Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley

kayhwrites
7 days ago
4 min read

"But hope was what we made it."

Introduction

Okay, y'all, I have been in the worst reading slump of my life this year. I had a goal of reading 85 books. I read 8, two of which were read this month. In December. The last time I read a book completely before that? February. For 10 months, I have been unable to read a book past the first chapter and it drove me insane. Here enters Servant of Earth by Sarah Hawley.

As of July of this year, I started working in a library. During the slow moments, I like to look at the books on our shelves. I saw the second book (not knowing it was the second) and read the first few sentences. I was hooked. Then realized this was probably the second book and I needed the first. So, I did what any bookworm who has been in a major book slump would: I got the first book. And I read it in three days. I devoured this thing. And then promptly begged some friends to read it. If you were one of the lucky few I begged, I have a message for you: ahem IF YOU LOVE ME, PLEASE READ THIS BOOK. THANK YOU.

First Feelings

I have to be completely honest with y'all: I love fantasy/romantasy, but I find it to be repetitive these days. I wanted a really good book that had me on the edge of my seat by gave me things I liked. This was that book for me. I would describe it as A Court of Thorns and Roses meets The Hunger Games with a dash of Divergent. It was so good. And, if I'm going to be completely honest with you, I haven't felt this excited about a series since reading A Court of Thorns and Roses back in 2023. Obviously, I'm excited for the second book.

Description

In the underground Fae realm, only the strongest and most ruthless have power--but a young human woman forced into a life of servitude is about to change everything.

Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild--some say "half feral"--but she'll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court.

Trapped as a servant in the faeries' underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic: Fire, Earth, Light, Void, Illusion, and Blood. If she succeeds, her mistress will gain immortality and become the heir to Earth House. If she doesn't, the punishment is death--for both mistress and servant.

With no ally but a sentient dagger of mysterious origins, Kenna must face monsters, magic, and grueling physical tests. But worse dangers wait underground, and soon Kenna gets caught up in a secret rebellion against the inventively sadistic faerie king. When her feelings for the rebellion's leader turn passionate, Kenna must decide if she's willing to risk her life for a better world and a chance at happiness.

Surviving the trials and overthrowing a tyrant king will take cunning, courage, and an iron will...but even that may not be enough.

StoryGraph Overall Rating

Okay, listen, I prefer StoryGraph over GoodReads. So, I'll be using it to help with all further reviews.

That being said, the overall rating on StoryGraph is 4.21 with almost 3,000 reviews. Other readers have found the book to have the following moods:

Adventurous	90%
Dark	71%
Tense	53%
Emotional	47%
Mysterious	43%
Challenging	22%
Hopeful	15%
Sad	15%
Inspiring	9%
Funny	5%
Reflective	5%

I would suggest that if you want to give this book a read, you should check the rigger warnings. While reading is fun and more for escapism, your mental health matters. This book does have some heavy topics. Please read with care.

My Rating

I gave this book a 4.5 for the following reasons:

Despite accidentally reading the first few sentences of the second book, I was hooked from the beginning and never lost interest.
I found myself reacting a lot during this adventure: laughing, smiling, feeling angry, happy, sad, I gasped many times, and even looked around the room I was in wondering if anyone caught on that I was being destroyed by a book.
I took off .5 because it did drag a little in my opinion, but the book was so well done that I didn't even mind.

Favorite Quotes

This...It was like drowning in melted chocolate. Like sinking into a feather bed after a warm bath.

It's hard to see something you want every day and know you'll never have it.

That was what love was. Not just romantic love, but any type of love. It was caring so much for another person that you would do anything to see them happy and whole.

But hope was what we made it. I wasn't going to wait for someone else to create that future for me. I was going to seize it with my own two hands, then carve it into a shape I wanted.

Music

Like always, I will be adding a song or two (or three) that I feel like really make this reading experience even better. There was also a playlist I listened to that I will link below:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5gmcpMlhNfoQOynwH5Wx3L?si=dee019789b6a4a00