You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
aspiringliterati 's review for:
The Enemy's Daughter
by Melissa Poett
Fast-paced dystopian retelling of a medieval tragic love story of Tristan & Isolde. This one, however, had a much more hopeful ending, just so you're not concerned. ;)
"The Enemy's Daughter" takes place in a non-specific future post great war in which bombings destroyed most of the Earth and made much of the land uninhabitable. It isn't specified what was the reason for the war but you can glean from the tone of the story that it might have been greed for the resources. Our FMC Isadora is the daughter of a clan leader and her day-to-day is filled with following the rules and trying her best in a harsh reality of little resources and rough living without certain goods, access to most books, electricity or other pre-war modern day necessities. She trains to be a healer to fulfill the only role her community deems appropriate for women. She is also betrothed to a boy named Liam she is fond of but certainly isn't in love with.
The tension between the clans is not Isadora's only worry. There is also the near constant threat of an attack from the so-called Kingsland whose people are rumored to be thieving barbarians with blood on their hands and the reason why the clans are doing so poorly.
Enter MMC Tristan - from the enemy camp of the Kingsland itself - who first ends up Isadora's reluctant prisoner, then temporary 'kidnapper' and ultimately savior after a particularly unexpected and interesting series of mishaps occurs. Thus the story really begins.
I had fun reading this. While the set-up was pretty straight-forward and what the synopsis said, the story delivered on, it was still fun to follow. I found the character work to be nicely done, if not overly specific. However, there was one particular element of the plot that took everything over while anything else lost focus. It's that bit that categorizes the book as fantasy and not a mere dystopian novel. That main theme having to do with Isadora and Tristan's relationship in this is - I think - what will break-or-make the book for many readers. I don't want to say more as I don't want to spoil the fun of finding out. Personally, being a fantasy reader, I didn't mind it for what it was but it did speed things up between FMC and MMC in a way that made their bond very insta love-y which isn't my preference in most of the cases.
Overall, while the book wasn't anything to obsess over for me, I think it can still land harder for a bit of a different reader than I am. There were some themes of silent rebellion and what an amazing thing is to have access to books and the knowledge and ideas stored in them, that I particularly appreciated and loved.
*massive thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
"The Enemy's Daughter" takes place in a non-specific future post great war in which bombings destroyed most of the Earth and made much of the land uninhabitable. It isn't specified what was the reason for the war but you can glean from the tone of the story that it might have been greed for the resources. Our FMC Isadora is the daughter of a clan leader and her day-to-day is filled with following the rules and trying her best in a harsh reality of little resources and rough living without certain goods, access to most books, electricity or other pre-war modern day necessities. She trains to be a healer to fulfill the only role her community deems appropriate for women. She is also betrothed to a boy named Liam she is fond of but certainly isn't in love with.
The tension between the clans is not Isadora's only worry. There is also the near constant threat of an attack from the so-called Kingsland whose people are rumored to be thieving barbarians with blood on their hands and the reason why the clans are doing so poorly.
Enter MMC Tristan - from the enemy camp of the Kingsland itself - who first ends up Isadora's reluctant prisoner, then temporary 'kidnapper' and ultimately savior after a particularly unexpected and interesting series of mishaps occurs. Thus the story really begins.
I had fun reading this. While the set-up was pretty straight-forward and what the synopsis said, the story delivered on, it was still fun to follow. I found the character work to be nicely done, if not overly specific. However, there was one particular element of the plot that took everything over while anything else lost focus. It's that bit that categorizes the book as fantasy and not a mere dystopian novel. That main theme having to do with Isadora and Tristan's relationship in this is - I think - what will break-or-make the book for many readers. I don't want to say more as I don't want to spoil the fun of finding out. Personally, being a fantasy reader, I didn't mind it for what it was but it did speed things up between FMC and MMC in a way that made their bond very insta love-y which isn't my preference in most of the cases.
Overall, while the book wasn't anything to obsess over for me, I think it can still land harder for a bit of a different reader than I am. There were some themes of silent rebellion and what an amazing thing is to have access to books and the knowledge and ideas stored in them, that I particularly appreciated and loved.
*massive thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review*