Trapped in Silver by Emily Sowden

To seventeen-year-old Ava, wild woodcats, hungry stragglers, and simple-minded townsfolk are the evils she’s grown accustomed to. But when Ethan, an unusual man with eyes of smoke and fire opal, enters her world she quickly understands that there are worse things out there than drunken men and carnivorous forest creatures. She’s a specialised liar and a hell of a fighter, but against a group of animalistic men called Berserkers she struggles to survive the encounter as the desperate swing of a dagger is all it takes to change her life for good. Half-dead and hunted by the Berserker’s leader when he forms a monstrous obsession with her, Ava escapes his pursuit in an unfamiliar land full of impossible creatures, unlikely allies, and the man she doesn’t know whether to kiss or kill. But after dreadful news of her missing brother surfaces, Ava becomes more involved in the centuries-long war and begins to unravel the reasons behind her relentless nightmares, discovering truths long-buried in a violent history of love, loss and betrayal.

When I saw this book being described as A Court of Thorns and Roses meets The Queen of the Tearling, I knew I had to read it. Then after reading the description I pre-oreded the book straight away because it sounded like it would be an interesting and exciting novel. Now having read it, I can defintley say that it is both very interesting and very exciting, as well as being well written and wonderfully developed.

Ava as the main character was a pleasure to read about. She speaks her own mind and she never takes any flack from the other characters. I loved the determination Ava had throughout the story and I was intrigued and invested in her character from the very start. Also Ava is one of the most sassy characters I have ever read, and makes her one of my standout favourite main characters.

The world building is amazing in Trapped in Silver, you can tell that the author has put a lot of time and effort in building the world. The author has thought of every little detail of the world which makes the setting more realistic and easier to understand the story better when reading.

This is the fourth novel I have read from Oftomes Publishing, and what all four books have in common is that they are all written beautifully. I loved the way the author manages to tell this, somewhat complicated fantasy story which such ease that it does not confuse us when reading. I was gripped to every page and didn’t want to leave the story unfinished, every time I set the book down. A main reason for this was because of the way this book is written. The writing draws you in and because you get so involved with the characters and their stories, you don’t want to close the book until you read the very last word.

I have to admit that I did find the beginning of the book, a little slow paced. But in all honesty I didn’t mind that because it gave me chance to get introduced to the world and the characters. With this being a new series it needs to get the introductions and the world building right to make the readers want to continue on with the series, and Trapped in Silver has definitely done that. The story does pick up the more you read, I didn’t want people to put it down thinking the slow paced beginning would set the pace throughout.

I really enjoyed reading Trapped in Silver and I can not wait to read the next installments in the series. I would recommend this book to all fantasy readers and to readers who are looking to read a well crafted and developed story.

I rate this book 5/5 stars.