4.0
Wish Givers
ByPublisher Description
Reva's clan, the Mauli, tattoo wishes into reality. Once revered, the Mauli now live in hiding, with a precious few imprisoned beneath the Ali'i's pink palace. Burning for justice, Reva strides into the capital city, announces herself a wish giver, and allows herself to be bound. She knows the only way to save herself and her people is to grant her greatest enemy his every wish.
Already outcast by her skill and arrogance, Reva feels she has nothing to lose and everything to gain. However, she faces not only the Ali'i, but the mighty White God and his followers, the animosity of the Mauli, and the burdensome eye of Mata, a dark god with an ambitious priest who has a wish of his own. Within the confines of the Ali'i's palace, Reva discovers love and friendship, but to destroy the Ali'i, she may be forced to to sacrifice more than she has ever wished for.
Wish Givers is a fantasy novel with a tropical island setting and themes of freedom, found family, and the pursuit of dreams.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesWish Givers Reviews
4.0
“Read for SPFBOX as part of team https://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2024/07/spfbo-x-second-culling-semi-finalist.html
5/10
Featuring a tropical setting, tattoo magic, rich cultures, clashing religions, and deadly political intrigue, Wish Givers is a slow-burn yet unputdownable revenge story that shines in its uniqueness.
This is the story of Reva, an exiled member of the Mauli clan who is dead set on freeing her people from the oppressive rule of the Ali’i. With her gift of tattoo magic, she can bring anyone’s wishes to life, except those of herself and her clan. So unfolds a dangerous scheme to infiltrate the pink palace and work herself up in the Ali’i’s good graces, only to teach him just how careful you must be with what you wish for.
As a big tattoo lover, I was immediately captivated by this unique magic system, especially because it plays such an integral role in the story. This entire plot hinges on Reva’s cunning way of finding loopholes to twist the Ali’i’s wishes to her favour, which created such a riveting air of suspense for me. Moreover, all the tattooing scenes were described in such an evocative and artful way, almost to the point that I could feel and see the tattoos appear on my own body.
Now, much as I adored this magic system, Wish Givers unfortunately left me a bit wanting in some other aspects. Though Reva is a true force of nature with a very compelling and strong personality, I personally felt like we were dropped halfway into her story, and I never got the chance to fully latch onto her. Moreover, there was a second POV that didn’t grab my attention at all, and after the 75% mark we suddenly got random other perspectives from side characters that I had never gotten the chance to get invested in in the first place.
Given that this is such a small-scope and intimately character-driven narrative, this lack of emotional investment ended up hindering my personal enjoyment quite a bit. I think the main reason why I felt so detached is because of the slightly unconventional and choppy writing style, which just did not process well in my brain. Plus, the passage of time and the transition between scenes often felt very jarring to me, and at points I just couldn’t help but feel like there was just some connective tissue missing in the delivery of this tale.
All that said, I still think there is a lot to love and appreciate in Wish Givers, and the story did slowly grow on me the more I read on. Knight expertly uses a fantastical lens to tackle some difficult real world topics such as (cultural) racism, genocide, oppression, and religious strife, which really gave the story a ton of nuance, power and heart.
And speaking of heart, I really liked Reva’s unrelenting determination to fight for the freedom of her people and seeing how she sacrificed herself to keep her fellow prisoners safe. Also, I was so pleasantly surprised by the tender romance subplot that unexpectedly started to develop over the course of the story, and I loved how that dynamic somewhat softened Reva’s harder edges.
Ultimately, there’s truly no denying that Knight nailed her vision for this story with the powerful ending, really bringing home the core themes of freedom, survival, and of facing the dire consequences of your actions. While my personal quibbles held me back from enjoying Wish Givers as much as I might have wished for (pun very much intended), I still think this unique gem is well worth the read, because it is truly a great example of the wild imagination and diversity that indie fantasy has to offer!”
“Firstly, I would like to thank Netgalley, Shannon Knight and her publishers for this e-ARC!
Wishes. Tattoos. Clever, badass women.
Intrigued? I was too. Did it deliver? Yes it did!
This novel was so unique and wonderfully crafted. The world building was amazing and I was so drawn to the world of the Mauli. The magic system is unlike anything I have every read before so I was excited every time we were able to experience it on page.
Reva was such an interesting character. She was clever and cunning and utilised her power in such an interesting and captivating way. The only thing I wish we got more of was her backstory - though I’m sure the ending of this book is setting us up to learn more about her past in potential sequels.
The romance in this book was unexpected… and I absolutely loved it! I was taken by surprise at who it turned out to be as the author put a few red herrings in the way to missway the readers! Clever.
While I really liked this book, there were some moments that felt a bit stagnant and a few characters who’s perspectives I wasn’t interested in such as Kahu, but this may have just been my keenness to get back to Reva’s Mauli Magic!
I would definitely recommend this novel to fans of unique and intricate magic systems, those who like independent and driven main characters and fantasy lovers.”
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
