Review & Giveaway - - The Legend of Meneka

The Legend of Meneka

by Kritika H. Rao

The Divine Dancers Duology - Book 1

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: January 21, 2025

Reviewed by Nancy

Across the mortal and immortal realms, celestial dancers known as apsaras are revered for their beauty, allure, and enchanting magic. But Meneka knows that is not all they are. Trained as a weapon—a warrior—Meneka despises leaving each of her marks in thrall to her potent illusions. With every seduction Lord Indra, king of heaven, demands of her for his political gain, she craves her freedom more and more.

When a mortal sage’s growing powers threaten Indra’s supremacy in his own realm, Meneka seizes a rare opportunity. She strikes a deal—if she can seduce this dangerous man, Indra will allow her to forgo future missions. But upon meeting the sage, Kaushika, Meneka finds herself captivated by his energy, ignited by his empathy and passion, even though he challenges everything she’s ever known. Can she overthrow the man who she is—little by little—falling for, or is Kaushika seducing her instead? As war looms in the skies, Meneka must choose between her duty to protect her home and the thrumming of her own heart.

Nancy's Thoughts:

 

I was excited about reviewing this book, a fantasy based on a culture American readers rarely see. Unfortunately, it didn’t prove to be as absorbing as I’d hoped it would be. While many things about it are superbly done, the way others were handled made this a very difficult book—at least for me—to get into. I’ll share the positives first and then discuss the problems I had, which may not be as much of a problem for others as they were for me. 

One aspect of the book that struck me immediately was the author’s excellent crafting of descriptions. As Meneka returns to Amaravati, the god Indra’s celestial city, this is what we see

(p. 7):

The city hums under my feet as I walk. . . . The rock-paved pathways glisten under the golden light. Somewhere a bird sings sweetly, holding a single warbling note that strums through my heart. Laughter echoes here and there though I see no one. The citizens are hidden within glorious buildings, ensconced in fragrant night gardens. The same gentle breeze that brought me back home rustles though the city, this time with scents of lightning and storm, scents that belong to Lord Indra. His magic spirals lazily through the city, tiny sparks that flicker and flash.

In this paragraph, we not only see what Meneka sees but understand what she feels at this homecoming. The description helps lay the groundwork for scenes of her anxiety over the city’s fate if Kaushika draws people from their worship of Indra. 

The supporting characters, for the most part, have depth that keeps them from being cardboard background figures, Rhamba, Meneka’s mentor, is loyal to Indra but also concerned about Meneka’s doubts as she prepares for her mission to seduce Kaushika. His students aren’t given as much in the way of layering, but the three most important, his two closest friends and Meneka’s close friend are sketched with enough detail to set them apart from the others. Students at Kaushika’s hermitage study magic. The ways they learn it, the difficulty Meneka has demonstrating some magic without revealing her celestial nature, and the mystery of what drives Kaushika are interesting.

I don’t bring much knowledge of Hindu mythology to the table, but I found the depictions of the gods and their relationships believable. I could appreciate the differences among them as shown in the story.

Kaushika’s desire to worship Shiva and his dislike for Indra, coupled with his attention to his students, came across as likeable from the outset. Only later does the reader learn there is a darker, but still understandable, purpose behind what he’s doing.

On the downside, I wasn’t able to root for Meneka until about halfway into the story. When we meet her, she’s engaged in seducing a queen who must be punished for turning her people away from worshipping Indra. Meneka’s job is to make the woman so enthralled with her that she won’t be able to function effectively after Meneka leaves. Punishing someone for not worshipping one’s god isn’t a goal I can get behind.

Meneka is uncomfortable with using her sexuality this way and wants this to be her last mission. Her concern, though, is that she not perform these missions. She has no issues with someone else doing so.

Later in the story, we learn that Indra supposedly depends on people’s prayers to empower him so that he can help them, which might be a better reason for wanting them back in the fold if it were consistently the case, but Meneka isn’t trying to turn this queen—and doesn’t intend to turn Kaushika—back to worshipping Indra. She intends only to punish them.

