The Unblessed Child is a 2020 young adult fantasy
novel by R.J. Kaldanis. It was self-published by the author in February of
2020. It is the author’s debut novel and the first book in The Blessed
Chronicles. I was provided with an advanced copy of the novel by Netgalley
for review purposes.
The novel takes place in a world where there are two types
of people, the blessed, who can wield one of the four elements, and the
unblessed, who cannot. The novel follows Aardriyah, an unblessed girl who has
been raised to believe she’s unwanted and unimportant, compared to her
siblings. Shortly before she turns 19, she begins having strange, vivid
nightmares of beasts and worlds beyond what anyone could imagine. She soon
finds herself being hunted by a mysterious figure with powers she’s never seen
before. To uncover the truth about her dreams, Aardriyah goes on a journey that
will change not only herself, but has implications for the world at large.
The Unblessed Child has a whole cast of characters,
but there are only about four or five that I feel are so vital that I need to
mention in this review. First, Aardriyah, our main character. She’s had to
learn to be strong and self-sufficient after being looked down on her whole
life for being unblessed and having red-hair, which is hated by the citizens of
the island where she was raised. Then, there’s Chastion, her older brother who
was adopted into the royal family because he was an exceptionally strong water
blessed child and the queens needed an heir. Chastion was once Aardriyah’s
lovable older brother, but years apart have made him into an entitled and arrogant
man who she loathes more often than not. When Aardriyah begins to have these strange
dreams, Teme, an old man in the village, seems to have an idea as to why and
help her along her journey. While he claims to want to help, it’s clear that he’s
got a few secrets that he’s keeping from her. On her journey, Aardriyah meets
Rachida, a fire blessed, who she befriends. Rachida was my favorite character
because she was funny and sassy and it was nice to have a little bit of a break
from serious moments for a bit. Lastly, there is Princess Kibo, another child
who was adopted by the queens of the water blessed. While helping Aardriyah, the
reader isn’t able to get much of a feel for who Kibo is, because her
motivations aren’t really explained and very little of her true personality is
shown. Unlike most novels, I can’t really say that this book has a main
antagonist.
Since this novel was the first book in a series, there was a
great deal of world-building that had to be included in the story. Kaldanis
needed to show the reader what this world was, how it worked, how the powers of
the blessed worked and why things are the way that they are in terms of political
power and social constructs. In my opinion, she did an excellent job of that
without making it seemed forced or like an exposition dump. I also enjoyed the
magic system and the way that it was explained, with society being categorized
based on the elemental magic and the division between each caste. The magic
system has a lot of potential that I hope to see in future books in the series.
The writing also really surprised me. It felt natural and fluid and it didn’t feel
like this was a debut novel. The writing style wasn’t overly flowery or
descriptive and that helped me follow the story easily, as opposed to getting
lost in the depictions of the world the story took place in.
While I enjoyed elements of this novel, there were a few
things that took away from my enjoyment. One was that Aardriyah lost nearly all
her agency once the plot truly kicked off. Prior to her having to leave her
home, she’s shown to be strong and frustratingly stubborn, but once she’s told
she has to leave, without being told why, she goes along with it. She does what
she’s told, out of character, with a minimal amount of fighting back or
arguing. I found it annoying as well that she kept circling back to resenting
her brother, even when there were much bigger and more important things she
needed to worry about. Another thing that annoyed me was the fact that Teme very
obviously knew exactly what was happening and who was after Aardriyah but didn’t
share that information until near the very end of the story. Others tried to get
him to reveal what he knew earlier, but they didn’t make much of an effort and,
when asked, he just pushed them off, saying he’d explain later. This didn’t make
any sense to me and, if Teme knowing what was going on had been revealed later,
it would’ve worked a little better. In his second appearance, the reader knows,
and the characters know, that Teme knows more than he’s saying, but the secrets
aren’t revealed until close to the end of the book. The pacing for this novel
was a little wonky. The plot moves quickly to get Aardriyah to leave Veros, but
then it slows down dramatically until the last 15% of the book. In that last
section of the book, the pacing picks up as the reader is told what Aardriyah’s
dreams are about and why she’s being chased before setting the stage for the
next book. The ending feels rushed as a result because so much information is
being revealed in so few pages. I finished the book feeling slightly
unsatisfied and a little off-kilter because of the pacing issues. The plot
itself isn’t terrible, but there weren’t very many surprises.
The Unblessed Child was an enjoyable book. I liked the
world-building and magic system a lot and the premise of the story was intriguing.
At the same time, the pacing and some other elements of the plot needed work. It was difficult for me to connect with many of the characters. It’s a quick
read and a good fantasy story, so I might read the sequel when it comes out to
see what happens next.
Rating: 3.2 Stars
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