Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst

Goodreads Blurb

In a desert world of sandstorms and sand-wolves, a teen girl must defy the gods to save her tribe in this mystical, atmospheric tale from the author of Drink, Slay, Love.
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.

Oh wow. I got this spectacular book from Shreya at Chocolate Coated Reviews since she is so nice that she sends me any books I want--as long as she rated them 3 stars or less, of course! I'm not that mean.

I'm so glad she decided to give this up. I've absolutely loved this book since page one, when we first meet Liyana, a character I Thoroughly loved! She was a fun character at times, but at her core she was a down-to-earth type with a practicality that shocked me sometimes (okay, most times.) But she was undeniably a strong character who went through a lot of things to get where she ended up. She lost her family and support in one night, discovered it wasn't her fault the next, and over the next few days (weeks?) found a forbidden love, made unlikely friends, discovered that maybe she didn't want to die after all, and lost and gained everything. But did she even falter? Nope. She was who she was and surged ahead to fix everything wrong.

Korbyn was by far my favorite character. He was hilarious at times, but you could tell he had his own dark side. He was definitely out of his comfort zone as a leader, but he took the role steadily and did whatever he could.He was...interesting we'll say, and there were so many layers to him it surprised me to no end.

The romance was...interesting. Needless to say, I was rooting for Korbyn and Liyana (don't you just love their names together? I love their names together) throughout the entire book. And then we get, randomly, we get another surprising (really, really surprising.) love interest. Near the end of the book. I can't quite say how it plays out, but it was both what I expected and what I didn't...I can't explain it any better without ruining it! But let's just say...I was pleased at one thing about the romantic end and not so much about something else. Confusing? Well, read it to see what I mean. You'll see...you'll see...

Did I love the worldbuilding? HECK YES! I'm a recent fan of high fantasy, if you didn't know. As in, I mainly stuck to paranormal. I think Throne of Glass broke that for me...but the world in Vessel was definitely well developed with it's own legends, creations, traditions, and more. I was overwhelmed by each element that came into play while discovering more about this world. Sand wolves, sky serpents, vessels, and more. To say I was sad to let this world go is a definite understatement and I desperately wish there was a sequel, but nope. Though if there ever turns out to be a short story, I'll probably be on it like a sand worm to water!

The thing about Vessel is it can seem a bit repetitive to some people, but I didn't find it that way at all! To me, Vessel was just an amazing high fantasy book that I absolutely loved to no end! It was suspenseful and shocking and the way things happened...it was unbelievable! So I don't know if this is just shock at how it ended, but I'm giving Vessel my 10 star sticker!

Pages: 424
Genre: High Fantasy
Series: Stand alone
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry
Release Date: September 11, 2012
Rating: 10/5 stars