Review: Capering on Glass Bridges (Hawk of Stone #1) by Jessica Hernandez

Capering on Glass Bridges (Hawk of Stone #1)

by 

Jessica Hernandez

The Utdrendans have spoken, and everything has changed as a consequence. 
People normally avoid the fog surrounding the cursed Kingdom of Mar, but now they are asking sixteen-year-old Kaia Stone to venture into it. The Utdrendans implied that there is something special about Kaia. They claimed that she could help free the land; she need only carry out their instructions and deliver a message to the Marian king.

Mar, however, is a land in which dark secrets abound, and many will stop at nothing to ensure that it remains forever cursed. Determined to work against Kaia, unfriendly forces have already begun to gather.

Will Kaia choose to abandon the only life she’s ever known—perhaps indefinitely—in pursuit of the greater good…in pursuit of her purpose?

My Take:

Sixteen-year-old Kaia Stone feels like a misfit. In the land of Grey, where she lives, almost all citizens have a canonipoms, a small intelligent creature that bonds with them for life, and lives to serve and protect them. The two are linked telepathically from birth, and on a given day, the canonipom is called, and they meet to share the rest of their lives together.

When Kaia's canonipom was called, however, she no-showed. The bitter disappointment, the incompleteness, still festered in her. She felt useless and unimportant, rejected, really, until her family was called to Zavonia, to the city of the Makers, to discuss her role in freeing the captive and cursed Kingdom of Mar.

Mar was cursed over a decade previously by the Zavonians, when King Richard committed genocide against the Tivmicans. The curse took the form of an impenetrable barrier of fog. The people inside could not escape, and were left to deal with the... other... ramifications of the curse. The land was obscured by fog and darkness, but there were rumors. Of horrors lurking there. Of evil waiting.

The Zavonians, who have the ability to speak and create by that spoken word, intended the curse to be permanent and irrevocable. But the Utdrendans, who were the first people and creators, considered the punishment of Mar too harsh. And the curse was imperfect, ill-spoken and flawed. With the flaw, a chance for redemption offered itself for the people of Mar.

They could be freed, but a message had to be delivered to the Marian King, and only Kaia could deliver it. But would she, when there was no guarantee she could ever return?

Content:

Drug Content:

G - squeaky clean.

Violence:

PG-13 - The curse has some horrific transforming power, and some descriptions of it are a bit graphic. Monsters attack and rip people apart. Several murder attempts are made. There is a passage where children are quietly murdered.

Language:

G - squeaky clean.

Adult Content:

G - It's clean.   

Christian content:

While God is not mentioned at all in this book, nor is church or faith, the basic workings of the curse are that immorality transforms the immoral person. Liars receive a forked tongue. Murderers immediately transform into a creature of horror. Because of this, sin in its various forms is limited in its presence in the land of nightmare.

Self sacrifice, the greater good, loyalty and its lack, are major themes. Compassion and mercy are bold brush here. Risking all for the undeserving becomes an undercurrent as well.

Final analysis:

Capering on Glass Bridges was a gripping tale. The stakes were very high for Kaia, and the plot twists abounded. The settings were quite realistic, the flora and fauna captivating. The world-building here was astounding. This fast-paced adventure had me ripping through it, from the moment they embarked on the adventure to the very end. Well written, fast-paced, captivating! Five Stars!

About the Author:
Hello, everyone! My name is Jessica. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. :) Allow me to share a bit about myself with you. I was born and raised in the beautiful, sunny state of Florida. I attended the University of Miami, where I spent more time than I care to admit daydreaming of a faraway land called Acu. Upon graduating with a degree in English and Political Science in 2014, I put pen to paper and brought Acu to life—so was born the Hawk of Stone duology.