T. A. Hernandez

I had high hopes I would enjoy this book! This is the second book I have read from this author. And the fact Calico thunder rides again did so well in last year's SPFBO contest meant readers would naturally have high expectations. The first chapter of Secrets of PEACE is quite good, but that isn't enough to support an otherwise flaky book.

It seems like Secrets of PEACE takes place 70 years in the future where parts of the US is a dystopic landscape after a brutal war. Asian countries have become members of a large country called the Asian Federation with a very soviet style iron curtain that doesn't allow foreigners to visit. There is some modern technology such as an override system for digital IDs and self driving cars. Otherwise, the first 20% of the story reminds me of the first Divergent book.

Hiding in the shadows is this mysterious government (?) organization called PEACE. I suppose they adopt orphaned children. Like the Black Widow comic, they train these kids from a young age and shelter them from the rest of society. For unexplained reasons, these children are never taught foreign languages (not even super important languages for espionage and diplomacy like Mandarin), nor are they taught combat skills at a super young age like the children born in the Dauntless faction in Divergent. Only a small group of them start training in combat when they are around 14 years old. Even though spies need to improvise, most of them don't know how to drive ancient vehicles. Quite frankly, I really have no idea what skills they DO learn. Crochet, perhaps?

I didn't dislike the young female protagonist Zela who is part of the espionage faction in PEACE. The problem is that I never got to know her. She has a former roommate that share some banter every now and then when she visits HQ. But neither roomie have shared hobbies or anything even though they have known eachother their whole lives. I wouldn't demand to know if Zela has parents (probably not), but we never get to see her pondering or offer a glimpse of her favorite foods or anything. Her bursts of anger were fine, though. She is 18 years old, so her mental thoughts matched her age. But other than that, I never knew anything about her except she has short blond hair.

She ends up teaming up with a 20 something male veteran spy called Jared. I swear that Jared is like a carbon copy of Four from Divergent, but without the tattoos and the same strong motivation from a young age. Up to the 20% of the novel, we only know very few things about Jared. I can't really like him or hate him as a result.

The plot is okay enough. Zela and Jared want to stop a guy who is helping a terrorist mafia, but it seems all too simplistic. Is the asian federation planning something big? Is that little mafia group just peons? I will give the benefit of the doubt of the greater scheme of the book because I only reached 20% of the story. But team EPIC's group in particular in the SPSFC3 contest is surprisingly strong with books that have sucked me in a vortex in less than 10 pages.

In comparison, while this book is okay enough and might offer a entertaining story a bit later on, the lack of worldbuilding and excessive similarity with plenty of other similar books means this book has been unable to sufficiently stand out in a very crowded field. And so, it is a cut for me.… (más)

3.5
Book source ~ BBNYA

After a global war the PEACE Project was formed. Protect, Enforce, Advance, Control, and Eliminate are the rules to live by. Zira has been raised in the E-2 program and after she makes a rookie mistake the Chairman pairs her with Jared, a skilled operative who usually works alone. They get off to a rocky start, but things smooth out. Until Zira has a solo mission go tits up. Then her world falls apart.

This starts off a bit slow and it took me a little while to get all the specifics, but once I sorted everything out the world came into focus. Zira and Jared hit it off kind of fast for my liking, but it’s a stressful situation, so maybe it’s possible. The fact that they are in a relationship plays a big part at the end of the book though. The characters aren’t as fleshed out as I’d prefer, but maybe they grow over time. The plot is a common dystopian trope, but it’s executed decently. I’m curious to see how it plays out over the series.… (más)

Great book, loved it a lot. I anticipated I was going to enjoy this magical beast circus and its interesting troupe of performers and the book did not leave me disappointed.

Jake is a former dragon rodeo rider with an injured back running his father's circus as well as he can... if only he knew he inherited a whole heap of problems as well.

Along with top-notch performers and amazing tamed beasts (which includes a real dragon named Calico Thunder who is the real star of the show), Jake discovers his father owed heaps of money due to poor money management skills, and it seems like a dangerous mobster has just showed up right when he was starting to turn a profit to collect an impossible sum of money.

