Alexandria Warwick

From the author of The Demon Race comes a YA dark fantasy series inspired by Inuit mythology. In the heart of the frigid North, there lives a demon known as the Face Stealer. Eyes, nose, mouth--nothing and no one is safe. Once he returns to his lair, or wherever it is he dwells, no one ever sees those faces again. When tragedy strikes, Apaay embarks on a perilous journey to find her sister's face--yet becomes trapped in a labyrinth ruled by a sinister girl named Yuki. The girl offers Apaay a deal: find her sister's face hidden within the labyrinth, and she will be set free. But the labyrinth, and those who inhabit it, is not as it seems. Especially Numiak: darkly beautiful, powerful, whose motives are not yet clear. With time slipping, Apaay is determined to escape the deadly labyrinth with her sister's face in hand. But in Yuki's harsh world, Apaay will need all her strength to survive. Yuki only plays the games she wins.

Below

Colleen

3 Stars

*A dark retelling of Inuit lore that needed a bit more depth*

**This review contains minor spoilers.**


What first drew me to Below was the cover. Seriously, this cover by Faryn Hughes is stunning! I love the art style, the times, and the way in ties to the story. It is such a gorgeous, atmospheric cover. 

Then when I read that the story was inspired by Inuit mythology, I knew I had to read it. I love mythology and am always on the lookout for books about it particularly lesser covered mythos. It's one of the only things that can get me to read a YA book anymore.
.
I was so excited to read Below, but by the end my feelings were mixed. I liked the set up, but the plot was so repetitive. The story felt like it was in a loop covering slight variances over and over. By the second half, my interest was waning. 

The Inuit inspiration faded in and out of notice. There were some good inclusions – such as the traditions surrounding names. But this was contrasted by the modern dialogue and slang that sounded so disingenuous to the setting. 

The story also could have used stronger character development. The main character, Apaay, had a level of insecurity has was annoying to deal with at times. It often eclipsed her other emotions and lent all of her actions a selfish air despite her seemingly heroic mission to rescue her sister’s face from a mythical face-stealing demon. I wish she had been easier to root for. But a predictable character in a repetitive plot is hard to really get invested in.

The other characters never felt fleshed out enough. And the main villain had a cartoonish air. This was certainly a YA book right down to the large dose of angst. Although I will mention that the violence did ramp up at the end.

Also, if you are wondering about the fate of the dog: (view spoiler)[The dog dies. Horribly. And it put me in a really bad mood. (hide spoiler)]

The overall story was engaging enough, but I am uncertain whether or not I will continue on with the series.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Sheila Goicea

I'm excited to be a part of the BELOW blog tour with The Fantastic Flying Book Club, from January 29th - February 4th, 2020!

I received an ARC of this book via the author, Alexandria Warwick and The FFBC, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication. 

Content Warning: Death of an animal and character, Imprisonment, Blood, Gore, Torture, Starvation/self-imposed Anorexia, Talk of Suicide, mild Profanity, near-Drowning

Below is an incredibly unique story. Based on stories and figures in Inuit mythology, it offers a very different, unfamiliar, and fresh look for Young Adult fantasy. Elements of The Last Airbender are also represented, mainly by a face-stealing demon who is the bane of the local villages. The culture and mythology were mainly inspired by the Inuit of Nunavut, Canada.

  ”They didn’t believe in you, did they?”
They hadn’t, and she had wanted them to. She’d wanted them to so badly. She had come for Eska, but she had come for herself too. The guilt swelled for needing that belief, that trust from those she loved most, to be a reason at all.

Apaay resides in the frigid Arctic north. Small villages pepper what would otherwise be a frozen land of white. One would think that the severe climate would be the most of the Analak’s worries. Surprisingly, one other force has yet to meet it’s reckoning--the Face Stealer--a demon that sneaks into the village to steal the face of an unsuspecting individual once every few months. No warning is given when the demon strikes. It is in this moment that Apaay’s younger sister Eska, falls prey to the demon’s ruthless pickings. Now faceless, except for two slits where her nostrils once remained, Eska is forced to live a life of isolation. Others who have befallen the same fate typically don’t make it--the isolation and loss of identity prove to be too much for their continued existence. 

