Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
“Don’t get attached, she chided herself silently. Don’t fall for all that gorgeous, mysterious elf-ness.”
There are mages, elves, and night elves in this world, and these nonhumans have a place in the small Farhall kingdom. A little kingdom that has caught the attention of King Melger. The young mage Leisa is forced travel to the neighboring kingdom, Garimore, disguised as Princess Evaraine. Leisa’s mission was given by her King Soren, to find out Garimore’s King Melger’s plans for the small Farhall kingdom. As Leisa enters the Garimore court, she realizes that her “fiancé” is a playboy with no desire to marry, and King Melger’s plans for the Farhall kingdom are far more insidious.
At the beginning of this story, it appears to be a fantasy spy novel as Leisa is going undercover as Evaraine to figure out the plans of King Melger. The moment that Leisa gets off her carriage, there is a suspicious nature to King Melger, his family, and his assassin, the Raven. The most mysterious element in this story is the Raven, bounded by magic. Once the Raven becomes Leisa’s bodyguard, the connection between them begins to grow.
The main character, Leisa, is a likable character trying her best despite being forced into being a spy. The Raven is truly a fascinating character in this story. As a person bound by magic, the Raven becomes a friend among the liars for Leisa. There are a few chapters from the Raven’s POV that gives insight into the mysterious character. Witnessing the trust that grows between the Raven and Leisa is fantastic. As the story progresses, the Raven becomes less of a soulless assassin to a man hopeful of gaining freedom.
The frustrating part is the story ends on a cliffhanger, which makes it pretty tough to review. There isn’t much character growth with Leisa since we know that she is a challenging and powerful mage. Even as King Melger threatens Leisa, she does not lose face and gains the upper hand. It is a book that is a lovely world builder but does not give the reader enough; hopefully, the second book will help flesh out the Five Kingdoms.
First of all, we have a scrappy heroine who's a bodyguard (a new profession for YA heroines - I've heard assassins and spies, but not this), a mysterious and hurt mage (with a fascinating and achingly-sad backstory that we still don't know the whole of), and political premise that came off as legitimately concerning.
Some plots come off as silly or unbelievable, fairy tales and magic disregarding. This one, however, delivered on the horrific side of politics. While sometimes the other characters came off as overly suspicious, I do appreciate the severity of the issues at hand. Some politic-centered stories come off as overly complicated too, but the author handled it in such a way that even I understood, which is huge.
My favorite part was how the author handled the relationship between Leisa and the Raven. It was clear that both of them were conflicted about trusting the other, but they didn't really have much choice. I love how Leisa did her best to do her job without his help, and the Raven stated over and over again that he would not hesitate to do his job when it came down to it. Yet, I loved how the reader got to see both sides and how each of them were thoroughly confused (or annoyed) by their consideration of the other person. The concept of being sort of attracted to a person who was dangerous came off not as overly swoony or obsessive, but rather a mild curiosity that was a subtle addition to the story without becoming the main focus. It does get a little more intense at the end because hello, the Raven IS nice-looking (as one could probably guess), but hey, that's to be expected.
Overall, I cannot wait to see how the next book develops, and I'm DYING to know more about Leisa's family!
I enjoyed this book a lot but there is some element that I find slightly lacking. Perhaps the build up of the story. Still I think it was a very good book and I will be reading the next one
I really liked this book! It's kind of hit and miss with the fantasy romances on Kindle Unlimited, but this one had some really fun and original concepts. Leisa owes a debt to her king, to pay it off she agrees to disguise herself as the princess to investigate the legitimacy of a marriage proposal. When she gets to this foreign court, she realizes it's a much more dangerous game than she anticipated.
Then there's the Raven, a bodyguard assigned to her by the king. He has no choice in the matter, he's been bound by magic to obey the king's every command. He doesn't have a lot of independent thinking because when he feels strong emotions, the king can feel them through their bond. Even still, he finds himself wondering about the princess who lies about who she is and switches between what is expected of her and something much stronger.
Plots with shapeshifting like this get me every time- I love it when someone's power is giving them an identity crisis it's such a great way to develop a character. Mirror mages are original and I can't wait to see how her powers develop in the future. I also like the Raven's true identity, it adds a whole additional level of intrigue. I know that's a little overdone, but I fall for it every time.
All in all, I would totally recommend reading this. It's interesting and it's short so you can stay super interested the entire time. I can't wait till the sequel is released because I'm losing my mind in anticipation.
This review and all my others can be found at: https://aworldshapedbybooks.blogspot.com/
This books starts out a little slow, but it was so worth it. I couldn’t put it down after a while, as the plot was engaging and kept me on the edge of my seat. It’s well written and unique, and I love the depth of characters. 10/10