An Alexa Catherine Review On: Belvedore and The Four Corners By- Ashleigh Bello
Important Characters: Arianna Belvedore- the main character of the story, a young ambitious girl of the Warrior District who is very determined to win her freedom
Solomon Bell- Arianna’s teacher/trainer who is an expert fighter and father figure to Arianna
Lessa Thur- Arianna’s unexpected friend from the Healer District, a very loyal and caring friend
Thalis Churry- Lessa’s teacher/trainer who is an expert at healing and is a father figure to Lessa
King Devlindor- The ruler of all districts, and is responsible for the miserable and frightening way everyone is forced to live
Plot Overview: First of all I’d like to apologize because this book is very complex so I’ll be attempting to briefly overview and while explain it as best as I can...without spoiling anything of course. Everyone who lives in Olleb-Yelfra belongs to one of the four districts: Warrior, Healer, Creator, and Agrarian. These districts are also referred to as the four corners (hence the title). Everyone in these districts has one thing in common; they’re slaves. The only way for a slave to become a free person is to prove himself (or herself) in a competition known as the Free Falls. In this competition you either prove yourself, and gain your freedom from slavery, or you die. Arianna has basically trained her whole life for the opportunity to win her freedom, but she jeopardizes her chances when she gets in a fight brought on by her highly skilled enemy. Her opponent reigns victorious after the battle, leaving the district to believe Arianna is dead. Mysteriously, Arianna survives and gets a second chance and life and freedom, mostly in thanks to Thalis and Solomon. In a crazy turn of events Arianna and her friends throw the Warrior District into chaos during the Free Falls. While hysteria breaks out Arianna and her friend, Lessa escape the district on a quest to live their free lives and to further discover the secrets of life before the dreaded king. On their way they run into many conflicts and meet some great people. Thats about all I can say without ruining anything so yeah, read it just read it :)
My Review: Well I’d like to start off by saying this is a beautifully and wonderfully written book. I enjoyed the many secrets and surprises that arose throughout and just when you think you have everything figured out something new pops up. There are a lot of characters, and even though some only make a brief appearance, their significance and personalities are well captured. At first I thought this was going to be like most popular dystopias today: main character is a strong female who starts a revolution and saves the day. Though Belvedore and the Four Corners follows along the lines of some of the other dystoias in the fact that there is a strong female character, who might save the day later on in the series, I’m happy to say it was not your typical dystopia. This book has many more aspects to it that will both surprise you and excite you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and can’t wait for the next one! I give it a four out of five stars! My only complaint is that I didn’t feel a super strong connection to the characters, they were exciting and fun to read about, but they didn’t make me feel anything. Honestly though, I recommend reading it :)
