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S. Jae-Jones

Book Review: Guardians of Dawn: Yuli (Guardians of Dawn #3)

Rating: 4 stars

Princess Yulana has a few problems. Her late grandfather has died without naming an heir, civil war threatens to tear the Morning Realms apart, a strange waking dreamer sickness is sweeping through the land, and a plague of hungry ghosts roam the steppes. On top of all of that, Kho, her former best friend turned rival, is getting under her skin. A struggle for power divides the north, and the outcome rests on the winner of the Grand Game―a competition that will determine not just the future of her people, but the course of the entire empire.

When the world is out of balance, the Guardians of Dawn are reborn.

As the Guardian of Wind, it is Yuli’s responsibility to bring order to chaos, along with the Guardian of Fire and the Guardian of Wood. But can she restore balance to the Morning Realms when she can’t even win the political games being played at home? The fate of the Morning Realms depends on the Guardians of Dawn, and whether Yuli can manage both the demonic and political chaos at once.

I received a digital copy of this book through the publisher on NetGalley for an honest review.

After reading this book’s predecessors, Guardians of Dawn: Yuli does a wonderful job of picking up where they left off, and keeps me, as a reader, hooked to find out what happened next. I already knew I’d enjoy reading a book from Yuli’s perspective because I’ve enjoyed her character since she was introduced in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara. And this book confirmed that, because her perspective was what I was expecting. However, I also enjoyed it because she’s an enjoyable character in this series to me. What makes her enjoyable as a character is how relatable she is. I also enjoyed getting to see her use her magic as the Guardian of Wind.

What I also enjoyed about reading this book was the perspectives of the other characters. I especially enjoyed reading Yuli’s best friend Kho’s story. Like Yuli, I found her to be enjoyable to read about. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters that had both of them in it, as I enjoyed seeing their interactions with each other. At the same time, though, I also felt bad for Kho in this book. She has a lot that’s expected of her to do in the name of her family, and then a lot of bad things happen to her family as the story progresses. I also enjoyed seeing Zhara and Ami again here and seeing what they were up to after the events in Guardians of Dawn: Ami. It was nice getting to see them again and having them all work together with Yuli and Kho.

What I also enjoyed about Guardians of Dawn: Yuli was the fantasy elements in the story, as well as learning about the Grand Game. In this book, there’s a waking dreamer sickness infecting people in the Morning Realms that only Yuli’s magic as the Guardian of Wind can help heal. But she has something else to deal with while this is going on because the Morning Realms are currently under threat of war. This is due to the death of her grandfather, who didn’t name a successor to the realm, and she volunteers to compete in the Grand Game to prevent the empire from falling into the wrong hands. I enjoyed this aspect of the story because I felt like, as a reader, I was getting to see what was going on in Yuli’s life and what she would have to do as the Guardian of Wind to help protect the world from evil.

If there’s anything with Guardians of Dawn: Yuli that I didn’t enjoy, it would have to be how predictable certain moments in the story were, and the ending. When I was reading, I felt like I knew pretty early on which character was the demon responsible for the waking dreamer sickness that Yuli would have to face. And as the story continued and events happened, I felt like I was just receiving even more confirmation that this character was responsible for what was going on here. While I don’t necessarily mind, I feel like it did take away from me wanting to find out who it was because of how it would impact one of the characters’ lives. I also didn’t like the ending too, because I feel like it left a lot unresolved. Granted, I know there’s going to be another book in this series, as I know the last Guardian hasn’t been revealed yet. But I feel like it left so many things open that I’m having a hard time visualizing how the next book will wrap everything up. I also didn’t like it because of how it’ll impact Yuli and Kho’s relationship in the next book.

But overall, I enjoyed reading this book just as much as I enjoyed reading the rest of the books in this series. And I highly recommend this book to anyone else who’s already read Guardians of Dawn: Zhara and Guardians of Dawn: Ami and found they enjoyed those books in this world and want to read more of the characters’ story. I also recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a story that focuses more on the fantasy elements in the plot than romance, as while there’s romance in this series, it’s pretty light in comparison to other book series I’ve read. So if you love reading books with fantasy and romance but focus more on fantasy, I think you’ll really enjoy reading this. Guardians of Dawn: Yuli was published on August 19, 2025, for those interested in continuing to read the Guardians of Dawn series.        

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Book Review: Guardians of Dawn (Books 1-2)

As I had received a copy of the third book, Guardians of Dawn: Yuli, in this series on NetGalley, I decided before reading it that I would read the first two books in this series. I didn’t want to start this series by reading and reviewing the third book before reading these two, and this series sounded like something I would enjoy anyway. It also felt like a way for me to catch up on what had happened, and a good way to get me excited to read this book. So, below I will start with talking about the first book in this series, Guardians of Dawn: Zhara.

Guardians of Dawn: Zhara (Guardians of Dawn #1)

Rating: 4 stars

Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.

Love flames.

Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.

When I initially started this first book in this series, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, as the pacing of the story started slow. But as I continued reading and found out more about the world Zhara and those closest to her live in, I found myself more and more interested in reading her story to find out what happened next.

As you find out more about the world Zhara lives in, Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the more I find myself immersed in the story and want to know what happens next. I especially find the magic in this book interesting because of how magicians use it. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye, which made me fascinated with the story and wanting to continue to read to see what happened next. I also enjoy the characters in this story because I felt like they were each unique and enjoyed seeing their interactions with each other, especially seeing Han’s friendship with Xu and seeing Xu becoming good friends with Zhara.  

