I got this book through the Amazon Vine program to review. This is the first book in a planned duology. I read the first 200 pages in this book and then stopped. I just didn't enjoy the characters in the story. This seems like just a poor imitation of the numerous other YA fantasy series out there.
This book follows the POVs of three different girls: Zofi who is a Traveler (think gypsy), Akeylah who is an Eastern Reach noblewoman with an abusive father, and Ren who grew up as a lady's maid in the capital city of Kolonya. The three girls find out they are all heirs to the throne and are called back to Kolonya to compete for the right to be heir. To mix things up a bit, each girl has a dark secret that she needs to keep hidden and is being blackmailed because of.
I was hoping for an engaging and action-packed YA fantasy, what I got was a bunch of intrigue and characters blackmailing and backstabbing each other. The story takes a long time to get going (it still really hadn't gotten going 200 pages in).
There are some interesting things in this book about war and rebellion; however that takes a backseat to the court politics. The first 200 pages deals with the girls getting called to court and with them trying to navigate the treacherous court waters. It was a lot of backstabbing and treachery and I didn't enjoy it.
I didn't really like any of the characters. Each of the girls is quickly given a love interest which seemed contrived. I did like the concept of the Arts (a way to enhance abilities and perform magic) but there wasn't a lot of time spent on the Arts in this book.
Overall this was an okay, yet disappointing, book for me. If you like politics and backstabbing you might enjoy this. I found it boring and hard to engage with. I didn't like the characters and the story was too narrow in focus, focusing only on petty court politics.
This book follows the POVs of three different girls: Zofi who is a Traveler (think gypsy), Akeylah who is an Eastern Reach noblewoman with an abusive father, and Ren who grew up as a lady's maid in the capital city of Kolonya. The three girls find out they are all heirs to the throne and are called back to Kolonya to compete for the right to be heir. To mix things up a bit, each girl has a dark secret that she needs to keep hidden and is being blackmailed because of.
I was hoping for an engaging and action-packed YA fantasy, what I got was a bunch of intrigue and characters blackmailing and backstabbing each other. The story takes a long time to get going (it still really hadn't gotten going 200 pages in).
There are some interesting things in this book about war and rebellion; however that takes a backseat to the court politics. The first 200 pages deals with the girls getting called to court and with them trying to navigate the treacherous court waters. It was a lot of backstabbing and treachery and I didn't enjoy it.
I didn't really like any of the characters. Each of the girls is quickly given a love interest which seemed contrived. I did like the concept of the Arts (a way to enhance abilities and perform magic) but there wasn't a lot of time spent on the Arts in this book.
Overall this was an okay, yet disappointing, book for me. If you like politics and backstabbing you might enjoy this. I found it boring and hard to engage with. I didn't like the characters and the story was too narrow in focus, focusing only on petty court politics.
