Title: Before the Broken Star (The Evermore Chronicles #1)
Author: Emily R. King
Publisher: Skyscape
Publication date: May 1st, 2019
294 pages
3.5/5 stars
Goodreads Synopsis
A fierce young female adventurer battles time itself to claim her destiny in a sweeping new fantasy saga from the author of the Hundredth Queen series.
Everley Donovan is living on borrowed time. The lone survivor of her family’s unexplained assassination, she was saved by an ingeniously crafted clockwork heart. But the time she was given won’t last forever. Now, every tick-tock reminds her how fragile her existence is and hastens her quest to expose Killian Markham, the navy admiral who shattered her world and left her for dead. But Everley’s hunt for justice will be a long and hard-won voyage.
Her journey takes her to a penal colony on a cursed isle, where she will be married off and charged to build the new world. It is here, and beyond, that hidden realms hide, treasures are unearthed, her family secrets are buried, and young love will test the strength of her makeshift heart. When Everley discovers Markham may not be who he seems, her pursuit for truth is bound to his redemption, her tragic history, and her astonishing destiny.
Review
Could you become a monster to destroy one?
Emily r. king, before the broken star
Everley is an apprentice to a clockmaker, who also happens to be her uncle. She seems like an ordinary girl from the outside, but in fact she has a clock heart that keeps her alive after her entire family was brutally murdered and she was run through the heart with a sword. She lives her life focused on revenge, revenge against Killian Markham, the Governor who killed her family and tried to kill her. When Markham walks into her uncle’s clock shop, the perfect opportunity presents itself.
Everley ends up getting arrested and sentenced to live on a new colony on an island far away in order to help populate it. The important part to this is the Markham is the governor of the island, so she hopes to be able to kill him quickly and get on with her life. She has no idea the whirlwind her life will turn into when she gets to Dagger Island. Especially when she is forcibly married to a sweet lieutenant on the ship ride to the island. Before the Broken Star follows Everley’s attempts to understand her past, while living with the reality of her future. She must keep her clock heart hidden otherwise she would be sentenced to death immediately for sorcery.
Before the Broken Star held my attention. I love when books grab me and don’t let go. I prefer to have to wrench myself away to go about the charade of life and adulthood. I followed Everley’s story with excitement, but I can’t say I love where the story ended up. I’m really a Happily Ever After lover, and this is not a trope adhered to in this book. Also, Killian Markham and his associate Harlow are terrible people and it bothers me. They are the definition of irredeemable. Everley continues to help Harlow even when she is completely awful to her! Bothered me for Everley’s sake. BUT Lieutenant Callahan makes up for it *swoon*.
In a universe of magical worlds filled with pixies, grindylow’s, Father Time’s influence, and portals to the other worlds, Before the Broken Star has great world building, writing, and characters. Evie is a bad-a woman and I am with her all the way.
Happy reading, bookish friends! 🙂
Baltimore Bibliophile 