What I also enjoyed about this book was seeing Zhara’s character develop and her relationship with Han. At first, Zhara was very unsure of her abilities as a magician. But I feel like as her story goes on, she becomes more accepting of her abilities and begins to trust in herself to do what’s needed. I also enjoyed seeing her use her magic, too, once she starts getting control of it, because it showed her coming into her powers and accepting the direction her life is going. I also enjoyed reading about her relationship with Han and seeing that relationship develop. At first, I wasn’t sure what to think of them as a potential couple in this book because I felt like they both seemed to like each other as soon as they met. But as the story continues, I found myself enjoying seeing their relationship continue to develop, and was excited to see where it was going.

If there’s anything with Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, I wasn’t fond of it was Han keeping his identity a secret, and the amount of information given to the reader about the world these characters live in. While I understand why Han didn’t tell Zhara who he is because he wanted to seem like a normal guy to her, I feel like he should’ve told her and had that honest conversation with her. I know he ends up revealing it to her unintentionally, but I think he should’ve told her on his own instead of slipping up with his lies to her. I felt like by him lying to her it made me feel like he didn’t fully trust her, even with everything else that was going on, and that didn’t sit right with me because of how they both felt about each other. I also felt like there was a lot of world-building in this story. It felt like too much information was given to you at the beginning, which made me struggle with reading it initially. Granted, I enjoyed the information that was provided since it gave me insight into the world these characters live in, but it felt like way too much to provide a reader when they’re reading the first book in a series.

Nonetheless, when I finished reading Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, I was excited to continue the series with the next book, Guardians of Dawn: Ami, to see how these characters’ story continues to develop.

Guardians of Dawn: Ami (Guardians of Dawn #2)

Rating: 4.5 stars

When the Pillar blooms, the end of the world is not far behind.

Li Ami was always on the outside—outside of family, outside of friendships, outside of ordinary magic. The odd and eccentric daughter of a former imperial magician, she has devoted her life to books because she finds them easier to read than people. Exiled to the outermost west of the Morning Realms, Ami has become the sole caretaker of her mentally ill father, whose rantings and ravings may be more than mere ramblings; they may be part of a dire prophecy. When her father is arrested for trespassing and stealing a branch from the sacred tree of the local monastery, Ami offers herself to the mysterious Beast in the castle, who is in need of someone who can translate a forbidden magical text and find a cure for the mysterious blight that is affecting the harvest of the land.

Meanwhile, as signs of magical corruption arise throughout the Morning Realms, Jin Zhara begins to realize that she might be out of her element. She may have defeated a demon lord and uncovered her identity as the Guardian of Fire, but she’ll be more than outmatched in the coming elemental battle against the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons…unless she can find the other Guardians of Dawn. Her magic is no match for the growing tide of undead, and she needs the Guardian of Wood with power over life and death in order to defeat the revenants razing the countryside.

The threat of the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons looms larger by the day, and the tenuous peace holding the Morning Realms together is beginning to unravel. Ami and Zhara must journey to the Root of the World in order to seal the demon portal that may have opened there and restore balance to an increasingly chaotic world.

Out of these two books, I enjoyed reading Guardians of Dawn: Ami a little better. I feel like it was due to knowing more about the world with these characters, and there wasn’t as much world-building in the beginning for me to make it difficult to read at the start. It also had a little more Beauty and the Beast feel to it with regards to Ami and her relationship with Beast, which probably helped too, since that’s one of my favorite stories.

What I enjoyed with this book, though, is that it does a wonderful job of picking up where its predecessor left off but introducing us to additional characters who play an important role in the story. Also, I appreciate that while this book’s main focus is on Ami and Beast, the characters from Guardians of Dawn: Zhara are also central characters here and there are chapters from their perspective too, so you get to see what they are up to before they meet Ami and Beast along with follow them while Ami goes on her journey.

Like with its predecessor, the magic and storytelling in this book are magnificent. I enjoyed seeing the magic of the characters in this story and finding out about what’s going on with Ami and her father as they try and survive this world. I also enjoyed seeing her relationship with Beast develop, even though I didn’t agree with his actions at a certain point in the story, which I’ll talk about later. I could feel the connection between the two of them better than I had with Zhara and Han. With Zhara and Han in this book, their relationship seems to slow down quite a bit, but when you find out why from Han, I found myself feeling for him because what he says regarding his sexuality is relatable to me. So while I was sad not to see too much of their relationship in this story, I was fine with it since this story was more about Ami and Beast anyway.   

If there’s anything about this book I didn’t like, it would be what I mentioned earlier regarding Beast. You find out about a secret he’s keeping from everyone else in this book, and how he manages to keep this secret is something I don’t like. The way he uses that power to compel those who find out not to say anything about his secret is very messed up and made me not like his character during those moments. While I understood to a certain point why he acted that way, I don’t think it excuses his behavior, so I am glad that the author has him develop in a way where he realizes what he’s doing is wrong, and he does what he can to change it.

However, that is the only thing I had an issue with when reading Guardians of Dawn: Ami, as I enjoyed everything else about the story when I read it. And as a whole, I enjoyed reading both of these books in the Guardians of Dawn series, that I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Guardians of Dawn: Yuli, which I’ve received a digital copy of on NetGalley. I highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys fantasy with a light amount of romance and finds themselves immersed in a unique magical world.      

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