An Embroidery of Souls

Gr 9 Up–A YA fantasy that highlights self-confidence in the face of debilitating fear. Jade Aguilar’s mother has been missing for three months, and Jade is now required to serve as the Crown’s resident thread speaker. She is granted an extension in order to find her mother and is asked to aid in the investigation of a series of murders. Lukas Keller is also looking for the murderer and they join forces to save the city and their families. Jade has been anxious since her early childhood, and her anxiety was compounded when she was physically assaulted on the way to one of her thread-speaking duties. She has severe panic attacks in crowded areas, but Lukas gives her coping strategies. Jade’s confidence grows exponentially as they work together to find the murderer. It is obvious that Martinez spends a lot of time and care with Jade’s character development, but unfortunately the rest of the book falls apart. The dialogue is stilted, and the prose is weak. The magic of Jade’s thread-speaking abilities only seems to exist to suit the plot. Jade’s character arc is satisfying to read, but her and Lukas’s emotional responses to conflict swing wildly between too mature and immature. Lukas has blond hair, fair skin, and green eyes; Jade has dark hair and “tawny” skin.