The Guidal

Discovering Puracordis

By: Roxy Eloise

Narrated by: Freya Victoria

Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

In a future where the mention of magic is banned, one paranoid man rules the entire country. Adopting children to become his private bodyguards, they are raised together in a strict institute where 16-year-old Aurora struggles to follow the rules. Finding herself disciplined often, she doesn’t particularly like her endless life of servitude.

Soon, she will have to take part in the institute’s annual Unity ceremony where she could end up engaged to a complete stranger!

Aurora’s fears of being different are realized when she discovers something about herself, something which will make most fear her, and her adoptive father will want her killed for.

Friends, bullies, and a touch of something magical, Aurora’s first year in the grown-ups’ quarter is far from ordinary.

©2022 Entrada Publishing (P)2023 Entrada Publishing

I'd recommend

Okay so my thought and feelings about this book have changed several times throughout the duration. Initially I thought it was a little weak and the characters were hard to connect with. As the beginning progressed, I found myself charmed by the MC, and softening to the fmc. She is constantly berated and punished by those in authority unfairly, humiliated, and just generally mistreated. The way it is written made me want to protect her, building the connection that I had been missing.

Throughout the progression, you see various characters do the same, some coming to her defense when they were the very ones causing her distress just a few chapters before. It's a pretty good representation of people in general, and how everyone has the capability to be bad or good, act with malice or compassion. Did I mention the introduction of a second potential love interest that shakes up the story and presents you with that conflict you have all been missing? Yes folks, a good old fashioned love triangle, a trope I LIVE for.

This is a technologically advanced world, with forbidden magic and aggressively imposed authority. It's giving dystopian and I'm excited for more. The author even pokes fun at our infrastructure, noting how silly it is to have roads that can't clear themselves in the snow, something that irritates me for 3 to 4 months every year. I'd give anything for the "glass and lights" they seem to have perfected in this new world. The story is interesting, although it does feel like I've read it before. I won't draw specific comparisons, it's just a deja vu feeling I couldnt shake. It didnt turn me off tho, since a lot of dystopian YA share commonalities. I wish the book was longer, as in flushed out a bit more. The pacing felt off and rushed at times, forcing character development that could have been done a bit more naturally.

With all of that said, this is a great start to a new YA series. It definitely exceeded my expectations for a debut novel and I will 100% be jumping headfirst into the next one.

specific to the narrator - I wish she was able to differentiate between the male and female characters a little better. occasionally the dialogue got a little bit confusing. overall pretty good.

Wonderful

I really enjoyed the emotions in your voice and the way you were able to do all characters very well! i really enjoyed this listen, as well as the book! Thanks for the Audio keep up the wonderful work!