Pentapod reviewed Unblemished by Sara Ella
Review of 'Unblemished' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
YA book - 17 year old teen girl who's grown up ashamed of and teased because of a huge birthmark on her face suddenly discovers everything in her life is a lie, everyone she's close to has been lying to her for their entire relationship, and the birth mark is actually a sign of magical abilities that span a series of parallel worlds in which our Earth is only #3 of several. And also she's the one single person who can save all of them from the evil Void.
If that all sounds a little hard to swallow in one bite it is; the author does try to spread it out a bit but not entirely successfully. In particular the explanations of the different worlds and the different types of magical abilities is force-fed to the heroine, and thus the reader, in fairly large chunks that are hard to absorb …
YA book - 17 year old teen girl who's grown up ashamed of and teased because of a huge birthmark on her face suddenly discovers everything in her life is a lie, everyone she's close to has been lying to her for their entire relationship, and the birth mark is actually a sign of magical abilities that span a series of parallel worlds in which our Earth is only #3 of several. And also she's the one single person who can save all of them from the evil Void.
If that all sounds a little hard to swallow in one bite it is; the author does try to spread it out a bit but not entirely successfully. In particular the explanations of the different worlds and the different types of magical abilities is force-fed to the heroine, and thus the reader, in fairly large chunks that are hard to absorb all at once. The fact that every person who supposedly cares for the heroine has been straight out lying to her for her entire life and letting her believe that her birth mark makes her repulsive and worthy to be bullied was even harder to swallow for me. That said, the author does have an evocative way of describing things, the world(s) and the magical structure is pretty original, and some of the characters are interestingly nuanced. Fans of fairy-tale type fiction like "Once Upon A Time" will probably enjoy this, but it's definitely for young adult readers and older ones may appreciate it less.