The Demon Race by Alexandria Warwick (2018)
-eARC Review-

YA Fiction | Fantasy
Blurb:

“A race across the desert.

An unimaginable prize.

It occurs once every thousand years: the Demon Race. A test of will and strength, it is a race across the Saraj, a fight for the prize of a lifetime. And it is the key to Namali Hafshar’s freedom. 

When shy, seventeen-year-old Namali learns of her arranged marriage, she flees home and enters the Demon Race for the chance to change her fate. But to compete, she must cross the Saraj on a daeva, a shadow demon that desires its own reward: to infect her soul with darkness.

Namali soon learns the desert holds more dangers than meets the eye. The only person she can trust is Sameen, a kind competitor seeking his own destiny. As her affection for him grows, however, so too does the darkness in her heart.

In this race of men and demons, only one can win. But the price of winning might be more than Namali is willing to pay.”
–Goodreads

Expected Publication Date: September 18, 2018 

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pooled ink Review:

Thank you to the author for submitting this book for review!

I was happy to have been offered this book to review and must say that overall I was rather impressed with it. The imagery crafted throughout was lovely and vivid weaving together to bring us this textured world full of light and darkness. The characters were interesting and there was plenty of magic and mystery spun throughout only made more exciting by the bloody race that seizes the plot.

Although I do feel that the writing with regard to world-building and imagery was very good it did sometimes get a bit caught up in its own prose, go on for a wee bit too long, and leave me a touch lost and confused. The writing would suddenly become wrapped up in trying to convey a moment or feeling and then would suddenly drop me back into the plot where things have changed and I’m not sure how it happened. One moment they’re riding in the desert and the next they’re surrounded or one moment she’s fine and the next she’s alone. The imagery and descriptive writing was very good but it did sometimes forget the reader. Although the author knows and understands everything going on, the reader does not.

But other than that this was certainly a desert-based fantasy featuring a deadly race, a girl grasping for freedom, and a dark magic that just might grant them the light. The Demon Race is a fast-paced read painted with bright colors and a constant darkness lurking beneath.

Cheers.

 Purchase here: The Demon Race

Similar recommended reads: Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

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Meet Alexandria Warwick!

In second grade I started a book writing club with my two friends where we made homemade t-shirts and published (i.e. stapled together) two books about camping out and throwing rocks at some boys when they stole our swings on the playground. The books were “gripping,” “earth-shattering,” and “like nothing you’ve seen before.” Said my parents.

Anyway, here I am, having never outgrown my love of crafting stories. In addition to writing, I’m a classically-trained violinist. I also dabble in watercolors from time to time. I feel most free when I’m creating, it’s safe to say.
-Alexandria’s Website

Website | Goodreads

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