Good afternoon, Arrowheads! Today I’m finally getting around to posting another book review! Today, we’re delving into the lovely Christian dystopian novel, Disowned by Sarah Addison-Fox!

With the release of Sarah’s second novel, Dissemble, within the last few weeks, I knew that without a doubt the first book I’d purchase on my new Kindle would be the first in her Allegiance series, Disowned. After Sarah oh-so-graciously reviewed my novel, I wanted to return the favor by reading and reviewing her book, and I’m so glad I did!

Disowned is unlike any story I’ve read before: the main character, Celeste, escapes from her homeland of slavery and abuse, and stumbles into a country that embodies polar opposite values. Once escaped into the country of Etraea, Celeste is taken in by the loving and supportive Haynes family, who spark Celeste’s interest as they pray to a being that Celeste has never heard of—Etra, who represents our Christian God. The faith element was hinted at enough in Disowned to get Celeste curious about it, though it wasn’t heavily expanded upon. I feel like we’ll see Celeste explore her thoughts on faith in the remaining books in the series. The author’s incorporation of the faith element was well-placed and felt natural in the dialogue, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Speaking of dialogue, the author did an impeccable job at creating realistic dialogue between the characters. Their conversations never felt forced, emotion was delivered in the right places, and the characters were cute and awkward when need be (#MickAndCeleste!) The characters were also well-rounded, and many stole my heart, including the adorable kids, Sadie and Joe. I love Ethan and Maggie’s love story, Asher’s loyalty to the Haynes family, and Mick’s rebellious nature. I can’t wait to see if Mick and Celeste will open up more in Dissemble, and to see if we’ll find out more about the mysterious Celeste.

Overall, I found Disowned to be an amazing and exhilarating read, especially for it being the author’s debut novel! I plan to dive into Dissemble soon while the story is still fresh in my mind!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned in for another book review coming soon for Stephanie Morrill’s latest novel, The Lost Girl of Astor Street!

Oh, and be sure to check out Sarah’s Amazon page here!

-Allyson 😀