do believe this is the beginning of a new series by the author.  This ends nicely and closes out this first adventure with Zhara and her companions, but sets us up well for the next installment.  There is still much to learn about the magic and the other characters but we aren't left with a huge cliffhanger.  I am interested to see where the story goes in the future.

This follows Zhara, a magician in hiding in a world where magic is forbidden.  Her father was executed for being a magician and her step mother has hidden her away.  She fills a sort of Cinderella role in her household doing the cooking and cleaning, but she also has a job outside of the home.  Her stepmother is not a nice person and treats both Zhara and her own daughter poorly.  Zhara doesn't know how to control her magic, so when she accidentally comes into contact with a secret organization that protects magicians and is trying to protect the people from a strange blight taking over the land she quickly learns that her magic might be the only thing that can save them.  She also has a chance encounter with an handsome boy, who isn't who he seems. Han's little brother is also a magician, and he is seeking the help of the Guardians of Dawn, the secret organization, to help protect his brother.  Han and Zhara quickly strike up a friendship that shows signs of turning into more.  They team up with the Guardians and other allies to figure out what is happening and figure out how they can save those with magic within the realm and prevent the blight from spreading.

This was a little on the slow paced side for my tastes.  This was a bit juvenile for my liking.  This is YA and the characters are teenager, but they read more like middle schoolers from their maturity and naivety at times.  Zhara is constantly giggling every time Han is around, and their romance was a bit cheesy.    This was definitely a case of I felt like I was not the audience for this book.  The magic system on the other hand was interesting and I enjoyed the plotline.  

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