I got this book during the one of the Stuff Your Kindle Days, and the cover and blurb sounded interested. It took a while to get into, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, and the cliffhanger was so mean.  

This book is based on seventeen-year-old Karalevine Ruzz and six years ago, she watched the aliens abduct her best friend as she narrowly escaped capture herself. Now the Arianyte Empire has conquered Earth and is searching for the most powerful weapons in the galaxy; children branded with the mark of creation. And Kara is one of them. Kara can’t let go of her rage, the memories of what the occupation took from her, a wound forever left open, even as the rest of the world submits to the powerful tyrants and accepts their new way of life. She is so determined to track down her friend that she plans to abduct Arianyte’s second in command. But when Kara loses control of her volatile magic, she risks becoming a slave and the very weapon the empire wants most. To get what she wants and keep her freedom, it comes at an extreme cost. Kara must decide if she can keep her true identity hidden within Arianyte’s walls as the line between justice and revenge begins to blur. Every day she risks her life. Every day she wonders if she can keep the lies going and if she’s good enough to play this dangerous of a game, and every day she wonders if she’ll make it out of Arianyte’s clutches alive. 

I loved the character development that Kara went on. How she went from this scared and soulless soldier who was angry and wanted to revenge, to still be scared but more confident and having trust in the people around her. I liked that she wasn’t this damsel in distress type, she got herself into this situation and she is going to get herself out of it. I loved that she still had passions and a normal job whilst all of this is going, I feel like sometimes with fantasy where it’s mixed with Earth, it’s like yeah, we don’t have a paying job, and we are living comfortable like how does that work? I loved the side characters in this book from Jance to Ardelle and how they all didn’t trust her at first but then they all ended up loving her for her and wanting to protect her when everything went to shit.  

It did take a while for me to get used to the extra-terrestrial side of the book, I don’t really do space or aliens so I was worried that I was going to struggle with this, once I got into it, there was no problems it was just getting there that was a bit of a struggle. The flashbacks also confused me at times, but that just my simple mind and I don’t like when books jump back and to, it confuses especially in fantasy books.  

The twists and turns during this book had me shook, the cliffhanger was cruel, and I wanted more. I cannot wait to read the second book in this series which I also got on a Stuff Your Kindle Day. I have so many questions and hopefully we will get the answers soon.