A healer who cannot be healed . . . When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she’s destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art-until a threat to her village creates a need that only she can fill. A soldier shattered by war . . . Broken by torture at the hands of the … torture at the hands of the Amparan Empire, Dineas thirsts for revenge against his captors. Now escaped and reunited with his tribe, he’ll do anything to free them from Amparan rule-even if it means undertaking a plan that risks not only his life but his very self.
Thrust together on a high-stakes mission to spy on the capital, the two couldn’t be more different: Zivah, deeply committed to her vow of healing, and Dineas, yearning for vengeance. But as they grow closer, they must find common ground to protect those they love. And amidst the constant fear of discovery, the two grapple with a mutual attraction that could break both of their carefully guarded hearts.
This smart, sweeping fantasy with a political edge and a slow-burning romance will capture fans of The Lumatere Chronicles and An Ember in the Ashes.more
This book deserves so much praise! Something so beautifully written with such an addictive plot make for a great read!
When I finished Rosemarked, I immediately began on its sequel, Umbertouched. I was on vacation at the time (does anyone else remember vacation? Ah, the Pandemic Thus Far) and set aside valuable time to read this duology! Engaging, an interesting concept, I absolutely loved it and wholeheartedly recommend it!
When her village, and the soldiers in it, are sickened by fever only a few survive. If you are a survivor and have umber marks you can live freely among society. However, if you live and are rosemarked, this means that you can still spread the disease and at some point in the future you will catch fever again and die from it. Zivah is a healer in her village when the fever spreads and while helping the sick she catches it, survives and is rosemarked destined to live alone, an outcast among her own. Dineas is a prisoner of the Amparan army when he is sickened. He does survive, but is thought dead and thrown in among the corpses. When he survives, he is umber marked. His tribe, at war with the Amparan’s hatches a plan with Zivah’s village that will send them both undercover as spies. Zivah’s knowledge with herbs and potions are used to help Dineas forget all of the torture he had received from his captors so he can live among them and report on their actions.
Rosemarked excelled at building a world that was easy to understand and a story that although political was brimming with emotions and drama. Zivah as a healer took her “do no harm” vows very seriously and she walked a fine line when giving Dineas potions that would make him forget his past life and allow him to live among the Amparan’s and even move up in their soldiers ranks. I found that when Dineas “remembered” who he was and thought of his actions within the Amparan army the plot was more interesting. Except for the fact that Zivah came up with the potions, I found she was kind of irrelevant. The conflict throughout the book was built around Dineas character and I was more drawn to his story. The relationship between them grew from uneasy alliance to friendship and then more. But there was always an uneasiness in Zivah because what Dineas felt, although not false, was certainly not based upon true reality. It was based upon the life he was living in that moment. That was an interesting plot, although I felt the reader’s feelings were left in a to be continued ending that was frustrating and I wasn’t satisfied with the conclusion. Will I care enough to continue with the second novel when it comes out? I’m still mulling it over. To be continued.
It was slow but I did like it! I may or may not read the second one though. I did like the ending, and it was very creative how the characters had their undercover jobs all figured out, and how they worked through all of the unexpected calamities and hardships and heartbreaks. This usually is not my genre at all, but as I got further into the story I found myself looking forward to finishing it off. I was kind of done before it ended, but she did a good job of ending it while still leaving “the next one” something to capture if you want to continue into with further reading. I read this book because it was on a list for my daughter’s reading challenge for her school. I was disappointed only with a relationship between two men in the army, but it was definitely confusing. I’m not SURE that’s what they were alluding to, but…I think so. So, dah, must we? Had nothing at all to do with the story. But…that keeps happening in books these days. And it wasn’t happily ever after, I would say, but it was definitely HOPEFULLY ever after.