Published: October 2, 2018
Publisher: HarperVoyager
Series: Crown of Shards #1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 443 (Paperback)
My Rating: 4.0/5.0
Synopsis:
Gladiator meets Game of Thrones: a royal woman becomes a skilled warrior to destroy her murderous cousin, avenge her family, and save her kingdom in this first entry in a dazzling fantasy epic from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Elemental Assassin series—an enthralling tale that combines magic, murder, intrigue, adventure, and a hint of romance
In a realm where one’s magical power determines one’s worth, Lady Everleigh’s lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten.
But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family. Luckily for Evie, her secret immunity to magic helps her escape the massacre.
Forced into hiding to survive, she falls in with a gladiator troupe. Though they use their talents to entertain and amuse the masses, the gladiators are actually highly trained warriors skilled in the art of war, especially Lucas Sullivan, a powerful magier with secrets of his own. Uncertain of her future—or if she even has one—Evie begins training with the troupe until she can decide her next move.
But as the bloodthirsty Vasilia exerts her power, pushing Bellona to the brink of war, Evie’s fate becomes clear: she must become a fearsome gladiator herself . . . and kill the queen.
I’ve had this book on my radar for awhile now and finally picked up the audiobook, which by the way, is great. From the start I knew this was going to be interesting – I liked the voice of the main character and the food descriptions were so inspiring that I decided to make one of the recipes (post soon to follow)!
Everleigh is an orphan from the Winter branch of the royal family and has been living in the palace since her parents were killed fifteen years ago. She’s been spurned by the eldest princess and mostly stays in the kitchens or with the royal jeweler where she’s learning the trade. She also has very little magic, which isn’t a mark in her favor – an enhanced sense of smell doesn’t sound that useful upon first consideration. It really is though. She can smell emotions and detect poison which is handy when Princess Vasilia decides to murder the entire royal family using poison. Everleigh escapes and joins up with a gladiator troupe while keeping her identity secret. She learns to fight and plans to use her hard won skills to kill Vasilia and take revenge for herself and the rest of those murdered at her hand.
I thought the plot was pretty cool and definitely enjoyed the characters. There’s a touch of blooming romance with the handsome Lucas Sullivan, mage enforcer of the troupe. He’s tall dark and handsome as one might expect. The other members of the troupe are interesting (and important to the plot) in their own right – Serilda is the leader and former Queensguard as is Cho who can morph into a red dragon. Paloma can morph into a fearsome ogre and ends up being quite likable after a rocky start.
All in all, this was a pleasing, entertaining read. I’ve already picked up the sequel so when the third book is released I’ll be caught up! Some of the dialogue was a bit silly and Everleigh spent a lot of time pointing out that she’s the new Evie and doesn’t take crap (or wisdom) from anyone. I could mostly ignore this because the story was such a page turner.
Powder & Page 