The long and short of this review is that this book was a real treat! I want to thank Tor for sending this to me, I really do appreciate it and am thankful for every book I am sent.

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.

My first point is actually my only negative, and to be fair it isn’t so much of a negative for the book but more for the blurbing of it. Through the first quarter of the book the storyline is long away from the description on the back, and takes a long while to even appear to be working in the direction of the blurb. It is not until around page thirty that Cerulia is orphaned. Now this takes away from the story a bit for me, as although I was engrossed, I knew what was coming, and that stops me from getting drawn in to the point that I cant put it down. But as Ive said this is less to do with the story or the writing but just the choice of what is on the back- going into book two I am not going to read the back.

Cerulia or Wren as she is referred to, is by far one of my favourite characters. Seeing her grow is really rather fascinaing through the story. IT does not always feel like she a ‘main’ protagonist as such, but that doesn’t bother me. Overall its definitely a story of many sides, and each of the ‘main’ characters all carry their own weight rather than one taking precident. However, personal preference is that Cerulia is the most engrossing to read from her point of view. Her character has such depth and you can see how her personality has evolved as she has grown.

The writing style through the whole book is just so beautiful. I found it to be very easy to read, and the description gave a great visual image of the world. As someone who can get very confused within epic fantasy novels, I found this one to be rather easy to follow along with. I think I only ever had one section where I had to refer back to appendix to work out who it was referring to- for me that is not at all bad within a fantasy novel.

I think the biggest thing to say is that this book has left me wanting to dive straight into the sequel, and isnt that the best thing to say about a book in a series? I actually have recieved a copy for my birthday so will be diving straight back into the world.

Now as this review is a tad late, the book is already out, and so is the sequel. I highly recommend grabbing your copy and enjoying both of the first two in preparation of the third coming out at the start of April. I have that and the fourth on order already!

So what are you waiting for?