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A review by utopiastateofmind
A Kingdom for a Stage by Heidi Heilig
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
One of my favorite lines of A Kingdom for a Stage is, "you think peace requires a victory", because it so fully encapsulates the heart and soul of this series. Sure it examines the bonds of family, winged machines, and blood magic, but it also looks at the very real consequences of colonization. The ways that it becomes about victory requiring defeat. Where just leaving is never an option that comes to mind. A world in which peace requires blood soaked battlefields, not white flags.
A Kingdom for a Stage looks at whether people can be saved. Whether anyone is purely good or bad. It explores the nature of loyalty and being turned, against our will, into a weapon. In this world of ghosts, possessions, and miracles, do intentions and relative goodness mean anything? While this series, as a whole, is certainly slower paced than one might expect, what I love about is that it truly dives into the nitty gritty. There is plenty of action, but it always feels grounded in ethical conversations about the 'right' thing to do.
One of my favorite lines of A Kingdom for a Stage is, "you think peace requires a victory", because it so fully encapsulates the heart and soul of this series. Sure it examines the bonds of family, winged machines, and blood magic, but it also looks at the very real consequences of colonization. The ways that it becomes about victory requiring defeat. Where just leaving is never an option that comes to mind. A world in which peace requires blood soaked battlefields, not white flags.
A Kingdom for a Stage looks at whether people can be saved. Whether anyone is purely good or bad. It explores the nature of loyalty and being turned, against our will, into a weapon. In this world of ghosts, possessions, and miracles, do intentions and relative goodness mean anything? While this series, as a whole, is certainly slower paced than one might expect, what I love about is that it truly dives into the nitty gritty. There is plenty of action, but it always feels grounded in ethical conversations about the 'right' thing to do.