Book Review: Hall of Smoke

 Book Review: Hall of Smoke

By H.M. Long

Hessa, a priestess of the Goddess War, she has the power to turn someone's bones to dust with just her scream. After being banished for disobeying her Goddess's command to murder a specific traveller, Hessa is searching for forgiveness. However, during her banishment raiders attack her village and kill the whole priesthood. Through her grief, Hessa hunts down the traveller to regain her place with her loved ones and regain her Goddesses favour. 

During the journey, Hessa learns more about the war and Gods involved. These events bring up more questions about everything she knows. 

Hessa, is a warrior priestess. She is brave, strong, and on a mission. I enjoyed the character of Hessa, through the grief you can feel her pain but also route for her during her travels and the events that take place. I enjoyed reading her backstory to learn more about the times before the events of his novel. Overall, I felt she was a solid character to follow as a main character. 

Long's writing of the history and environment in Hall of Smoke was well written and easy to follow. I felt the history was interesting and helps translate to the current culture in the story. The pace of this story is slow, and it took me to the halfway point to get into it. However, I can not say this is the fault of the story or because I don't read fantasy very often. Overall, I think the story was well-developed and an interesting concept. 

I gave this novel a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ review. I felt the story and characters were solid; however, the pace was on a slow side. This was a great debut novel! Great Job H.M. Long!! 

Thank you Titan Books and H.M. Long for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Hall of Smoke is releasing on January 19, 2021 💛