Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Release Date: September 11th, 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 424
Cover Judge: I love it so much I can't even tell you. The scarf, the colors, the oriental style that's going on and guys she's wasn't white-washed!
Quote Choice: Liyana, you are too awesome for this world.
Source: For Review
Source: For Review
Goodreads: Link
Liyana has trained her entire life to be the vessel of a goddess. The goddess will inhabit Liyana’s body and use magic to bring rain to the desert. But Liyana’s goddess never comes. Abandoned by her angry tribe, Liyana expects to die in the desert. Until a boy walks out of the dust in search of her.
Korbyn is a god inside his vessel, and a trickster god at that. He tells Liyana that five other gods are missing, and they set off across the desert in search of the other vessels. For the desert tribes cannot survive without the magic of their gods. But the journey is dangerous, even with a god’s help. And not everyone is willing to believe the trickster god’s tale.
The closer she grows to Korbyn, the less Liyana wants to disappear to make way for her goddess. But she has no choice: She must die for her tribe to live. Unless a trickster god can help her to trick fate—or a human girl can muster some magic of her own.
So I have a lot of feelings about Vessel and so, it's probably going to be difficult to write up this review but of course I'll try!
Vessel is a really unique story in both the plot and the way it's written. Plot-wise, it's about a girl Liyana who is a "vessel" -- a person chosen by one of the gods of the desert to be their human sacrifice of sorts. So she's all ready to be sacrificed but the problem is? Her goddess, Bayla, never comes. So when Korbyn, the trickster God, comes to her when her clan has exiled her and says the gods are in trouble and he needs her help, she jumps in to help. Now, the world-building in this story is amazing. I think it's what makes it so unique -- you have this fantasy world filled with these amazing myths and legends and desert people that worship these magical gods. But the thing I found really unique was the way Durst presented the story.
It's written in third person, for one. But it's written in a sort of...detached sense, if that makes any sense. I adored Liyana; I thought she was brave, fearless, and compassionate. She knew what she had to do and was willing to make sacrifices to do it (but she also knew that sometimes she just had to give herself a moment to cry). It was also very interesting watching her already, you know, get to have a life full of adventure as opposed to the sheltered life she's lived her entire life while being a vessel. But still, I was detached. I wasn't in her head but it really worked for the story because it made it almost like a myth itself.
I say this because a large part of the story is about the legends surrounding the gods and how this world was created. Liyana tells these amazing stories about sand worms and her deities and all this good stuff and so, it was written in way like that as well.
The other characters were great but you guys are going to be shocked when I say this but: I loved how subtle the development of the side-characters was. Really, none of them have much screen time which is usually something that gets me sad! But the way the characters of Pia, Maara, and Fennik are presented is just so nice and beautiful and seriously, I love Pia anyone who doesn't is wrong.
Finally, we have Korbyn. Not gonna lie, I was a bit disappointed at the fact it didn't really go anymore. It was subtle and beautiful and I would've wanted a more satisfying ending with that, even if they ended up not getting together. It felt like I was being teased for so long and it didn't end up amounting to anything. As for the other romance issue in the book, it fit but I wasn't very happy with it anyway. It was just thrust on me but at the same time...I was cool with it. Why? Because it felt like the ending to the epic that I felt like I was reading. It felt like it fit in well with the story and so, all the things I usually hate evaporated.
The point of this is: even the things you hate can be done totally right and you have to pick up this book.
Happy Reading!
