
Zuhra can barely remember the night everything changed, when her sister was born, her father disappeared, and the hedge surrounding her home, the ancient Citadel of the Paladin, grew to imprison herself, her newborn sister, their mother and their close friend Sami within its walls. Her mother never discusses their father—she’s convinced he abandoned them—but Zuhra knows he must have been Paladin. After all, they live in their citadel. And Inara, her sister, has inherited the powerful magic of these mythical warriors—and the glowing blue eyes which show this to the world.
But Inara is lost to what she calls the ‘roar’—an endless noise in her mind which she’s rarely free of, which keeps her eternally distant from Zuhra. Zuhra is certain that it has something to do with her sister’s magic, but she doesn’t know enough about the Paladin to help her. But that changes when a scholar of the Paladin arrives at the citadel—and Zuhra learns that the world is much more dangerous than she ever could have imagined.
Sisters of Shadow of Light is a fantasy novel with an excellently developed world. I loved the many layers of the setting and the Paladin history and culture, as well as the interesting magic in this land. Zuhra and Inara, both of whom narrated chapters, were both different and interesting. There were also a number of plot twists I hadn’t expected! I think this book would appeal to fans of epic fantasy novels with unusual worlds such as Shadow and Bone and Seraphina. There was some romance in Sisters of Shadow and Light, which constitutes it being places on the ‘For Older Readers’ page; therefore, I believe it would be most enjoyed by readers ages thirteen and up.