*Review* Son of the Salt Chaser by A.S. Thornton

 

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

Published: November 8, 2022

Pages: 644

The gift of magic may be a curse.

After her desert-transforming wish, Emel follows Saalim to Madinat Almulihi to reclaim all she has lost. But the seaside city is not what she expected. When she is tasked with assisting the palace healer, she is faced daily with the reminder that Saalim—focused only on seeking the revenge of those who killed his family—does not remember her at all.

Cursing the magic that destroyed her love and brought her to an unwelcoming city, Emel regrets her decision to leave her settlement. That is, until she meets Kas. Though inscrutable, he is the first person to help her forget her past, and the pull of finding happiness with him tempts her from the life she wished for with Saalim.

But darkness waits in the desert, and not all people in Madinat Almulihi are what they seem. When Emel understands she is entangled in the fate of the city—and of Saalim—she is faced with the realization that magic may be the most powerful card in her hand. It might be the only way to save all that she loves, but if she plays her hand wrong, it could destroy everything.

I received an audiobook copy of this book through Netgalley. This is my honest review. 

This is the second book in a series that I had not read the first book for, but I didn't feel like I was completely lost. There were references to the main event in the first book (I assume as I still haven't read it) that made it fairly clear what went on. I probably would have better understood  the relationship between Saalim and Emel, but even that was fairly well covered in this book too.

There were a lot of things about this story that made me feel sorry for Emel, based on what I assume happened in the first book. It just seemed like she sacrificed so much and Saalim doesn't know and doesn't even remember her and that's just sad. 

The narration made this book really easy to listen to. None of the voices felt like caricatures, and the accents helped me feel like I was riding through the desert with them.

Overall I give Son of the Salt Chaser 3.1383 out of 5 stars. - Katie 

Amazon

A. S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts.

She lives with her husband who deserves a trophy for the amount of gooey love scenes he’s edited. After spending time in Chicago and Colorado, they decided the snow is wholly overrated, and settled in Northern California.

When not writing, she’s taking care of dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though. Those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention.