Orphaned, exiled and hunted, Cérulia, Princess of Weirandale, must master the magic that is her birthright, become a ruthless guerilla fighter, and transform into the queen she is destined to be.

But to do it she must win the favor of the spirits who play in mortal affairs, assemble an unlikely group of rebels, and wrest the throne from a corrupt aristocracy whose rot has spread throughout her kingdom.

Review!

Thank you so much to Tor Books and Stephen Haskins for giving me the chance to read this amazing book. I can conform that all views are my own. PS read down to the bottom for your chance to win a copy!

I know I normally do my own version of a premise for my reviews but this book was so epic and contained sooo many characters I don’t think I can do it justice. One thing I will mention is that though the above states this book is about Cerulia’s fight for the throne, the majority of the story focuses on her mother Cressa and her bid to keep the Nargis line in power. Though Cerulia’s story line is prevalent throughout, it is only in the last few chapters we see her take any action, and the author sets books two up exquisitely.

There are a whole bunch of characters in this book and the chapters flit between all of their perspective’s giving larger chunks to the main characters, but one of the big selling points for this book is that very few characters weren’t fleshed out. From the smallest servant to the Queen we get insight into a whole host of characters minds, and though in parts I had to refresh myself on whose view point I was reading, every single characters perspective played a part in telling you the story, no part was meaningless and they each had little insights that you didn’t notice until further into the story. There are characters you love and some you hate but I felt there were none I was indifferent about, small or big they all played their part well. Towards the end of the book we get a little more insight into who will be the big players in book two and maybe potential romances?

This book was described as a new Epic fantasy and that describes it perfectly. It gives me flashbacks to reading Sanderson’s Mistborn series, where you literally have to pay attention to every single line for fear of missing an important part of the plot. Potentially some of the best world building I have had the pleasure to read, the author lets you traverse her fantasy world through all the different and entwining characters stories. We learn about all the different continents and their magics, from Nargis whose queens are possessed of powers that will help them in the current political situation, the Oromondo’s who have power over fire and class any disbelievers as heretics, to the free states where magic is something that children read about in books.

I wont lie, this wasn’t an easy book to read. There is a multitude of information in every page and I found myself sticking to a few chapters a night for fear of missing something if I powered through. This book wont suit people who like fast paced reads, with little descriptive writing and a few ‘main characters.’ It will suit those of us looking for an escape, ones who love a slow burn book, one without the much overused tropes, just a simple, classic and epic read that spans continents, years and generations. This was the set up book, the book containing all the historical information you need to make the next ones make sense. Yes, some authors would do this in a matter of chapters but I loved seeing it all unfold chapter by chapter and I felt a bond with every single character. In the last few chapters we see the author beginning to set the second book up and I for one am genuinely excited for certain characters to meet and to see the outcome of those meetings. I am so glad that all the books are being released within 4 months as I simply don’t think I could wait a year. An easy 4.5/5 for me!

I’m also currently running a UK only giveaway for a copy of this amazing book! Check out my post here with the terms of the giveaway. Ends 8.02.20.