Where No One Can Follow (part I in The Black Hills) by Grace Quincy, eBook, 320 pages
Synopsis from GoodReads: Rule #1: Don't Get Caught. Louisa Aldridge was born ten minutes before her brother, sealing her fate. In a land divided by civil war, every firstborn child must serve in the military, sacrificing their blood and life to preserve the kingdom. It’s been this way for decades. But eighteen years later, Louisa is hardly prepared for life as a soldier. She’s rebellious, bad-tempered, and unable to take orders from anyone but herself. To her dismay, Louisa is assigned to Phantom Division—an elite group of the kingdom’s spies. She must train to infiltrate and live a double-life in the Black Hills, a rebel land teeming with thieves, traitors, and murderers. She will need every edge her training and wits can provide. Because once she enters the Black Hills, there are only two options: adapt or die.
BOOK REVIEW: Holy moly. I'm gonna start off by saying that THE ONLY downside to this book is that it just came out and we have to WAIT to find out what happens next. That's it. The whole book was amazing! I couldn't help think how opposite I was from Louisa. She was rebellious and forced to join the military at 18 whereas I tried to go to boot camp when I was 17 so I could do reserves my senior year of high school and then go active duty only to wait until I graduated to go voluntarily. I do love a girl who knows how to stand up for herself even if she doesn't quite have a handle on her emotions so doesn't always go about it in the proper way. That reminds me a little of my sister when she was younger.
I love the characters that we've been introduced to, even briefly. We have her twin brother Oliver who is the more mature of the two for the most part. Their uncle who raised them after their mother passed. We have a few people that we meet during her Phantom training and then we get to the Black Hills. There's so much that I want to say but I don't know how to say it without spoiling anything but I will say that based on the blurb alone, it seems like she would fit in...minus the whole murdering part.
5 stars! All the 5 stars! I had no idea that this was a part 1 so you can understand how I was getting closer to the end of the book and there were still a lot of questions not answered but then I found that there will be a part 2 and I was relieved. Only for a moment because like I said at the beginning, this just came out! I don't know how far along the author is in writing book 2 but you better believe that I'm getting my hands on it! The world that she has created has a familiar feel to it but I can't quite put my finger on it. It is times like this that I wish I was an artist because I was envisioning Fort Royal, the dwellings, the market, the Residence, and I wish I could draw it out and send it to the author to see if it's close to what she was picturing when creating it. I definitely recommend this book but if you're impatient and hate any kind of a wait between books then I would suggest that you wait to read it at least until there is a release date for the next book!
5/5 Stars
2025 Reading Challenge: 11/50 complete
Comments