Title: Sunkissed Feathers and Severed Ties
Series: Broken Chronicles Book One
Author: Kellie Doherty
Genre: Fantasy
LGBTQ+ Category: Bisexual
Publisher: Self
Pages: 335
Reviewer: Sherry, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
Misti Eildelmann is a Vagari—a race whose innate crafting ability is connected to the creatures of the world. She’s also a Moon Knight. Misti is fighting a banished one when he slips a pendant around her neck that saps her strength.
The pendant is dangerous. Deadly even. It harnesses crafting in a way not seen before, so she sets off to find help. Old and new friends join her on this quest, including her longtime crush Dylori Clyofis and a villager named Arias Silverstone.
The journey is risky—filled with frightening suncreatures, evil worshippers, and twisted betrayal. Misti is thankful to have friends on this path into the scorching light, but something much bigger is waiting for them in the sunshine. Her pendant is just a piece of puzzle.
The Review
“The woman’s piercing gaze seemed to fill Misti’s vision as her crafting washed over Misti like cold water. She yelled as pain shuddered through her, eyes watering from shock. Try as she might, Misti couldn’t free herself from this woman’s grasp. Couldn’t lift her sword to save herself…”—Sunkissed Feathers and Severed Ties
Misti Eildelmann is on a transformational journey from a single-minded Moonknight warrior—a safekeeper of the innocent and defender of companion animals—toward a destination she never sees coming including her connection to an outlawed religion whose tenets demand the sacrifice of animals.
After being forced to wear a Blood pendant, placed on her by a banished and hunted criminal, she travels through wildly imaginative worlds with fantastical beasts, bizarre scenery and odd alien races as she searches for someone who can remove the cursed gem from around her neck. That is both the fascination and confusion of this debut book in the Broken Chronicle series. As with any book where world-building takes precedence, there are a lot of new concepts, “foreign” language and challenging beliefs that ultimately, in “Sunkissed Feathers and Severed Ties,” I found difficult to follow. The extraneous vocabulary could be a bit intrusive at times.
I did enjoy the relationship between Misti and her companion animal, Zora, a beautiful creature. They share a synergetic, empathic relationship. Misti and Zora love one another fiercely which is a good thing because during Misti’s journey from Moonknight warrior to her unexpected religious quest and a disquieting reunion with her estranged family, Misti needs Zora to be her touchstone.
Along the way, Misti is joined by various characters—dabblers, medicos, scribes, wanderers, and another Moonknight warrior whom Misti secretly loves. The plot had promise; by the time I got to the end the book, and read the introduction to the next book in the Broken Chronicle series, “Orenda’s Story,” I found myself drawn into it…perhaps “Sunkissed Feathers and Severed Ties,” its world building and foreign tone, was all the backstory needed for a more promising read.
Kellie Doherty has another series, the “Cicatrix Duology.” It includes the books “Finding Hectate,” and “Losing Hold.” The previews provided were certainly appealing, especially if you want to learn more about Doherty’s writing and vision.
A debut series about love, duty and belief on a distant world where darkness and light are more than polar opposites, and the connection between a warrior and her companion animal might be the more important theme.
The Reviewer
Sherry Perkins has worked as a licensed practical nurse for more than thirty-five years and has experience in psychiatric/addictions nursing, nursing-care coordination, and risk management. She earned a BS in health sciences from Campbell University and has spoken at public health functions on topics such as addiction prevention and treatment, prevention of teenage opioid deaths, and connecting patients who are resistant to treatment with appropriate services.
A mother of four, Perkins lives with extended family on the Delmarva Peninsula, where she enjoys collecting shells and sea glass; reading and writing mysteries, science fiction, and fantasy; doing organic gardening; and following the Dave Matthews Band around the East Coast
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