Blog Tour – The Never Tilting World By Rin Chupeco – ARC Review

Thank you to Caffeine Book Tours for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review and having me on the blog tour.

As soon as I heard about The Never Tilting World I knew I just had to read it and when I am so excited to be part of the blog tour and to share my review because I absolutely loved it!

Rating: 4.5/5

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.

While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.

But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.

The concept of this story immediately intrigued me and I really loved this book. Rin incorporated climate change and the destruction it can cause on our planet into the story so well. And the parallels to real life were so well done. The youth are the ones trying to make a difference whereas those in power are content to stay in their palaces and forts safe regardless of what that means for everyone else. The four main characters want to try and undo the damage and make the world a better and safer place to live for everyone yet the adult tell them to focus on other things.

I remember the world back when it was soft and good, where I could watch the sun set before stars graced the sky with their shine. Do you know what I would give to see a sunset again, lad?

There are four points of view in the book and I really loved seeing things from all of them. Though my favourite is definitely Arjun. He a moody cinnamon roll and I loved him! The two sisters are separate throughout the book because they have grown up on opposite sides of the world so we see their separate and very different journeys with their companions (and love interests).

Odessa travels with Lan who is a healer and they have a very difficult relationship which they have to work through in this journey because of certain things that happened before they started. Haidee travels with Arjun who grew up as a desert scavenger unlike Haidee who has grown up in a palace surrounded and protected by fort. They come from very different lives yet they end up working together so well! They were definitely my favourites as they were so adorable! I really loved seeing how different Haidee and Odessa are yet are so similar in many ways too.

I really loved that right from the beginning we are thrown right into the story and the magic system and we slowly learn more over the course of the story. We learn about why the way the world is the way it is and the history and how the magic in the world works. But it was even more interesting because we learn half from Haidee and half from Odessa who have both been given half truths and kept in the dark about many things from their mothers.

We’re chasing a dying sea under an endless sun that kills us with a thousand little cuts every day

The story is also quite dark at times from the monsters that they have to deal with, they were actually pretty terrifying at times. Discussion of how people can abuse their power and positions of authority and will often never be held to account are also discussed. We see the discussion happen in quite depth in the story where abuse is often ignored and covered up. Social class and inequalities are also something that are discussed in the story.

I really loved how diverse this story was, there were characters of different ethnicities all interacting with each other. Arjun has a disability, where he has lost his hand and it was really great seeing how he compensated for it but also that it does affect him. Lan suffers from PTSD and her journey of accepting help and feeling safe to talk to someone was done really well. Odessa also suffers from a chronic illness and I really loved seeing that! We never really get chronic illness rep and really related to it (a chronic illness sufferer) that she had to learn to balance between doing something and having to rest and how difficult was for her to accept her limitations.

A demoness is what men call a goddess they cannot control

The Never Tilting World is a journey of self-discovery of wanting to be more than the label they have been given and doing something that will make a difference in the world. It’s about family and friendship and love and power. You will be swept away by this wonderful story.

 

Here is the full blog tour schedule where you can find all other posts and follow the author on social media.

You can find the full schedule and giveaway here

You can also join in on the Twitter chat happening on October 19th

Follow Shealea and Rin Chupeco to keep up to date with everything!

PS. You can find the twitter thread here