Only as Meneka begins to have doubts about Indra does she become more sympathetic for me. Her philosophical discussions with other students, which she intends to seed doubts about Kaushika’s view of asceticism and his devotion to Shiva, twist around on her and seed doubts about Indra. Rao creates these twists very effectively.

Another problem I had with the book is that, although this is sold as a romantasy, Meneka and Kaushika spend almost no time together until about page 100. Once they did, their philosophical jousting and their attraction to each other made them an intriguing pair.

My biggest problem with the book, though, is that it abounds with unfamiliar words, only some of which are in the glossary at the front. These words are rarely explained in context. We don’t get references to “gandharvras, Indra’s celestial musicians,” in the story. We get gandharvras doing something with no explanation of what they are.

Every time I have to stop reading and look something up in the glossary in the front, it pulls me out of the story. So I would look up a word, go back to the story, run into another unfamiliar word, go to the glossary and discover it isn’t there, which is extremely frustrating, and so on. By the time I’ve run across three of four more unfamiliar words, I’ve forgotten what the first word I looked up means and have to stop and look it up again the next time it appears.

If I don’t know what a word means, I don’t have a complete picture of what’s happening in the story. Of what choices mean. Of what things look like. This yanks me out of the story every single time.

There may be readers who just skip over unfamiliar words and don’t worry about them. That’s fine. To each her own. But I need to know what I’m looking at and what it means. When the author says a character’s “dhoti flapped in the wind,” I need to know what a dhoti is (are?). So I don’t know what’s happening and am yanked out of the story wondering about it.

By about chapter eleven, when Kaushika and Meneka are spending more time together, I had finally absorbed the meanings of the words that appeared most often and so was able to stay immersed in the story. Their relationship had become interesting, and her character’s conflict as she tried to decide what was true and right and trying to reconcile these new idea with her old beliefs had me really engaged.

We learn that Kaushika’s dispute with the other sages isn’t entirely due to their intransigence. While his motives and goal make sense, his actions could have dire consequences. Meneka finds herself caught between conflicting loyalties and, in resolving them, gains priceless insight into her own motives and actions.

In summary, I found the first third of the book hard to read, partly because I didn’t like Meneka and partly because unfamiliar words kept yanking me out of the story. I would give that part of the book one star. The second two thirds or so, however, drew me into the building, push/pull romance and Meneka’s inner conflicts. The action was superb, and so was the character development. That part of the story is a five. So I averaged them and came up with three.

Readers should be aware that the romantic storyline resolves but the external plot does not, at least not fully. The story presumably will continue in the next book.

Recommended.

3 Stars

~Nancy

Do unfamiliar words pull you out of a book? 

How do you handle that? Do you stop to look up the word or just skip over them?

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, February 20 will receive a hard copy of The Legend of Meneka.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review - - Where Peace is Lost

Where Peace is Lost

by Valerie Valdes

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: August 29, 2023

Reviewed by Nancy

 

 Where peace is lost, may we find it.

Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her.

Where peace is broken, may we mend it.

Kel’s past intrudes in the form of a long-dormant Pale war machine, suddenly reactivated. If the massive automaton isn’t stopped, at best it will carve a swath of devastation that displaces thousands of people. At worst, it will kill every sentient creature on the planet.

Where we go, may peace follow.

When two strangers offer to deactivate the machine for a price, Kel and a young friend agree to serve as their guides. The journey through swamps infested with predators and bandits is bad enough, but can they survive more nefarious dangers along the way? And will Kel’s fear of revealing her secrets doom the very people she’s trying to protect?

Where we fall, may peace rise.

Nancy Says:

Where Peace is Lost is not a romance. It does have romantic elements, but they don’t rise to the level I would describe as strong. So it’s science fiction with some romantic elements. 

We first met Kel as she’s dangling from a large animal called a xoffedil. She was trying to gather the valuable rainbow moss that grows atop the creature. This is how she makes her living. The opening line is wry and engaging, and Kel’s ingenuity makes the reader want to root for her. While this scene works overall as an enticement to read on, it had a couple of problems that recurred in the book. I’ll come back to those later but will cover the story’s positive aspects first. 

