First Impression

I’ll admit was a bit unsure about this cover at first, but the further I got into Sowing the more it began to grow on me. I always love when elements of the cover art tie into the work itself and this book definitely delivered in that regard.

Bonus points for the Hulcondan symbol featured on the cover which is both artistically creative and aesthetically pleasing.

Criticism

Okay, before we get to far into this review I want to start with a huge massively important disclaimer: Sowing deals with some pretty difficult and heavy topics of discussion including attempted rape/sexual assault and physical and psychological abuse. If any of those topics might be triggering for you in any way, please be aware that this novel does involve such topics.

Though I personally would have enjoyed this novel a bit more without any of the aforementioned topics, I have to admit that addressing such issues added a much greater level of depth to this story. It was truly inspiring to watch the way these characters worked to heal from past experiences and  trauma. Overall, I found there to be an encouraging spirit of resilience within the work as a whole.

Appreciation

You probably know the story by now: dystopian world, evil and oppressive government, a group of underdog rebels fighting for freedom and justice and liberty and equality and … well, you get the idea. 

I have read my fair share of “rebellion” stories – the YA market is particularity saturated with them at the moment – so when I started reading Sowing I thought I had a pretty good idea of the way this story would unfold.

I could not have been more wrong or more pleasantly surprised.

The plot of Sowing was wonderfully unpredictable, spliced with several twists and turns that left me questioning what I thought I knew the second I began to feel too comfortable. The characters and their relationship dynamics were perfectly imperfect and honestly one of my favorite aspects of Sowing, surpassed only by the captivating setting. This was not just a formulaic YA dystopian rebellion story, but a rich and magical medieval adventure where rebellion brews dangerously close to the surface.

The last word

Though dealing with a fair share of heavy topics, Sowing is not a story of defeat or loss but of the spirit of human resilience.

Magnificent …