Small question, uhm, has a book ever taunted you? I know they can stalk us. Algorithms and such making them pop up everywhere. But I mean taunt. As in you see the book and you see people talking about the book and you feel like a little invisible tug on your soul that whispers, “You should read me.”

Just randomly, when you are looking over your TBR list and looking at the cover, you hear, “You should read me.” 

Or even when scrolling through Book Insta, and you see the cover and the first comment goes, “I do not know why more people are not talking about this book!”

And then you hear it again chiming in your ear, “You should really read me.”

No? Just me again? Sigh, ah well.

Anyway.

I was sitting in my post Iron Flame daze, wondering what could possibly help me move forward.

And I heard it yet again… “You should read me.”

This time I listened.

And oh, all things Booktok…

Have you ever thrown yourself off of a cliff to land on another cliff? 

No? Then let me tell you what it feels like.

The Jasad Heir pierced through my Iron Flame daze with a force that ricocheted my brain, grabbed me by the neck, and mercilessly hurled me into an Egyptian inspired, mythological hunger-games-esque landscape.

It is told mostly from the POV of Sylvia, the lost heir, who is hiding sort of in plain sight, until circumstances make her out herself to save a member of her found family. Usually, she can just kill her way out of it. This time, though, she showed her magical abilities, which are spotty, frustrating, and bound within her, to Arin. The guy whose job it is to wipe her people from the face of the earth. Arin makes a deal with her, giving her a way out. One that could kill her, of course. Then comes the million other things that in an instant can cause another, yup I said, another, war.

In essence, that is the synopsis. But here is the thing about this book and its author. The situations were desperate, the world building is intense and is teased out chapter by chapter, memory flash by memory flash. All the regular elements we discuss regarding books are beautifully done. However, what elevated this book, amongst all the others I have read, not even this year, but for a long while, was the actual language, the prose, the back and forth between the two main characters.

Have you ever read The Merchant of Venice? Specifically, the speeches they gave about the pound of flesh? The dialogue in this book was at that level. Reading the interactions between Sylvia and Arin had me gasping for breath, and wondering if I could recover after being told THAT! 

Truthfully, my answer was maybe not. 

That was the perfection of their verbal sparring. The tone, the balance, the words, and thought processes behind them. It was EXQUISITE!

Throughout reading, I kept taking screenshots and posting lines of the dialogue on my IG. I felt as though I was in a private bubble, eating popcorn, while watching two gloriously intelligent and equally matched players going after each other in a championship match. And they did this as they fell deeply, unequivocally, unreservedly in love with each other.

The sighs, the gooey eyes, the way the other characters described what they saw from the outside, melted every hardened piece of my heart. 

Speaking of the other characters… every person, living, dead, imaginary in this book, has secrets. Almost as much as Sylvia and Arin do. These secrets churn away, forcing them to act in ways that will have you shaking emotionally. As for this author, she is gifted in the art of a timely revelation. From start to end, and I mean chapter 1, page 1, to book end, page done. You will be rocked by the reveals.

Special mention goes out to the villains in this book as well, which at different points in time, was… every one. Yeah, I know, but it is true, and that is still not a spoiler. Lol!

The one difficulty I had while reading was with the names. It is Egyptian inspired, so the names were not familiar and at times I got a little lost and was not sure who was who. However, that was only with side characters and it did not stop my enjoyment or progress with the book.

I loved this book. This is now an author I will follow and read forever. I want to read her grocery lists, her to do lists. Since I am curious about her, I have discovered she is a lawyer, which totally explains the dialogue. Best of luck to anyone who goes up against her in an actual courtroom. YIKES!

Here’s hoping she keeps choosing to write, though, as selfish a wish that is; I bear no shame for it, because I want much more of this world, these characters, and all those secrets and reveals.

Without a doubt, The Jasad Heir is hearty proof of the power of words in the right hands.