Preet’s Rating    

I've been thinking about this book, days after I finished reading it. I'm pondering the twists, reveals, and ending and trying to work it all out. In a Garden Burning Gold's beginning is an attention grabbing one, but not too much later I found myself worried about the slowing pace. It wasn't until after about 25% when I noticed things picked up again, and I'm glad I stuck with the book.

I was really impressed by Rory Power's world building and how well the story unfurled. I thought I knew the twists, but even then I was surprised time and time again. And the characters! I found myself enamored with the twins, who also happen to be the narrators. It was fascinating seeing their twin dynamic and how it changed as the story progressed. I really loved the themes explored in the story. I don't know if Rory Power's next book is a continuation of this story, a spin-off, or something entirely new, but I know I'll be looking forward to whatever it is.

Twins imbued with incredible magic and near-immortality will do anything to keep their family safe--even if it tears the siblings apart--in the first book of a mythic epic fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls.

Rhea and her twin brother, Lexos, have spent an eternity helping their father rule their small, unstable country, using their control over the seasons, tides, and stars to keep the people in line. For a hundred years, they've been each other's only ally, defending each other and their younger siblings against their father's increasingly unpredictable anger.

Now, with an independence movement gaining ground and their father's rule weakening, the twins must take matters into their own hands to keep their family--and their entire world--from crashing down around them. But other nations are jockeying for power, ready to cross and double cross, and if Rhea and Lexos aren't careful, they'll end up facing each other across the battlefield.