Belvedor and the Four Corners (Belvedor Saga #1) by Ashleigh Bello
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A slave city.
A tyrannical king.
A spellbinding secret.
A warrior with a dormant gift.
One girl to change the course of history.
Immerse yourself in this bewitching new fantasy series as Arianna Belvedor takes on her dark and dangerous world to uncover its magic.
As a slave to the City of the Four Corners, seventeen-year-old Arianna has only ever dreamed of winning her citizenship. Though she's just months away from achieving that goal, her ideas of freedom are suddenly stalled when she discovers a life-threatening secret about the King. In this spellbinding saga, join Arianna Belvedor in her fight for liberty and her quest to discover the meaning of magic.
4 out of 5 (very good)
Belvedor and the Four Corners is the first book in the Belvedor Saga, and introduces us to a medieval dystopian world, where magic has been outlawed and mostly forgotten. All children are taken from their parents when they are born, and become slaves. They are separated into four different categories - healers, warriors, agrarians, and creators. No one from one sector can communicate with anyone else from a different sector. When they are eighteen, they have to participate in the Free Falls - in which the survivors win their freedom, and the losers die. Arianna is nearing her 18th and both longs for and dreads the occasion. Arianna has friends in places she is unaware of at the beginning of the story.
This is a long book, with plenty of detail in both characters and surroundings. Possibly because of this, at times the story feels like it falters in places, becomes stuck in the current story without moving forwards. Of course, when it does move, it does so with gusto, introducing new challenges and characters. Well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow, this is an enjoyable fantasy. Recommended by me.
* Verified Purchase ~ March 2017 *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
I'm a passionate explorer and vivid dreamer at best. Born to the last of the 80's and raised in Missouri, I graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a degree in International Studies. Now I call Brooklyn, New York my home. I've lived and worked in 7 different countries across 4 continents and have traveled to more than twenty (and still counting)! ​ Belvedor and the Four Corners spiraled from these adventures as I unearthed the better parts of the world, and it continues to be my motivation for future works in the Belvedor Saga and beyond. Eager to share my writing with other fantasy fans and to create a series my teenage self can be proud of, I've spent countless hours writing, editing, and shaping Arianna's story. I'm also a self-published author and a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. Though it's definitely been hard work, I have loved the creative freedom to control all aspects of the series. And I hope you enjoy reading it as much I've enjoyed writing it. -Ashleigh B.
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