I loved THE SUNSET SOVERIGN, a gorgeous coming of age fantasy set in a world where some children begin to hear voices at a young age and are taken from their parents and sent to the Capital for “special” chosen futures. Isobel has always heard the voice of “Rusty”, her sovereign and loves the things he teaches her. She is excited to go to the Capitol and go through the different ceremonies and tests as a supplicant of the sunset sovereign, those chosen to hear the memories of those who are at the ends of their lives. I thought the world building in the novel was outstanding. Such amazing descriptions and really interesting and clever set up. When Isobel is tested with a controversial situation, she is put in a difficult position. Will she go through with the trials? I loved how the book showed the pain her parents go through when giving her up, the different choices those who are chosen to serve the sovereigns must make. I loved Yvaine’s character especially. She was so interesting. And I felt my heart break for Poll on every page. Very well written! 5/5 stars. ( )

The review may contain some mild spoilers!

Whew! This was a quick read! I started reading this book without reading the premise to keep a 100% open mind, which helped me enjoy the book a bit more.

Before I really venture into the meat of the story, the book gave me very vague Hunger Games vibes. Different villages of varying degrees of quality of life present a small group of young teenagers to some selectors. The selected are whisked to the mysterious capital where very few people are ever allowed to visit, most likely never to see their friends and family ever again (and even if they did, they would return so changed that their families would no longer recognize them). These selected candidates would then compete with each other to a certain degree to win a prize where the truth is not as good as it might seem at first sight.

Looking back, the fairytale utopia we are fed at the story's beginning is much more a house of falling cards that seems to collapse as our protagonist Isobel becomes older and wiser. I usually dislike stories where young teenagers huddle together, act very bubbly with seemingly perfect lives, and say their names real fast. I tend to end up not really remembering anyone 5 minutes later. The only character alongside Isobel that stands apart is the sulking Night applicant named Yvaine. She intrigued me from the start, and it felt refreshing to have a few POV chapters where an applicant lived a depressing childhood whose dourness never allays the idealized perfection of the Capital. For some odd reason, I always imagined Yvaine physically resembling Heather from that cartoon Total Drama Island with a perpetual frown.

The book has a bit of an uneven pace with a lot of slow-building the first 40% of the way, a pretty stable middle, and it moves lightning fast for its dramatic finale. And yes, the ending is really good. In some ways, this book felt very reminiscent of the 2011 anime Blood C: Last Blood.

Both stories have a protagonist who spends an insanely long time giggling among her friends with very little going on. And then, the story turns darker, and everyone becomes well aware at the very last minute. The main differences are that the dark revelation in this book was done fabulously, and Isobel exerts tints of a difference in opinion from her peers. Through her blind faith in being chosen, she is actually the only person among her peers rebelling against the system.

I will try not to spoil more about the plot and let readers enjoy it for themselves. There are a few reasons why I sadly could not give it the full 5 stars.

Despite the great finale and little nibbles of the truth we get during the story, some things are never explained, and it just drove me nuts because the first half of the book never answers anything, so I kept on fretting about those little details ad nauseum.

When Isobel stands on the dais in her village to find out if she became chosen, who told her parents to mend a specifically orange dress? Is there some kind of transportation system that is only accessible to the Analysts where they inform families to dress their kids in specific pre-approved colored clothes? Isobel mentions she still remembers the choosing that preceded hers 10 years ago. Yet she never mentions the colored dresses or why every applicant stood next to someone with the same dress color. The choosing also mentioned there were supposed to be 10 applicants. Still, we only know 7 were mentioned (and I suppose Yvaine wasn't there because she got a special automatic permit, perhaps? The book never explains why she ends up in Isobel's portal batch but was never present in the choosing.)

It took us ages to find out Isobel is 16 years old. I spent 52% of the book wondering if she was 6 years old... or 12... or 13... Wondering her age through half of the book was driving me insane. I will give the book the benefit of the doubt that her huge degree of innocence that made her a LOT younger than her true age was because she spent so much of her life interacting with an invisible voice. But not knowing her age made me wonder why a young adult like Caleb would be so romantically interested in her (when I assumed she was 10 or something). I loved her interactions with her Voice named Rusty, only wished the scenes where their connection becomes severed early on had been more traumatic. She seemed very indifferent about no longer having anyone to speak to when she was alone.

Book also never agrees on whether the economic system of the Capital was truly communist or socialist capitalism. One chapter, the candidates talk about how everyone barters goods in the Capital. In another, they use coins to pay for bread. If candidates' bodies start suffering from physical changes, how come every ordinary civilian in the Capital could recognize Isobel as a candidate so early in the story? I would have liked to know why so many candidates from Rowan's birth city are Non-binary. Is it simply because that place is so culturally enlightened?

In essence, the book was great, I liked the writing style and loved the worldbuilding, but these questions just nagged into my head nonstop. Otherwise, this book would have most certainly won 5 stars. Great read, would love to read the sequel someday. ( )