Throughout, Kel comes across as thoughtful and resourceful. We soon learn that she’s hiding a background that includes skills no one else has, and eventually can surmise that she has a military background. When a war machine left behind by the aggressive culture known as the Pale, maybe because they wear solid white armor, starts on a rampage, a friend inveigles Kel into going to a nearby town for a big conference to address dealing with it. 

The Pale say they’ll deal with the machine when they get around to it. But a rampaging weapon of war, unguided but armed, poses a danger to the planet’s culture. Kel recognizes, as her neighbors do, that someone must deal with it. She doesn’t want to be that one because she has secrets to keep, but her a young friend, Lunna, who tells her about it is eager for adventure and plans to attend the meeting. Kel agrees to go to keep an eye on Lunna. 

The danger posed by the machine spurs her to retrieve old equipment that might be useful, though she keeps it secret. The situation also spurs her to wonder whether she should use her old skills. What does she owe her adopted planet? How can she help keep its people, including her friends, safe? Can she accomplish enough to be worth exposing her secret? Wrestling with these questions, she often repeats the mantra above. 

At the conference on dealing with the machine, Kel and others learn how great a risk it poses. Thousands of people are potentially in danger. Then two offworlders, Savvy and Dare, offer to deal with it for a comparatively modest fee. The village offers them an escort, but they want only a guide. When Lunna enthusiastically volunteers as guide. Kel then feels obligated to go along to protect Lunna, who is young and naïve.

Lunna is also nonbinary, which made reading an interesting experience at times. References to they and them sometimes required a pause to determine whether the pronoun referred to Lunna or to the entire group. This was my first experience reading a nonbinary character, and I think my reading would’ve flowed more smoothly had I been more accustomed to this particular pronoun usage. 

The quartet travels across a wide range of territory with varying terrain as they seek out the machine. Kel quickly realizes Savvy and Dev are also hiding secrets, and Valdes uses this adeptly to increase suspense. 

The story twists and turns in ways that are both unpredictable and believable. An encounter with bandits early in the journey triggers as chase that runs through the remainder of the story. The action is dynamic, well paced and easy to follow. 

Kel and Dare’s mutual attraction simmers with mutual distrust a credible obstacle to it. The obstacle gives way during an event I won’t spoil, but the story’s focus is the out-of-control machine. 

The arrival of unexpected players twists the story and sends it toward its conclusion with Kel having to make a fateful decision. We then learn the secret she has been hiding and her reason for doing so. The full revelation is seeded in the story just enough that it both isn’t clear until this point but also is believable when Kel springs it. And I also have to say it’s really, seriously cool. 

The worldbuilding, as mentioned previously is original and appealing. This is an eco-friendly culture that views nature as worthy of consideration. City guest houses are free to whoever needs them. 

Some of the most original bits, though, weren’t explained sufficiently to be clear to me. The aggressive deadly birds called bladebeaks are red, with razor-sharp beaks and talons, but that’s about all the description there is. A slurx, which has a vast maw and is a large shape under the water, attacks the birds as they feed on their wounded in the water. I would’ve liked a few sentences to describe the slurx. What I’ve mentioned here is all there is. 

A character describes  the war machine as “five trunks tall and three times that length.” This struck me as a clever unit of measurement that also avoided Terran feet, yards, meters, and such. But, once again, I wanted just a little more. Are we talking tree trunks? What kinds of trees are that big? How many does it take to reach around one? How tall is it? Given the thing’s weight, it’s obviously very big, but I wanted to know more. 

In the first scene, there’s no overall description of the xoffedil. Kel mentions that it’s four stories tall, has a tentacled proboscis, and has at least one “middle leg.” That’s all. We don’t know if that middle leg is one of three on a side, five on a side, or maybe in the middle of the front. There’s no reference to color or ears, or exactly what this tentacled proboscis looks like. Is it an elephant’s trunk with four tentacles? The reader doesn’t know. 

Every time I hit a description that was interesting but, for me, incomplete, it pulled me out of the story. I didn’t want much, but I needed just a couple of sentences more so I could glide on through the story. Other readers may not react the same way, of course. 

I liked the characters in this story a lot. The plot is tightly constructed, has plenty of action-adventure, and moves at a good pace. The worldbuilding is fresh and imaginative. My only quibble is with the incomplete descriptions of things that I would’ve found seriously cool if I’d had just a little more information about them. That was enough of a problem for me to take a little off the rating but didn’t stop me from enjoying the overall story a lot. 

Highly recommended. 4.5 stars 

~Nancy

 

Review - - Tear Down the Throne

Tear Down the Throne

by Jennifer Estep

The Gargoyle Queen - Book 2

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: May 3, 2022

Reviewed by Nancy

 

 

Crown princess. Clever spy. Powerful mind magier. Gemma Ripley of Andvari is all those things—and determined to stop an enemy from using magical tearstone weapons to conquer her kingdom.

Gemma’s quest for answers leads her to a trade Summit between the various kingdoms. Among the other royals in attendance is Queen Maeven Morricone of Morta and her son, Prince Leonidas—Gemma’s charming and dangerous nemesis.

Gemma knows that Maeven always has a long game in motion, and sure enough, the cunning queen invokes an arcane tradition that threatens the fragile truce between Andvari and the other kingdoms. Despite her best intentions, Gemma once again finds herself thrown together with Leo and battling her growing feelings for the enemy prince.

When a series of deadly attacks shatters the Summit’s peaceful negotiations, Gemma realizes that someone wants to tear the royals down from their thrones—and that this enemy just might succeed.

Nancy Says:

 

Jennifer Estep continues her Gargoyle Queen saga with Tear Down the Throne, which picks up Princess (and spy) Gemma Ripley’s story soon after the prior volume, Capture the Crown, ends. Gemma has returned home to Andvari after surviving torture by Crown Prince Milo of rival kingdom Morta and narrowly escaping. When the story opens, she’s visiting an important nobleman to maintain a good relationship.

 

Her host makes a tactless remark that reminds her of what she suffered in Morta. This leads to a recap of the previous book’s events, including Gemma’s longstanding attraction to another Mortan prince, Leonidas. The recap posed a problem for me. While it presents the necessary information fairly succinctly, it occurs mid-conversation. By the time the recap, which runs almost two full pages, ended and Gemma replied to her host’s blunder, I had lost the original remark.

 

Other than that, the story moves at a solid pace with an interesting plot. We learn more about Gemma as she tries to figure out what the Mortans are doing. Prince Milo is using tearstone, which is found mainly in Andvari, to make arrows. His men are also stealing tearstone. Why? What does he intend to do with it? Having been tortured with one of those arrows in the prior book, Gemma has a personal interest in thwarting his plans.

 

She has help from Reiko Yamato, a friend who’s a spy from the allied kingdom of Ryusama. Estep lays the groundwork for bringing Reiko and her romantic interest to the fore in the future. She also develops the two women’s friendship, though Reiko’s split loyalties cause friction between them.

 

We also learn more about Gemma’s family, who are closeknit and supportive. There are nods to the prior trilogy, Crown of Shards.  The emotional center of the book, however, is Gemma’s relationship with Leonidas Morricone, Morta’s bastard prince. That relationship springs to the fore when his mother, Queen Maeven, invokes an ancient tradition to force Gemma to marry Leonidas. If he completes three trials known as the Gauntlet, she must either marry him or pay a forfeit that could involve Andvarian lands and money or Gemma’s death. If he fails to complete them, he forfeits his life. Gemma is appalled to find that neither prospect appeals to her though one part of her yearns for him to succeed.

 

Estep does an excellent job of exploring Gemma’s conflicted feelings and Leonidas’s determination. As Leonidas progresses in the trials, Gemma’s internal conflict deepens. A moment after the second trial forces her to confront her feelings and gives Leonidas hope.

 

While the Gauntlet tests are cleverly constructed, I found the final one, when Gemma can influence the outcome, confusing because  the tests had been presented as all or nothing in the beginning, with no mention about her playing any role. Had that been explained at first, I would have read along happily and never questioned it.

 

Leonidas’s murderous brother, Milo, his wily and ambitious fiancée, Corvina, and the treacherous Captain Wexel all return. Gemma, Leonidas, and Reiko try to uncover Milo’s plot. They make progress but discover all, as befits the second book of a trilogy. The plot takes interesting twists and turns with the threads of the romance woven through it.

 

The Andvarian gargoyles and the Mortan birds known as strixes also play roles in the story, and one special gargoyle makes an important choice. These sentient species and the specialties in the magic system give the series world a unique depth and flavor.

 

While I always favor reading a series in order, Tear Down the Throne can be read as a standalone.

 

The suspense plot uses the world and its magic well. The characters acquire additional depth, and the relationships—families, friends, and enemies—progress nicely. We also learn much more about Gemma’s deceased mother and the way her long-ago actions influence the story. Gemma and Leonidas are easy to root for, and their relationship takes an intriguing, satisfying turn at the book’s end that raises their stakes for the final book.

 

Highly Recommended. 4.5 stars

 

~Nancy

 

Review & Giveaway - - The Seventh Queen

 

The Seventh Queen

by Greta Kelly

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: November 2, 2021

Reviewed by Nancy

 

The Empire of Vishir has lost its ruler, and the fight to save Seravesh from the Roven Empire is looking bleak. Moreover, Askia has been captured by power-hungry Emperor Radovan, who plans on making her his wife simply so he can take her magic as his own, killing her in the process. Aware of his ex-wives’ fates, Askia must find a means of avoiding this doom, not only for the sake of Seravesh, but now for Vishir as well. She must put both nations first and remember Ozura’s advice: you must play the game in order to survive. Askia was born a soldier, but now it’s time to become a spy. 

But it’s hard to play a game where the only person who knows the rules wants to kill her. 

And time is a factor. The jewel Radovan has put around her neck will pull her power from her in thirty days. Worse, Vishir might not even have that long, as the two heirs to the throne are on the verge of civil war. Without any hope for help from the south, without any access to her magic, alone in a hostile land, Askia is no closer to freeing her people than she was when she fled to Vishir. In the clutches of a madman, the only thing she’s close to is death.

Yet she’d trade her life for a chance to save Seravesh. The problem: she may not have that choice.

Nancy says:

 

Greta Kelly’s The Seventh Queen is the second of two connected books. The publisher generously sent along the prior book, The Frozen Crown, for context. I read The Seventh Queen first, however, so I could see whether it’s a good jumping-on point for those who haven’t yet read the first book. I’m happy to report that it is. 

I think one reason the second book stands alone so well is that it takes place in a different setting, with mostly different supporting characters, from the first book. As the Askia learns about this place, her situation, and the people and ghosts around her, the reader learns without having to deal with an information dump. 

Unfortunately, the book description on vendor sites, which is included above, is not a good introduction to the second book because it doesn’t explain the phrases it uses until the end. Quickly, before we dive into the book itself—Askia is the young, new Queen of Seravesh, she has a stake in the kingdom of Vishir because she was married to the Emperor of Vishir, who was murdered at the wedding, and the six-times-married-and-widowed Emperor Radovan of the Roven Empire, who ordered the murder, has been rampaging across the land with the help of magic he has stolen from his prior wives. He plans to make Askia the seventh and use the magic he steals from her to crush the other kingdoms’ resistance. 

The Seventh Queen opens as Askia awakens in Radovan’s castle after being kidnapped. While the stone on her necklace, which she can’t remove, stifles her use of her magic, it doesn’t squelch her innate ability. She’s a death witch and so can see the ghosts of Radovan’s prior queens and two other spirits who followed her to Roven. Having been where she is, the prior queens sympathize with her. They offer comfort and then assistance as she tries to plan an escape. If she’s going to break out, she needs to hurry because the stone on her necklace will absorb absorb all her magic within thirty days. Once it does, Radovan will kill her. Amulets, necklaces, and other restraints that stifle magic are nothing new in fantasy, but the Aellium stone that siphons Askia’s power adds a fresh twist. 

So the story opens with a ticking clock. Part of the thirty days have elapsed while Askia lay unconscious after her kidnapping. As she becomes oriented, she must figure out how to deal with Radovan. She despises him but dares not anger him lest he lock her up and foreclose any chance of escape. She also can’t lie to him because he absorbed truth-sensing abilities from one of his prior victims. 