Desperate to help her sister, Apaay decides to seek out the notorious Face Stealer to get her sister’s face back. Her family, and the rest of the community surprisingly discourage her, due to their loss in hope in returning something so intimate to the people that have been affected. Unable to write her sister off, Apaay sneaks off and traverses the barren North in search of the demon. 

In her wanderings, Apaay becomes trapped inside a labyrinth ruled by a treacherous girl named Yuki. Working hand-in-hand with the notorious demon, Yuki makes a deal with Apaay that she will give her freedom if she can locate Eska’s face in the labyrinth. If she fails, she will be trapped in the labyrinth, and the in-between. The labyrinth is not what it seems, and Apaay finds herself stuck within it’s slippery grasp. Unexpectedly, Appay meets others that have been trapped there for different reasons, and creates lasting relationships--one with a deaf girl named Ila. The longer she stays within Yuki’s grasps, the more she learns about Numiak, the face-stealing demon, and that his motivations for stealing faces may be for a very different reason than assumed. 

  He was keeping something from her. She didn’t know what. She only knew the feeling of lies upon the tongue, and his was a most burdensome weight.

Throughout everything, Apaay questions a lot about her identity, and learns how to love herself. Her journey makes her character incredibly personable for the reader, as every person traverses these musings at some point in their life. Several aspects of her culture heavily influence how she views herself. Her family, her image, her hair, her beauty, usefulness, and so on and so forth. For much of the story, she progressively learns how she views herself now, compared to who she used to be. 

Ultimately, Below is a story about self-love, dedication, and identity. I really enjoyed the diversity, setting, and Apaay’s character arc. I’m very curious to see where this story will go, and to learn more about some of these characters that I feel will show up in the sequels to this story. I think that some of the settings could have used more detail. It was confusing trying to understand exactly where the scene was taking place at times. No matter what, I think that Apaay's story itself is very memorable.

  More importantly, she had found herself.
She was not Ila or Chena or Mama or Papa or Masuk or Eska or Silla.
She was Apaay.
She was enough.

Vulgarity: Mild.
Sexual content: There was one scene of nudity but nothing sexually happened. It was to humiliate one of the characters.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating:★★★1/2

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Aleena Korell

This one's pretty good!

Below is a tale reminiscent of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, Tam Lin, and Inuit culture and mythology. A demon called the Face Stealer haunts the lands where Apaay and her family lives, and when he strikes their village and steals her sister's face, Apaay is determined to go after him and bring it back. She sets out on a journey that takes her to the in-between, where she is captured and thrown into an icy labyrinth of tricks and terrors inflicted by a girl named Yuki, who cares nothing for anyone but herself. And beside Yuki is always the Face Stealer, beautiful and dangerous-- and who knows what he cares for?

This was shaping up to be my most anticipated for 2020, and I was lucky to receive an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

There's a lot of good, and for most of it I was on track to rate it 5 stars, and possibly to even have a new favorite. The setting is cold and biting, harsh and beautiful. Wind and snow so cold you can feel it. The labyrinth is fascinating, I honestly wish we could have explored it more. Gave me hardcore Snow Queen vibes and I love that crap. 

Apaay is a great protagonist, stubborn and independent, loving deeply and wanting nothing more than to prove herself to others after constantly being underestimated. I really enjoyed understanding her culture-- the history the Analak people keep in their hair with bones and tokens, the name-soul, the sacredness of all life. Made for a fascinating and beautiful backdrop.

The Face Stealer, named Numiak, is sufficiently mysterious with a freakin' awesome power, and he's not just a Hot Broody Bad Boy™ who does nothing. He speaks, he banters. He even seems to help Apaay-- but his reasons remain unclear.

