The Last Messenger of Zitol Blog Tour

I haven’t ever read a book yet by Chelsea Dyreng and was excited when she emailed me and asked me to review this book, The Last Messenger of Zitol. This was a really interesting book. I found it very fascinating. I liked Chelsea’s writing style and how the story was told.

About the book:

When Rishi is kidnapped and taken to Zitól, she faces an unthinkable future: she is to be sacrificed to appease the gods. To survive in this place, where greed, lust, and fear eclipse compassion, Rishi befriends the selfish and ignorant king, only to discover that he may not have the power to save her after all.

My Review:

The book started different then any book I have ever read. It starts with an intro by a character in the story that we don’t meet or even know who he is until later on in the story. I loved that the chapters in the book were short. I could say, I’m going to read 5 chapters, and do it really fast. I loved Rishi and the strong character that she was. She is a fighter and I love her the strong character that she has. I loved that she was taught so well by her family and her grandfather. I don’t like the story in the beginning when her grandfather never tells her why he left Zitol, but I think he might have known she would end up going there one day. I loved the relationship they had on their island and that she had with her family. There were parts of the story were a little hard to stomach, but the author did a great job writing them in a non graphic way. Bad things happen to these girls when they are kidnapped, and although we know what happens the author doesn’t go into detail. I would recommend this book to older teen and adults. I did have a good conversation with my daughter about what hard parts were in the book and that I would let her read it when she was a little bit older. She is just 12 so I think in a few years she will be fine reading it. The book was great and there are a lot of great lessons you can learn from her writing. Great quotes and take aways from each chapter!

About the author:

Chelsea Bagley Dyreng is the author of “The Cenote.” She was raised in Wyoming and Idaho and earned her BA at Brigham Young University. She worked for several years as a librarian before moving to North Carolina where she and her husband are raising five God-fearing, book-loving, adventure-seeking kids.