Her efforts to learn enough about the castle to find a weakness, a way out, don’t always go smoothly. The ghosts who are helping her have their own agendas, and not everyone in Radovan’s court is as they initially seem to be. Slowly, she learns how and where to apply pressure—all without Radovan finding out—so she can gather information. Her efforts pay off in an expected way. 

Meanwhile, Askia’s loyal guard are searching for her. We’re well into The Seventh Queen when we first meet them, but Kelly provides enough information to orient new readers without slowing the pace of the story. One of those guardsmen, a fire mage, is particularly important going forward. 

The plot includes believable progress and setbacks as Askia tries to find a way out of her predicament. Yet nothing is simple, and there are intriguing twists, especially at the end. Askia is determined and smart but not infalliable or immune to discouragement. She’s easy to root for. 

The ghostly queens of Roven are nicely differentiated. Each has her own worries about what Radovan will do while some also worry about those they left behind. They’re not always on the same page as Askia about what needs to happen. This makes them believable, while their efforts to help make them sympathetic. 

Radovan clearly is a horrible person, but he also has insecurities and layers. He’s the prime example of a villain who sees himself as the hero of his story. 

There’s also a romantic subplot. This being a fantasy, however, the romance isn’t a prominent part of the book. The romantic scenes are done well, but as the relationship comes together, it, too, is not as simple as it first seemed. 

The story moves at a solid pace without rushing. The final confrontation is tense, action-filled, and, again, twisty. The ending was satisfying but not entirely what a romance reader might want. There’s clearly more story to come on all fronts. 

As for quibbles, I did get a little tired of Askia reminding herself she was a queen or making herself be a queen. I got that after the first time. While I liked the way she contrasted the woman circumstances forced her to become with the woman she’d been before the kidnapping, I could have done with a bit less repetition of that. There was one secret that seemed to be just a bit too convenient for my taste. These are quibbles, though, not big problems. 