Ila is my favorite. A prisoner most of her life, she's innocent and timid, but strong and loyal and loving. She is deaf, which makes her relationship with Apaay special since Apaay knows how to sign because of her deaf grandmother. They keep each other going, tell each other jokes, save each others' lives. Friendship goals.

And of course, Inrick. I thought at first he was a love interest for Ila, which would have been so sweet. But it became clear he served a different purpose.

Which brings me to why 4 stars instead of 5.

I saw the twist coming far ahead. I wasn't mad about it, it's what I would have done if I were Warwick. And I assumed that there would be an even bigger twist to offset the one I guessed (view spoiler)[ like Ila-- I was CERTAIN she was important. Maybe she had something to do with the face that Yuki sought? There had to be a reason that Numiak befriended her. No such twist.... yet.  (hide spoiler)] I guess I just wish that we got to explore Yuki and the Face Stealer's motives. Because it really just seems like they're doing things for the sake of it. Yuki's evil because she wants to be (she's been hurt before, wah), and Numiak (view spoiler)[ we literally don't know. Even to the last page. Why did he help Apaay? Why did he torment all those people? Why didn't he move against Yuki before-- he keeps saying he's not a prisoner? Why did he befriend Ila? No hints. I'm sure it'll be covered in another installment but... I wish Apaay could have glimpsed something about his past to give him some dimension. It's clear he's had something bad happen and lost family. But vague sad pasts are hard to care as much about. (hide spoiler)]

At any rate, I really enjoyed it and I'm definitely bought in to the series. Can't wait to see where Warwick goes with this in the next one (which I have to wait like over a year for!) but until then I absolutely recommend giving this one a read.

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Wolf Publishing for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.



Knowing that Warwick is a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and then reading this synopsis and novel, it just makes it that much more cool. There’s a character in the series – the character that I have a gif of above – called Koh, the Face Stealer. If Koh sees you make any facial expression in front of him, he will steal your face. Clearly, he has a lot of faces to shuffle through when we finally get to meet him face to face… yes I said that, with Aang, our current Avatar. I don’t know how Aang was able to keep a neutral face the entire time during his conversation with Koh, but he does, and he gets to keep his face.

No, this isn’t a spoiler. ATLA has been out for years and it’s not crucial to the main plot. Just saying.

Now anyway, I had no idea that the story of a face stealer was inspired by Inuit mythology, and when I saw that this book was inspired by such (not just the face stealer but in general), I was so excited to read it. I’m not sure if Warwick has Inuit in her, and I’m not the right person to know whether or not this book did the Inuit culture justice, so I will say that from my standpoint, I did enjoy this novel. I’m glad that there’s going to be more books in this series, because I feel like there can be so much more involved in this world and there could be more inspirations from Inuit mythology that could come into play in here.

And come on, Yuki needs to be involved in the rest of the series, don’t you think? I love me a sinister little bad girl that gives our MC Apaaya some crazy vibes.

Alicia Haws

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4 STARS

When the author contacted me about reviewing this book for her, she described it as 'dark fantasy' which i was slightly hesitant to pick up. I love a good fantasy though, so I had her send it to me to give it a try. It did NOT disappoint. Below is such a unique and compelling story!

Below is set in the Arctic and is based on Inuit Mythology-something I knew absolutely nothing about before reading this. The culture is fascinating though, and I am bound to wind up delving deeper into learning more about them. I found that Warwick seemed very knowledgeable in this aspect of the book. It was also a very unique setting, which made it such an intriguing read.

Apaay is our MC and she is bold and often finds herself in unexpected or dangerous situations because of it. Apaay never gives up though, and one of my favorite things about this novel was how truly steadfast and loyal she was to her family. I really enjoyed Apaay's character and following her on this journey of personal growth.

