TITLE: Vessel
AUTHOR: Sarah Beth Durst
GENRE: Fantasy
FORMAT: Hardcover, 424 Pages
Liyana’s life begins on the day she should have died. Since childhood, she has been training to surrender her body as the vessel of the goddess Bayla, who returns every one hundred years to guide her people and bring renewed life to the parched desert. But something goes terribly wrong, and Liyana’s goddess doesn’t come. Instead, she finds herself alone and shunned — a pariah, blamed for the absence of Bayla. Liyana expects to die in the desert… until the trickster god himself comes walking out of the dunes and asks for her help in saving the goddess she failed to summon. The fate of her people hangs in the balance, and Liyana knows it could very well be her choices that tip the scale.
This was one of those books that just had me completely spellbound from the first line. Vessel contains a beautifully constructed fantasy world of sweeping desert and volatile gods, of sand storms that darken the sun and dragons made of glass. Long before the end, Liyana had made it to my list of all-time favorite heroines and the ever expanding list of people I want to be when I grow up. (Uhh, whenever that miraculous event might occur… *cough*)
Are you ready? I’m going to list all the reasons why I love Liyana, the protagonist of this book. First of all, as she and others often observe throughout the story, she is so freaking practical. And by practicality, I mean she never wastes time on hysterics. It doesn’t matter what the situation is — she keeps a level head and does her best to work with what she can. I love a resourceful heroine. Even stranded in the desert, abandoned by her entire clan for something that was no fault of her own, Liyana manages to be a trooper. Sand wolves are ripping her tent to shreds?? NO PROBLEM SHE’LL JUST STAB THEM. All her allies have been captured by the enemy?? NO PROBLEM SHE’LL JUST DRESS HERSELF UP AND CALMLY NEGOTIATE FOR THEIR LIVES. I mean, seriously. How can you not appreciate a heroine who is so capable, who never allows herself to be hemmed in by limitations?
I also loved the relationship between Liyana and Korbyn, which was characterized by so much ease and compatibility despite how complicated it was. Picture this: Liyana is supposed to be the vessel of a goddess, the same goddess Korbyn has been in love with for centuries. But the goddess herself never came to take over Liyana’s body, and now the lines are beginning to blur. Does Korbyn have feelings for Liyana, or are they residual feelings from his relationship with the very similar Bayla? Can Liyana allow herself to care about someone when it’s highly likely the success of their quest will also mean her death?
And then there’s the not so simple matter of Liyana’s own acceptance of her fate. She’s lived almost her entire life knowing that she is only a vessel, that her existence is even more temporary than everyone else’s. Liyana’s life has never truly been hers to live. She was never allowed to do anything that might endanger the body she would have to give over to the goddess, never allowed to really be herself. Until she meets the others and sets out on this quest to fix whatever went wrong, she was content with the sacrifice she was born to make. But this sacrifice becomes harder and harder to make the longer Liyana remains in her own skin. She begins to long for the life she won’t be allowed to have once the goddess is rescued. That’s when things get really interesting, and when Liyana truly starts to shine — even more than she did when she was fighting off sand wolves with a knife.
Vessel revolves heavily around the theme of sacrifice — of what you might give up in order to save someone else. In Liyana’s case, she would be trading her own life for the survival of her people, because without the gods that return every one hundred years, the desert tribes would die. The gods cure the sick, grant boons to their people, and bring water to quench the desert drought. Liyana knows this, and yet her own strong will to live conflicts with the destiny that claimed her when she was only a child. She isn’t the only one faced with a difficult sacrifice, and the story hinges around some truly painful choices that need to be made. As well, it’s the story of how Liyana grows into herself, finally fitting into her own skin and into the life she didn’t expect to be allowed to keep.
RATING: 4.5/5
Absolutely loved this book. I recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy and is looking for a unique, vividly conveyed world with an amazing heroine. Also great for those who liked N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which also features the complicated relationship between gods and humans.
