Liralexa Abbingdon, heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Nine Regions, lives a charmed but confined life. One fateful day, she discovers a portal next to a well on palace grounds. Unable to control her curiosity, she travels to the Step Region where she meets five teenagers. They tell her the king and queen are tyrants who levy excessive taxes. When the regions can't pay, their children are taken away to fight to the death at an event called the Strages. Believing her parents are kind and honorable rulers, she haughtily refuses to believe them. On her 17th birthday, she attends the Strages for the first time and is disgusted as she watches young people her age suffer and die as excited crowds cheer them on. The remorseful princess returns to the Step Region and falls for the Governor's son Malthus. The two meet almost every day. When he is taken away to fight in the Strages, she is forced to make a terrible choice.
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I have quite a few books sitting on my Kindle that have been waiting who knows how long for me to decide to read them. To be honest, I picked this one at random. I don't remember buying it. I don't remember how I even heard of it, but there it was...
The Good:
I quite enjoyed the character of Liralexa and watching her come into her own throughout this book. To suddenly realize that your world is nothing like you thought it was would be devastating and as I read, I could feel that anguish. Really all of the characters were enjoyable to read and I found the descriptions of the various locations really added to the feel of the narrative.
The Bad:
I can't tell you exactly why, but I kept wondering if this was the author's first book. There is at least one item in the book that was a bit repetitious and I kept thinking, "yes, I already know that. You don't have to tell me again." Also, I didn't feel as if the characters really developed throughout the book. I would love to expand on this, but I just can't without giving away spoilers.
The Summary:
All in all, this was an enjoyable and quick read. Enjoyable enough that I actually went to see if there were more in this series or at least others that take place within this world. There aren't, but I hope that the author continues to build upon the Kingdom of the Nine Regions because I would genuinely like to read more.
So, if you're looking for a light fantasy book, I'd pop over to Amazon and pick this one up. It's currently listed at 99c so you really can't go wrong.
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