Jake must ponder between selling the circus to this man or try to obtain enough money by downsizing. Will he pay back the debt on time?

Well-written and full of nonstop fun, this is definitely a good read!… (más)

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This novel deals with a lot of serious topics which means there are quite a few dark and possibly triggering moments in this novel, however, they have been handled respectfully by the author. Hernandez has a contents warnings list on her website for all her books, and here is her list for Tethered Spirits:

Violence
Depictions of death
References to self-harm and suicidal ideation
Explorations of trauma and mental illness
Discrimination
Torture and imprisonment
Terminal illness

I want to add my own thoughts as a reader, especially as one who identifies as disabled and has depression, anxiety, PTSD and multiple chronic health conditions.

As mentioned in my introduction, healing from trauma is a storyline for one character, but their PTSD has not been used as a plot device. I say that as a reader with PTSD. Their trauma is specifically related to an incident involving fire, which may be triggering for some people.

There is a character who has a fictional illness causing chronic pain and fatigue; this is not the magical disease listed under disability representation. While it is fictional, it is a very real illness in the world Hernandez has created, with symptoms that reminded me of ME/CFS and fibromyalgia, although terminal in natural like cancer. Again, this has been written with care and respect, but may be triggering for people.

There are also flashbacks and references to raids and enslavement, and an act of genocide through magic.

Tethered Spirits is a novel filled with rich world building and fascinating characters who end up thrown together as their paths end up entwined around one man; Amar. For one reason or another, they are on a quest to help him find out what has happened to him, to unravel the mystery of why he can’t remember who he is or where he’s from. There’s much more to the story and as that’s a huge spoiler, all I’m going to say is that the details of his curse is not as simple as amnesia. It’s world-changing if it can be duplicated, and there are people who want to do so for good, and there are people who want to get hold of Amar for their own selfish reasons.

This is a book where not everything is as it seems and even when I’d begun to work out the twisted plots that Hernandez weaves, I didn’t see that huge twist at the end. She has magnificently set it up for book two, but I am getting way ahead of myself; there is plenty to unpack in book one without thinking ahead!

The magic system in Tethered Spirits is so interesting and unique. People can become mages (Tarjas) by tying themselves to the spirit of a deceased Tarja. That sounds extremely necromantic and dodgy as hell, however, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a symbiotic relationship. In exchange for getting to live on in the form of a spirit, the deceased Tarja can bond with a person and share their abilities with them. The spirit Tarja only has a short period of time to bond with a person after death, and if they fail to do so, their spirit has to move on. The bond they form is a close one, and the spirit’s form depends on how powerful they were in life.

This offers a whole new dynamic to the concept of magic and familiars, and in Tethered Spirits we see two very different Tarja’s and two equally unique spirits. The juxtaposition between the two also highlights the comparison between the two young women who are bound to the spirits, and this is where Hernandez’s writing really shines. Every character shines bright, yet not glaringly so. This is very much a novel of found family as Hernandez promised, and they slot together like a jigsaw. Tethered Spirits is all about stories and journeys, some of them happening right in front of us and some of them from long ago. Everything is connected, and sometimes all it takes for healing to begin is for a connection with the right people to be made, to find the right path for oneself. It’s not an easy journey, healing trauma, and Hernandez steers well clear of miraculous cures or other tropes.

This book deals with some heavy themes and there are dark moments, but I want to emphasise that Tethered Spirits isn’t all about doom and gloom. There are some fabulous moments of dialogue where humour and camaraderie bring light-heartedness to the darkness. The characters are well-rounded in that sense, able to laugh at themselves and each other, teasing each other in a friendly manner even when they’re dodging death. It’s a fun novel, packed with adventure, mystery, magic and friends who have made their own family. If you love fantasy novels, then this needs to go on your TBR pronto.

For more of my reviews please visit my blog!… (más)