Hand of the Tarot Review

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The Hands of Tarot

Series: The Hands of Tarot

SM Blooding

Format: E-book & Paperback

Genre: YA Steampunk (Mature)

Length: 316 pages in paperback

Blurb:

She killed his father.
She imprisoned and beat him.
And now she thinks he’s her trophy.
Synn El’Asim will do almost anything to prove her wrong. But he’s only proving her right.
Queen Nix awakened his Mark of power and inducted him into the House of Wands. She knew what she was doing. The son of the two most powerful Families standing against her is the ultimate prize.
What she didn’t take into consideration was that maybe he was too strong for her.
Maybe.
The Families aren’t. They’ve been weakened, and it’ll take a lot more than one young man with a powerful Mark to take on the Hands of Tarot.

Excerpt:

Queen Nix turned to me and smiled. “Do you wish to declare war, little boy?”

“Let them go,” I commanded, my voice ragged. “What have they done to you?”

She stalked toward me, her nose nearly touching mine, all semblance of beauty twisted with rage. “They refused to submit to me.”

I stared at her aghast, my hands clenched, my jaw tight. “So because you couldn’t control them, you’re going to destroy them?”

The rage turned cold across her features as she drew away, her shoulders back.

“Are you so weak?” The muscles in my cheek twitched.

Father took a step toward us. “Perhaps we can reach a mutual agreement.”

Someone in the cage screamed, the scream turning to ravaged sobs.

I let out a growl. “You will stop this!”

The queen turned her eagle-eyed stare to me. “I do not take orders from a mere boy.”

“Queen Nix,” my father started, “let us be reasonable.”

She took a step back and assessed him.

“The Umira have never been a harmful Family.” My father’s hands were wide at his side, his expression open. “They have always lived in peace with the Hands.”

Her eyes flared and she advanced on him. “You’ve allied yourself with them.”

Father’s eyes widened as he took a half step back.

I watched in alarm, unsure what to do. My father was the strongest man I knew.

The queen grabbed his coat and pulled his face close to hers. “The Umira have always been a peaceful Family, so imagine my surprise when they assaulted us with cannons and weapons.”

“They have the right to defend themselves, Nix.”

“Not against me.” She pushed him away and turned to her gathering guard. “Take him and his heathen son. Throw them on the pyre.”

My father drew his sword and faced the guard. “Go, Synn, now!”

Our men drew their weapons and stood by his side.

“I’m not leaving you, Father.” My sword was in my hand. I was ready to die an honorable death by my father’s side.

He backhanded me and roared, “You will protect our people, Synn El’Asim.”

I was torn. I wanted so badly to fight beside him, to protect him.

But my father had given me an order. One I could not ignore.

I turned and ran.

My Review:
I'm always on the lookout for steampunk, especially if it's something I can share with my students. This felt like a mash-up of Avatar: the Last Airbender and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and is probably a little more fantasy than true steampunk. In this world, when people come of age, they receive a mark, which gives them power over elements, spirit, etc. That kind of magic, to me, falls into the fantasy realm.

I enjoyed the different envisionings of tech, particularly the idea of giant jellyfish, lethara, as ships and cities. That element of the world building was well done.

This YA is definitely mature YA, and not suitable for the middle-school audience. I'd recommend it to the fifteen-and-over set. The main character is seventeen-eighteen, and that's generally appealing for the kids two or three years younger. The relationship between Nix and Synn would make this inappropriate for readers younger than that. Parents might take issue with the violence, but that didn't bother me too much.

Unfortunately, this is not an Accelerated Reader book.

As an editor, I found several issues that bothered me: italics over or under used, inconsistent use of compound or hyphenated words, missing affixes, it's when its is needed... To someone that doesn't look for those kind of things, they may not distract, but they did disrupt my reading. 

About the Author:
SM Blooding lives in Colorado with her pet rock, Rockie, their new addition, Mr. Bird, who’s a real bird. She likes to hike the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and is learning to play the piano and guitar. Currently, she’s trying to MURDER them both. Friends call her Frankie.

She’s dated vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, weapons smugglers, and US Government assassins. Yes. She has stories.

She’s also an investigator with a local paranormal investigation group, Colorado Paranormal Rescue!

Links:
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Amazon – Kindle 
Amazon – Paperback
B&N – Paperback 
Autographed copy
Additional information 
Goodreads
http://www.smblooding.com/
http://www.smblooding.com/the-hands-of-tarot/
EPUB: https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ojq3uphhuyw7vd/TheHandsofTarot_SMBlooding.epub
Mobi: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0l8990zmh67l5e4/TheHandsofTarot_SMBlooding.mobi
Smash: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ryiv1a405cn7tcp/HandsofTarot%28Smash%29.doc

Note: I received a free copy of this book through Goddess Fish.