By Kerat Kaur Jhaj
Himagus by Kerat Jhaj
Released: July 18, 2020
Pages: 108
Publisher: Self-published, ebook
Overall: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
Setting & World-building: 3.5/5
Emotional Investment: 2/5
Thanks to Kerat Kaur Jhaj for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!
This was a debut novel by Kerat Jhaj and if I'm being honest I was pleasantly surprised.
Quick Summary: For the past decade, Earth has been in an apocalypse where aliens from the planet Himagus, have slaughtered their way through mankind. Eventually, though there is only one human girl left. A girl who will do everything to return humanity back to Earth, but the only reason she is alive is because two Himagus aliens fell in love with her. Now it's her choice to decide where her prioritize lie.
First of all, the story starts amazing. It jumps right into the action as our main character, Kylie's family gets murdered by the Himagus aliens, specifically a Magus and werewolf. That part was written in a really sweet way. I kind of wish there was more talk about her family relationships because I'm a sucker for unique and funny family relationships.
There was a lot of plot in this book considering how short it was. It was occasionally super fast, and I couldn't comprehend the sudden emotion and/or scene changes. It is considered a novella so it was interesting to read so much happen. But I actually liked the idea of this plot. It was something I had never read before and was more about a magic system I had never heard of. I also like how the ending left suspense. Because what happens could have easily been written in a confusing way that would have made the story pointless, but Jhaj made it interesting and left enough room for me to be like 'what's supposed to happen next'. The one thing that I had a little bit of a problem with was the flashback scenes. This is because I just never knew if it was a flashback or present time because sometimes it started at the beginning of a chapter. I had to read a little bit and then it took a while before I stopped being confused.
I also didn't hate that this took place in the 21st century. It took a little getting used to because most fantasy books take place in post-phone society. But afterward, I liked that choice because it made it seem coherent to like the world. The only thing I didn't get is when the emperor/king of Himagus punished people with hot condiments. Bruh...
Okay, now I think this was pretty well written for a self-published debut novel from a high schooler. Also, writing a book is hard and very brave so I think it was good I just have a few things that bothered me.
I couldn't connect with the characters at all. David was like the comedic sidekick and William was the brooding male. Despite this being called a love-triangle (which I dislike in general) it honestly felt like David was not even an option. Like Kylie never reciprocated anything in my opinion. Another thing I didn't like is how quickly Kylie went from "oh you killed my family" to "I basically love you". That change was so fast and the entire time she would kiss him and then her internal dialogue would be like "don't do that. We hate him." and I thought that was excessive. Kylie, dear, that's Stockholm syndrome. Yes, I understand people can change motives but it happened so fast I missed some of the angst. Also, I didn't feel much chemistry between the love interests. Kylie and David's friendship was funny to read, but Kylie and William just had straight-up infatuation. If you can't tell yet, insta-love is not my favorite trope.
There were a lot of introductions of new characters. It didn't provide any sort of closure to their lives and maybe that will be in the next book so it's fine. But we just met so many characters so fast, that remembering them all was hard. Maybe if the book was longer and allowed more emotions to be built in by showing the reader rather than telling it would be better.
But at the end of the day, this was a really pretty good debut novel. I only took forever to read it because I had school, but this book genuinely has an interesting synopsis and plotline. Thank you Kerat Kaur Jhaj for allowing me to read this.
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