Goodreads / Amazon/ Barnes&Noble / Book Depository/ IndieBoundWhen Andra wakes up, she's drowning.
Not only that, but she's in a hot, dirty cave, it's the year 3102, and everyone keeps calling her Goddess. When Andra went into a cryonic sleep for a trip across the galaxy, she expected to wake up in a hundred years, not a thousand. Worst of all, the rest of the colonists—including her family and friends—are dead. They died centuries ago, and for some reason, their descendants think Andra's a deity. She knows she's nothing special, but she'll play along if it means she can figure out why she was left in stasis and how to get back to Earth.
Zhade, the exiled bastard prince of Eerensed, has other plans. Four years ago, the sleeping Goddess's glass coffin disappeared from the palace, and Zhade devoted himself to finding it. Now he's hoping the Goddess will be the key to taking his rightful place on the throne—if he can get her to play her part, that is. Because if his people realize she doesn't actually have the power to save their dying planet, they'll kill her.
With a vicious monarch on the throne and a city tearing apart at the seams, Zhade and Andra might never be able to unlock the mystery of her fate, let alone find a way to unseat the king, especially since Zhade hasn't exactly been forthcoming with Andra. And a thousand years from home, is there any way of knowing that Earth is better than the planet she's woken to?
Ever since I first read that synopsis, I've been wanting to read this book! I just couldn't help thinking about it! After reading this book, I am happy to say that I enjoyed reading it!
The last thing Andra knew, she was getting cryogenically frozen for a trip across the galaxy. But when she wakes up, it's not in a sterile lab, but a barren desert full of people calling her Goddess. Turns out she overslept by a thousand years, and these people think she's an immortal being that uses magic. She's supposed to use magic to protect these people from pockets that cause destruction. Ordinarily, she might be able to, because magic in this future is technology from Andra's time. Except she can't seem to access the technology anymore. In order to help these people (and learn why she overslept), she'll have to team up with Zhade to learn how to be a Goddess. Because if she doesn't figure it out soon, these people might just think she would be better dead.
This book has so many intriguing sci-fi aspects to it! One of the more surprising things I found in this book was how it dealt with language. The language seen in the book reads similar to our language, but a few words have changed, or have different meanings altogether. For instance, -ish is used at the end of many words. "Evens" is used instead of okay. And "certz" is generally meant to be sure. It took a bit of getting used to, but eventually, it just flowed in the text easily. We get more of this language in Zhade's perspective than in Andra's perspective because it is naturally Zhade's language. It was fascinating to see them interact at times because they were both unfamiliar with each other's turns of phrase. It was also interesting to see how, like us the reader, Andra grew comfortable with the language. It was clear that the author gave a lot of thought in the language, which is something that I don't see authors usually take into account when it comes to worldbuilding.
It is also fascinating seeing how this future perceives technology. Of course, Andra is not from our time, but in the 22nd century, so much of her technology is new to us as well, but we still recognize it as technology. This future sees technology as magic. Nano particles are magic dust, robots are seen as angels, and coders (those who can use tech) are sorcerers. This was made even more obvious by the different POVs, between Andra and Zhade. By the way, the two perspectives were fantastically done. Sometimes when there are multiple POVs, it is hard to differentiate the voices, but these two characters had distinct voices.
Speaking of characters, I did like the characters in this book. Like I said, both had very distinct voices and personalities. It was sometimes harder to tell what their motives were (especially Zhade), but that was part of the mystery in the book. Andra has more chapters than Zhade so she does read as the main character, and I do think she made a great MC. She has her fair share of flaws, but she was thrown into this situation so it would be strange if she didn't have flaws. She is confused, in a different time, without her usual technological abilities. Many people want her dead just because of what they think she is. She is dealing with the loss of everyone she knew.
As for plot, the plot is slower in the first half of the book. I don't know why, but I felt like I was slogging my way through it. In the second half, it really picks up. This book turned out to half many plot twists, some I expected, but some took me by complete surprise! I was speeding through the last few chapters because there were so many revelations at once. The only downside I found to the fast pace was that sometimes I missed how characters reached certain conclusions or how they got from Point A to Point B.
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I ended up really liking this book. I thought it was incredibly original, full of surprising twists, and I loved how it took on technology and language. Something is stopping me from giving it a full five stars, though I can't really place why I am so hesitant. I think it was just I couldn't always connect with the characters, and some scenes went by almost too quickly. But I did really like this book, and I look forward to reading the sequel.
4 Stars!
Meaning: I really liked this book!
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