Review: Stain by A.G. Howard

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on February 22, 2019 | 2 Comments


Review: Stain by A.G. HowardStain by A.G. Howard
Published by Amulet Books (1.15.2019)
Genres: High Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover, 512 pages
Source: For Tour


5 Stars

Once upon a nightmare, her fairy tale begins...

After Lyra—a princess incapable of speech or sound—is cast out of her kingdom of daylight by her wicked aunt, a witch saves her life, steals her memories, and raises her in an enchanted forest ... disguised as a boy known only as Stain. Meanwhile, in Lyra's rival kingdom, the prince of thorns and night is dying, and the only way for him to break his curse is to wed the princess of daylight, for she is his true equal. As Lyra rediscovers her identity, an impostor princess prepares to steal her betrothed prince and her crown. To win back her kingdom, save the prince, and make peace with the land of the night, Lyra must be loud enough to be heard without a voice, and strong enough to pass a series of tests—ultimately proving she’s everything a traditional princess is not.

My thoughts

Holy crap, where do I start?! This book blew me away! I was hopelessly hooked from the very beginning. This book got to me in the very best way! This story is so beautiful and enchanting, and Howard’s lyrical prose drew me in! The premise was absolutely BRILLIANT – I loved every single aspect of it, from the uniquely dark and magical (and sometimes twisted!) world that Howard painted; down to the prophecy of the Prince and Princess and the engaging plot. Basically, I wanted to crawl into the book and live there!

Anita is a wizard with twisted worlds. This has been the most vivid setting I’ve read in a while! The world and plot were original and intriguing, the prose was stunning, the characters were amazing. It doesn’t happen very often that I love every single aspect of a book! I also want to say that I’m really stingy with my Hail to the King Award – I only gave two out all year in 2018. I can’t put into words how special this book was, you guys!

It’s been a really long time since I felt this strongly about a book. Like I said, I wanted to crawl into the pages and live there! It’s just over 500 pages, but it doesn’t feel like it! I gobbled this book up and I wish there had been more. When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. It actually put me into a reading slump because I desperately wanted to find more like it! I was hooked in 4 pages flat and was enchanted by the world and characters. It’s been quite a while since I felt so strongly for characters!

I freaking LOVED the characters so so much! Crony with her smile of death and reptilian skin yet soft heart, Luce with his furred fox ears and adorable jealous streak over a certain fiery “rabid donkey,” and Scorch (said rabid donkey) with his endearing tenderness hidden behind arrogant indifference. I loved Stain and Vesper and they were all just so perfect! Ahh!

I could gush about this book all day, but it would probably get redundant, so all I have left to say is READ. THIS. BOOK. You won’t regret it!

Overall Assessment

Plot: 5/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 5/5
Originality: 5+/5
Characters: 5+/5
World-building: 5+/5
Pace: 5/5
Feels: 5/5
Cover: 4/5
Overall rating: 5+/5

Jessi (Geo)

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2 responses to “Review: Stain by A.G. Howard

  1. Oh wow! That’s awesome!! I know I rarely see full 5 star reviews from you Jessi so that you rated this one so highly has me excited for it! It’s in my TBR pile, but I’m swamped with review book backlog myself. Hoping to read it as some point this year, fingers crossed! Lol! Great review!

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