Actual Rating: 3.7/5 stars
ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Of the Lilin is a YA Paranormal fantasy that tells the story of a teenager, Sage Frankle. After the loss of her mother, her stepfather’s mental breakdown, and the sudden death of his best friend, David, who took care of Sage after her mother’s demise, she slips into depression. She is taken to live with her aunt, Madeline, and her cousin, Lily at the Engelwood inn in Vermont. Her aunt takes Sage to a therapist to help her through her trauma.
While living at the inn, she has creepy encounters with strange people and it terrifies her. At first, she believes it’s all in her head but as time goes by she gets tangled in the world of demons, archangels and learns the dark secrets of her family.
The funny thing is that, I had forgotten it was a fantasy when I picked it up for a read, this week. In the beginning, I thought it’s a story of a teenager dealing with her grief (which is correct but there’s more), then I thought it’s a mystery/thriller (which is also kind of correct lol) but when she started seeing things I was like, wait a damn minute✋🏻. So, I read the blurb again and realized it’s actually a paranormal fantasy, and that made the story even more interesting (around 30% in). Fantasy always slaps!
Overall, it was a nice read. The writing was engaging for most of the part. This book deals with some dark themes, in terms of magic and otherwise. I enjoyed the middle portion of the book more than the first and the last. As the middle part had a good build-up for the revelations and we were finally getting to know a little bit about the characters.
I liked Lily, she seemed more like the main character to me than Sage, and Thomas was also intriguing. Sage was an interesting character but I wish she had more faith in herself.
I liked the representation of depression and anxiety disorder in the first few chapters. Not wanting to get up in the morning, starting a new day being a struggle, panic attacks were all mentioned. Also, the therapy sessions were included. (as it is a dark fantasy they were weird and creepy at times.. umm ok all the times)
Will was a happy addition (he was Sage’s best friend). And Lucien added a lot of meaning and complexity to the story. I would say he carried the whole book but Lily was a lot significant too.
This reminds me, how the side characters were introduced really annoyed me. We’d meet some inn guest or a random woman who would have a brief conversation with the main character. Whether the dialogue was significant or not was often hard to tell. There were so many moments where I found myself wondering, Is this just a random interaction or does it have hidden meaning? Some clues were obvious, but others felt vague. I enjoy these kinds of subtle build-ups in mystery plots, but at some point, you have to start giving answers.
Another thing that could’ve been improved: in the first half of the book, other characters frequently talked about mystical concepts right in front of her, and she never questioned any of it. I get that her hallucinations and avoidance stem from unresolved trauma, and yes, that can be exhausting. But still, if something doesn’t sit right, she could at least question what she’s hearing.
It was just so obvious that something was going on between all these people. It would’ve been much more compelling if she had overheard these conversations by accident, rather than having everyone talk openly in front of her. That lack of subtlety took away some of the intrigue.
Overall, the pacing was good, it was a quick read once you get the hang of the story. I liked the idea (message of this story) of confronting the darkness that we all have in us. The revelations at the end were engrossing and I wanted to know more. I liked the backstories too. There is a lot of room for development here. I hope we get more character development, the progression of relationships between them, more about the myths and legends, demons, and their magic in the sequel!
Final thoughts: Of the Lilin, first in the Sage Chronicles, is a dark, engaging, and enjoyable read.