Review of Jewels of Smoky Quartz by Anat Eliraz
Jewels of Smoky Quartz is the first book I have read from author Anat Eliraz. This author did an amazing job at creating a portal fantasy with romance mixed in. I was captured by this story and struggled to put it down.
Something that intrigued me with this story is that the main characters name is not immediately given to the reader as most stories are. I thought this interesting and even had to back track to see if I missed it. It is revealed later in the story the significance of this, and I was astounded. There is importance to why this person’s name was withheld.
Another thing I enjoyed from this story is seeing the main characters growth and how much of a bad ass she was. Her simple practice of martial arts ends up saving her life when she’s thrown into an unknown world. She’s captured at first but puts up quite a struggle then sold to a fighting ring as a slave where she dominates. There was a terrible heart aching scene while she was there but then a special hero steps in and takes her from this ring. It was interesting to see how this hero tied into the story and how he played a key role in the main characters backstory.
The tie between the previously mentioned hero and the main character was beautiful. I loved discovering the history there. That’s not to say that the history wasn’t somewhat traumatic for these two, but it seemed to create a bond between them that was unbreakable even when the two didn’t recognize each other.
This book easily falls into my list of top 10 books of the year. It would appeal to anyone interested in high fantasy, fantasy romance, paranormal beings, adventure, portal fantasy, and coming of age stories. There are triggers in this novel of violence, kidnapping, attempted rape, death, child death, slavery, fighting, blood, and sex. I absolutely loved this novel and can’t wait for the second book to come out.
Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VNH7KDW/
About Anat Eliraz
Anat Eliraz was born in Israel, but spent a few years of her childhood in Singapore, where her love for fantasy started.
She describes her life as being quite normal, even though she has driven a tank and jumped out of an airplane!
Between being a mother to four, working as a physiotherapist in a neonatal intensive care unit and training in Martial Arts, she still finds time to write.
Anat loves to use double meanings and word games in her writing, allowing her readers to play along or double check themselves, as the story unfolds.
"Jewels of Smoky Quartz" is her first novel.
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/anat.eliraz.7