The Face Stealer was a great anti-villain. He is intimidating and dangerous, but there is also a sort of deep emotional connection you feel toward him, and i'm not sure why yet. I feel that we will get to know more about him and his story in the next book.

Yuki was a great villain to the story, and I found that while I liked The Face Stealer, I did not like Yuki. She was also intimidating and dangerous in her own ways, but I felt less of a connection to her on an emotional level. I feel that she is the true villain to this story and may not have any redeeming qualities, but I guess we will see.

The plot felt very unique and well done. I did have slight trouble in the beginning with getting into the story, but I feel like that happens to me with all first books in a new series. The world-building can sometimes feel sluggish. After about 40 pages though, I could not put it down. I love that Warwick infused her characters with these powerful growth moments and points in the novel where they each really shine and show their inner strength in the face of adversity. Like I said before, I also loved the themes of family loyalty throughout the book. It felt so easy to read and to connect with the story and characters. This story though is also quite intense. It has a lot of dark and emotional moments-life and death situations, but even with that, I felt that the story still shined with hope.

Overall, I really liked this one, and recommend it to any fantasy and dark fantasy readers. I look forward to the next book in this series!


  *Special thanks to Alexandria Warwick for sending me an advanced print copy of the book in exchange only for my honest thoughts and review*



  


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Imzy

ARC received for an honest review.


This book is so good. It is perfect in every way. I don't even know what to say. The characters are all so intricately created and protrayed it was hard not to feel everything they did. The worldbuilding had me in awe. The setting is very complex, especially with some fantastical elements, so being able to describe everything so well is amazing.

There are so many quotes I loved in this book but here are some of my favourites:

  Don’t ever stop caring.” Voice pitched low, she whispered, “You love so fiercely. With your whole heart. That’s where your strength comes from. Not from your skill in hunting. Not from tracking. Here.” She pressed her palm against Apaay’s breastbone. “Always remember that.”

  She did not fear other people’s pain.

  I will carry your heart in my heart.

  Does one crush a flower in winter?

  "People like us?” he said, voice hard. “We’re not meant to be loved."

I recommend this to everyone. It has so much loss, friendship, family and love. And I cannot wait for the next one!

[Bookstagram]

Ashlee

Below is the perfect snow-day read. Inspired by Inuit-mythology it follows a young woman searching to restore her sister’s identity and find her own self worth.

After Apaay’s village is attacked, she is horrified to learn that the whispered about Face Stealer, a demon of unknown power, has stolen her sister’s face. Feeling as though she is the only one who cares of her sister’s fate, Apaay ventures into the wild to find the Face Stealer domain and recover what was stolen.

Enriched with beautiful, descriptive prose and a fully-imagined frozen North, this book carries a narrative that is strongly character driven. 

Apaay finds herself on a journey of self discovery and learns her own perceptions of wielding power and suffering aren’t quite as black-and-white as they seem.

My favorite character in this was the Face Stealer. He is incredibly complex and the whole time I was reading I couldn’t wait to get to the next scene that involved him. I constantly wanted to know more about his motivations, his history and loved the little glimpses we were given into his character. 

I did find the plot to be somewhat slow initially and repetitive overall, it bogged me down a little here and there. However, I also feel as though this was an important part of part of Apaay’s journey. She was given many chances to achieve her goal and it was only through those chances that she ultimately came to the culmination of her journey in this story.

I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes next, with North. It definitely didn’t end how I expected, but I love the ending!

Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

Lauren James

Full review on my blog, Storied Adventures

*Thank you so much to the author for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!*
*Put this under retellings even though its technically mythology*

First of all, this book made me cry and I NEVER cry from books. 
Second, I really enjoyed this book! Apaay faced sever weather, fighting wild animals, surviving nightmare's come to life, surviving being a prisoner, and losing her family. It was very intense at some parts! I wanted some more information on what Yuki and The Face Stealer are, but I guess that saves some mystery for book 2! I can't wait for book 2!

Below

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