Overall, The Seventh Queen had engaging protagonists, an original, solid, and twisty plot, an action-packed climax, and an intriguing romance subplot. Highly Recommended.

~~~~~~~~~~

Are you a fan of fantasy fiction? Are there authors or books in this genre that you would recommend?

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, November 30 will receive a hardback copy of The Frozen Crown. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

*Void where prohibited 

Review - - Crush the King

Crush the King

By Jennifer Estep

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: March 17, 2020

Reviewed by Nancy

  

This concluding volume of Jennifer Estep’s Crown of Shards trilogy opens with Queen Everleigh (Evie) Blair of Bellona girding for a final confrontation with her nemesis, King Maximus of Morta. In the first book of the trilogy, Kill the Queen, he had her entire family assassinated to put his puppet on the throne. In the second book, Protect the Prince, his agents tried to kill a neighboring monarch and his son, who’re related to Evie’s lover, lightning magier and gladiator Lucas Sullivan.

Maximus and Evie have never met in person, but they’re about to. The annual multinational games known as the Regalia will soon begin. Custom dictates that the monarchs of participating countries attend. Before the games start, however, events lead Evie to believe she needs to change her approach, to be harder, sterner, and more assertive with her courtiers and her fellow monarchs.

One thing that makes this series so engaging is Evie’s evolution from a scared nobody, a minor blip on the royal family tree, to a confident gladiator and then to a queen. Nothing comes easily to her at any stage, and when she gained the throne in Kill the Queen, she knew she had no clue how to truly be a queen. Protect the Prince showed her growing into that role, learning the pitfalls and advantages while still not feeling she’d truly earned her crown. Throughout the other two books, she has slowly learned how to wield her own magic.

Crush the King brings this arc to fruition. Her new, more assertive approach is totally believable because of all that has gone before. So does her growth as a magier.

Evie goes to the Regalia knowing she may never get a better shot at Maximus. She plans to kill him during the games and knows he will also try to kill her.

The coming confrontation will involve courtly intrigue and various competitions. Evie has help preparing from her dancing instructor, Xenia, and the gladiators of the Black Swan troupe, including Lucas Sullivan, her consort. Part of the pleasure of reading any series is seeing familiar characters return, so it’s satisfying to see that Evie’s friends still have her back.

Her arch nemesis, Maeven, also returns. A magically gifted but illegitimate member of the Mortan royal family, she is her half brother’s top agent and assassin. Maeven’s story takes a twist here, one that allows Evie to up the stakes in the long game she has played with Maeven since her family was massacred.

The pace of the story generally moves well, with solid action sequences and hot, tender romance as well as intriguing strategy sessions. Still, I would’ve liked to get to the confrontation earlier and was tiring of the prep for it. I also had issues with two particular scenes farther into the book. In one, a confrontation occurs in Evie’s tent. I thought the guards were incredibly lax, probably standing far from the tent, not to notice the noise of the fight sooner. Once they do notice it and announce they’ll check on the queen, a lengthy conversation ensues before the guards arrive. That timing was hard to believe.

Later, in Evie’s final confrontation with Maximus, he threatens to do something that, in the circumstances, he has absolutely no way to do. He’s not stupid, and this threat feels out of place—even more so because nobody else notes that he can’t possibly do that.

These were my only issues with the book. As Protect the Prince did, Crush the King gives us a broader view of the story world. We explore the island of Fortuna and its crafty owners, the DiLucri family, who’re somewhat reminiscent of the Renaissance Medicis, and learn more about the magic in the world. I especially liked the magical birds known as strixes.

The ending involved a terrific twist that solves Evie’s problems in an unexpected but satisfying way. While Crush the King ties off this trilogy nicely, Estep also plants seeds for further trouble between the Mortan royal family and Evie.

Overall, I enjoyed this book tremendously despite my issues with a couple of things. I recommend it highly.

Review - - Aurora Blazing

AURORA BLAZING

by Jessie Mihalik

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: October 1, 2019

Reviewed by Hellie

 

To save her brother and protect her family’s future, a powerful princess must join forces with a dashing man from her past in this thrilling space adventure, the second novel in the Consortium Rebellion trilogy.

As the dutiful daughter of High House von Hasenberg, Bianca set aside her personal feelings and agreed to a political match arranged by her family, only to end up trapped in a loveless, miserable marriage. When her husband unexpectedly dies, Bianca vows never to wed again. Newly independent, she secretly uses her wealth and influence to save other women stuck in dire circumstances. Information is power and Bianca has a network of allies and spies that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.

When her family’s House is mysteriously attacked, Bianca’s oldest brother, the heir to House von Hasenberg, disappears. Fearful for her brother’s life, the headstrong Bianca defies her father and leaves Earth to save him. Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security—and Bianca’s first love—is ordered to find and retrieve the rebellious woman.

Ian is the last man Bianca wants to see. To evade capture, she leads him on a merry chase across the universe. But when their paths finally collide, she knows she must persuade him to help her. Bianca will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.

As the search takes them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely . . .

Hellie’s Heeds:

I feel the blurb makes the book sound more like a romance than it is. This book is classified as science fiction/ space opera, which it definitely is; and the romantic elements feel to be fourth or fifth down the list of classifications. As an adventure story, this book ticks all the marks, though admittedly I don’t read a lot of classic action-adventure per se, so those who do might have other opinions. (I know some people who read sci-fi may read this and go, “there’s too much romance!”--laughable--or “the world-building is cliched/stolen from a movie” which I wouldn’t know because I don’t watch a lot of sci-fi action movies either. To me, the plot felt plausible and the world-building detail didn’t seem to contradict each other or feel cliched. The writer’s voice and setting detail was such that I was still able to lose myself in the story without questioning every little thing. I know some readers who do read more of this kind of fiction may not be able to lose themselves as easily, much like when I read certain historical period books where I “know too much” and pick apart character development and plot.

The romantic elements were a struggle for me. While I believe the hero and heroine were both good people, so I wouldn't object to them being together, their chemistry felt non-existent for me. The author tried; and again, in a primary action-adventure, it would have been ludicrous to constantly make the heroine aware of the hero and how much she wants to jump him in a crucial situation where their lives are on the line, but at the same time, by the time they did get together, it felt off for them to even hook up. I think this might be a struggle in many romantic element type books. In a straight up romance, there is more chemistry tension than this particular book allowed, so when I get to a sex scene in a regular romance, I usually devour the scene as feverishly as the characters are devouring each other. Not so in this book. I mostly rolled my eyes and skimmed until we could get to the next scene. THAT. NEVER. HAPPENS. Now if you are a reader who skips those scenes anyway, this may not bother you, but I do enjoy those scenes and it was disappointing for me. 

Overall, I think the story and characters are well-done, the pace is fast and kept the plot tight, and the world building is interesting enough to hold my attention. (It would have been handy to also have had a glossary because there were a number of acronyms and Houses, et al, where it would have been nice to refer to keep me organized of what was going on and what things were called. The author did make a notable effort to be clear with new terminology, et al, but I have the memory of a gnat, so a glossary would have been helpful for me.) I would like to go back and read the first in the trilogy, POLARIS RISING, and I’d be interested in reading the book coming in 2020 as well. I think the author’s voice and storytelling outweighs the romantic elements problems I had.

Review - - Protect the Prince

Protect the Prince

By Jennifer Estep

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Release Date: July 2, 2019

Reviewed by Nancy

 

Protect the Prince is the second book in Estep’s Crown of Shards novel. The first book, Kill the Queen, describes Everleigh Saffira Winter Blair’s journey to the throne of Bellona. An orphan of royal blood, she narrowly survives a murder attempt, takes refuge with a troop of gladiators, and learns to wield her apparently weak magic.

The second book picks up shortly after Everleigh’s (or Evie’s) accession to the throne, as she is about to face Bellona’s nobility at her first formal court session. An orphan who becomes queen against long odds doesn’t have a web of connections among the nobility, who aren’t slow to let Evie know how backward and inept they consider her, even as they jockey for position with her. Thinking she doesn’t see through them is their first mistake, and she demonstrates her ability to handle them despite her secret doubts about her ability to rule.

Estep does a good job of balancing Evie’s insecurities with the skills she acquired, first as a poor relation on the bottom of the court totem pole and then as a successful gladiator. Although the reader sees how skilled she is, her doubts are understandable and are never overdone.

Evie’s first goal as queen is to repair Bellona’s relationship with the neighboring kingdom of Andvari, which were shattered by the events in Kill the Queen. Accompanying her on the journey are members of the gladiator troop who helped her gain the throne. One of those gladiators, Lucas “Sully” Sullivan, is a particular cause for concern. He and Evie are attracted to each other, but he refuses to act on that feeling because of their differing stations. He’s a bastard prince of the Advari line. He’ll be a useful advisor at their court, but he seems to walk a line between the Advarian royal family and the Bellonan contingent.

Sully’s family dynamics come into play as his father plunges Evie directly into court politics. So does his first love, Helene Blume. Estep handles the dynamic between Evie and Helene with skill, using it to amplify Evie’s inner conflict without falling back on clichés.

When Evie discovers a plot against the Andvarian king, she devises a plan to draw the traitors into the open. This causes severe problems between her and Sully, whose status as a royal bastard chafes him when he’s in Andvari. His family tensions further complicate the situation. The plan is cleverly laid out in a way that seems believable and logical. In the process of catching the culprits, Evie learns what it truly means to be a Winter queen and emotionally grows into her crown.

I had two minor quibbles with the story. First, I’m not good at spotting the important clues in a mystery, so if I notice something and think it’s important, I expect the main character to do the same. Evie didn’t. Second, an incident between Evie and Sully near the end of the book seemed to me to involve unnecessary conflict. I could see Evie’s reasoning, but I disagreed with it. Others may find it persuasive.

The characters in Protect the Prince are well drawn and sympathetic, and the mystery takes enough twists and turns to stay interesting.  The relationship between Evie and Sully was a subordinate part of the book but an important one. Aside from my minor quibble, I thought it developed beautifully, reaching a satisfactory resolution.

Now all I need is Crush the King, the third book. Too bad it won’t be out until next year!

Highly recommended.

5 stars