Book Review – State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

Sorrow – for that is all she brings us.

A people laid low by grief and darkness.
A cut-throat race for power and victory.
A girl with everything and nothing to lose…

By day, Sorrow governs the Court of Tears, covering for her grief-maddened father, who has turned their once celebrated land into a living monument for the brother who died before she was born.

By night, she seeks solace in the arms of the boy she’s loved since childhood. But one ghost won’t stop haunting her, and when enemies old and new close ranks against her, Sorrow must decide how far she’s willing to go to win…

***

  4.5/5 Stars

Gah, this book. It’s so hard to accurately portray my feelings.

It is a little slow in the beginning, though I don’t think in a bad way. There are also a lot of characters introduced early on, along with the political set up, that made it a little hard to follow or connect with. But only at first! As it winds on, the politics is so intriguing, and the characters are complex and interesting.

I particularly like that Sorrow deals with so much – she has self doubt, suffers from her world views changing, betrayals, casual romance, family issues and it rang a bell from me on imposter syndrome. I really enjoyed all of that being so beautifully portrayed. A lot of the other characters are shown to have similar complex things happening to them, or talk about them. And for me, this is Salisbury’s gift. A rich, complex, beautifully crafted world full of people going through real things.

I also have to mention the amazing twists in the book, I did not see any of them happening! Every time I thought I knew something, the book twisted away from me and opened up new and amazing storylines.

Finally, the bleak society set up really got to me too. The way it was described, what Sorrow and more especially the people on Rhannon felt and suffered through. I loved it. It’s quite different. Still down trodden, but not just in an “evil king” or poor vs rich way, but more complicated and rich.

I give State of Sorrow 4.5 stars, and only lacking the half for the beginning really. With every page turned, it just got better and better.