We have a lot of eARC’s and we want to promote them a little bit more. So we decided to do some more Bookish Beginnings On Friday. Today I want to take a look at Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston. I hadn’t heard a lot about this one but came across it on Netgalley and thought it sounded very interesting. So let’s take a look at the first sentence!
Caraval meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this deliciously dark young adult fantasy about a girl who makes a deal with a magical secret society to enter a potentially deadly competition for the chance to avenge her mother’s death.
Ever since a vampire murdered her mother, Ava has been determined to get revenge. This all-encompassing drive has given her the fuel she needed to survive foster home after foster home.
But it’s been ten years since anyone’s seen a vampire, and Ava has lost hope that she’ll ever find one…until she stumbles across a hidden magic show where she witnesses impossible illusions. The magicians may not be the bloodsuckers she’s hunting, but Ava is convinced something supernatural is at play, so she sneaks backstage and catches them in acts they can’t explain.
But they’ve been waiting for her.
The magicians reveal they’re part of an ancient secret society with true magic, and Ava has the same power in her blood that they do. If she joins them, they promise to teach her the skills she needs to hunt vampires and avenge her mother. But there’s a catch: if she wants to keep the power they offer, she needs to prove she’s worthy of it. And to do so, she must put on the performance of her life in a sinister and dangerous competition where illusion and reality blur, and the stakes are deadly.
I always stop for lost-pet flyers. I can’t stand the thought of animals out on the street when they have a home and a family waiting for them. This one’s a cat, and even though the paper’s yellowed from the sun and the ink’s smeared from the rain, I memorised the gray stripes and the name: Suzy.
Well, this was not the start of the story I was expecting haha. I was really confused for a bit and kept looking if this was the eARC I thought it was. But it was and I guess this is how we get into the story. Maybe this does work in making me curious, because now I do want to know what it going on and how we get from here to a secret magical society.
The synopsis sounds really interesting and like a story I would enjoy a lot. I’m excited to try this book. I’ve seen some positive reviews and this seems to be a darker fantasy story, just like I want my fantasies! Hopefully I can read this one soon as it got released at the start of the month.
Had you heard of this book? And are you planning on reading it? Or have you already read it? I would love to hear from you! Is it as good as I think it’ll be? We will find out!
