Book Review: Skin

3,5 stars (I liked it) for Skin by Ilka Tampke

Southwest Britain, AD 43. 

For the people of Caer Cad, ‘skin’ is their totem, their greeting, their ancestors, their land. 

Ailia does not have skin. Abandoned at birth, she serves the Tribequeen of her township. Ailia is not permitted to marry, excluded from tribal ceremonies and, most devastatingly, forbidden to learn. But the Mothers, the tribal ancestors, have chosen her for another path. 

Lured by the beautiful and enigmatic Taliesin, Ailia embarks on an unsanctioned journey to attain the knowledge that will protect her people from the most terrifying invaders they have ever faced. 

Set in Iron-Age Britain on the cusp of Roman invasion, Skin is a thrilling, full-blooded, mesmerising novel about the collision of two worlds, and a young woman torn between two men. 

Source: Goodreads

I was kindly given a copy by the publishers through Netgalley.

If you look at my reviewed books so far, you can tell that historical fiction is quite out of my comfort zone but the description of this book had me interested.

Netgalley description: 

Imagine a world where everyone is born with a 'skin' name. Without skin you cannot learn, you are not permitted to marry, and you grow up an outsider amongst your own people. 

This is no future dystopia. This is Celtic Britain. 

It is AD 43. For the Caer Cad, 'skin' name determines lineage and identity. Ailia does not have skin; despite this, she is a remarkable young woman, intelligent, curious and brave. As a dark threat grows on the horizon - the aggressive expansion of the Roman Empire - Ailia must embark on an unsanctioned journey to attain the knowledge that will protect her people, and their pagan way of life, from the most terrifying invaders they have ever faced... and it is this unskinned girl who will come to hold the fate of her people in her hands.

I rarely to never read historical fiction (or anything in that genre), yet this story intrigued me and I really looked forward to reading it.

The story is about Ailia, an unskinned girl in a world where Skin is what makes a person whole. From the start Ailia is more blessed than most others without Skin. In this world unskinned people are shunned from the tribe, they are forced to live in exile and fetch for themselves, but Ailia is different.

Ailia has a place to call home, someone to call mother and a place within the tribe, No matter her priviledge, she is still bound by the laws and her lack of skin denies her the one thing she wants most: to learn.

After a turn of events, Ailia finds that she is drawn to a handsome stranger who doesn't only teacher her, but makes her yearn for Skin even more. She falls in love with him and without Skin she is not permitted/able to marry. In her search she doesn't only find that someone has knowledge of her Skin but also that there is a force, stronger than anything else she knows, that has determined her oncoming journey. 

With the threat of an oncoming attack from the Roman empire, Ailia finds that she has choices to make and a responsibility towards those who she loves and the man she wants to wed.

This book had a rather slow start and I found myself struggling to get into it, to get used to the prose and Ailia's world. The main advantage to this slow start was that I could ease into it, without having to worry too much about details, I could get accustomed to the characters, their world and the rules in which they lived.

Once I was submersed in this world, it became a lot easier to read and I found myself really enjoying it. Ailia is stubborn and naive but she has a passion about her that makes her strong. But most of all I was intrigued with the world she was in, the rituals they have and of course the realms of the Mothers that Ailia has traveled to.

I praise the author for putting together such an intricate, perfectly put together story. It has a solid foundation with delicate branches going in every direction and you can tell by the way it is written that Ilka Tampke is the master of each branch, each detail, aware of how every little detail makes the puzzle fit.

As much as I enjoyed the story, I am in awe with the knowledge and skills this story has been put together. I think it will be a hit with people who love this genre, but will also be able to charm the ones that are less accustomed to read a book like this - someone like me.

A step out of my comfort zone that I didn't regret.