A fantasy tale set in a dystopian wild west.
Sold to welcome houses, by parents who are in dire straits & think their young daughters will have a better life, those children are branded with magical tattoos on their necks, so that should they ever try to or manage to escape, will be easily identified.
The welcome houses and name they are known by; the good luck girls, are as far away from being as pleasent as they sound! The welcome houses are brothels, where the young girls would work as day break girls, as servents, until they reached the age of 16, in which they would then become sundown girls. That is when they would be made to sleep with brags.
The story opens with Clem being 'settled' into her first night as a sundown girl. Only she accidently kills the brag who had paid for her 'service.'
Aster, Clem's sister, also a sundown girl, knows the only thing to do is escape, so with Clem, Clem's friends, Tansy & Mallow, and the resident favourite, the 5 girls escape the welcome house.
They are persude through the Scab, an unforgiving environment, by the living and the dead, with their only hope & faith in the story of Lady Ghost, a being who can remove the magical favors from their necks, giving them the freedom they so desire.
I really enjoyed this book.
I liked the fantasy element of it, which I felt really made the story, the setting, the raveners & the venegents, as well as the magical favors.
I thought the character development was really good too, not so much Astra & Clem, but more so Violet's quite sad background, Tansy & Mallow's relationship, and Zee's father's history.
I would most definetly like there to be a second book, I would love to know if they do ever find Zee's sisters & if their will be a resistent uprising.
Sold to welcome houses, by parents who are in dire straits & think their young daughters will have a better life, those children are branded with magical tattoos on their necks, so that should they ever try to or manage to escape, will be easily identified.
The welcome houses and name they are known by; the good luck girls, are as far away from being as pleasent as they sound! The welcome houses are brothels, where the young girls would work as day break girls, as servents, until they reached the age of 16, in which they would then become sundown girls. That is when they would be made to sleep with brags.
The story opens with Clem being 'settled' into her first night as a sundown girl. Only she accidently kills the brag who had paid for her 'service.'
Aster, Clem's sister, also a sundown girl, knows the only thing to do is escape, so with Clem, Clem's friends, Tansy & Mallow, and the resident favourite, the 5 girls escape the welcome house.
They are persude through the Scab, an unforgiving environment, by the living and the dead, with their only hope & faith in the story of Lady Ghost, a being who can remove the magical favors from their necks, giving them the freedom they so desire.
I really enjoyed this book.
I liked the fantasy element of it, which I felt really made the story, the setting, the raveners & the venegents, as well as the magical favors.
I thought the character development was really good too, not so much Astra & Clem, but more so Violet's quite sad background, Tansy & Mallow's relationship, and Zee's father's history.
I would most definetly like there to be a second book, I would love to know if they do ever find Zee's sisters & if their will be a resistent uprising.