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half_bloodreader's review
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
2.0
Cora is an exiled secret princess, who has found a new family with the Forest People. She carries a sad dangerous past. One day, she's dragged into the horrendous unicorn slaughter by a group of hunters, and upon saving a unicorn, she gets dragged by FATE into a mission to stop them. She also has magical abilities, to put it simply, and without spoilers.
Teryn is the crown prince of Mena who has convinced himself it is his duty to win a dangerous quest for the hand of ice princess Mareleau, the biggest beauty in Lela. There are problems though. His twin brother Larylis, who is been treated like second-best, has always been in love with said ice princess; Mareleau is jaded towards love and does everything to not get married, even put her champions in mortal danger (which was frankly hilarious at the beginning).
I don't know exactly how to rate this YA fantasy book. Or what to say about it. So this will probably be some disconnected impressions.
I was engaged, but I felt like both the characters and world-building needed to be explored in more depth. For example, if you asked me to describe prince Teryn psychologically, I wouldn't have much to say. In a medieval setting, the 16 or 17-year-olds should be somewhat more mature, as expected of the times.
As a main character, Cora seems quite capable of protecting herself, in a non-exagerated Black Widow sort of way, of course, which I really appreciate. I liked how the unicorns weren't just pets or fantastic animal companionsTM. She is probably the more interesting one. Okay, Salinda is cool, although she is mostly the wise older figure that spews advice character type. (btw, I'd love a glossary on how to pronounce the names, Idk if I should read them according to the English alphabet, or for example, if I could use the Portuguese one in certain names that would sound way more interesting that way - oh well)
Morkai, the villain, kept triggering me. I'm not even joking around. Lay off with the harassment and unwanted man-handling, you sick man. Eaten by your own Beast due to your stupidity was a good end for him
Even though the parents were being unreasonable and ridiculous about the marriage, which irritated me, I wasn't invested in the romantic drama. Sorry, Mareleau, Larylis you whiny baby, Teryn or Cora. And everything could've easily been fixed how it was, I think everyone thought of that while reading. Readers: Why doesn't Teryn renounce the throne, so Larylis can be king and marry his childhood sweetheart? Then Teryn marries Cora, and Ridine will remain independent.
I would've liked more Lex (he's so salty), Valorre and Cora's Forest Family (see what I did there). In a story like this, characters are what really motivates you. If you don't know much about a land and its people, why will you care fervently about their quests?
And King Dimetreus? We need some family time soon.
All in all, if this world and/or characters were more interesting, I'd probably have finished faster. I'd be upset only if the unicorn died at the end of the book, which would be fine if this was like a psychological thriller with horrible characters, but it isn't. Speaking of horrible characters, Helios' death was so satisfactory.
Teryn is the crown prince of Mena who has convinced himself it is his duty to win a dangerous quest for the hand of ice princess Mareleau, the biggest beauty in Lela. There are problems though. His twin brother Larylis, who is been treated like second-best, has always been in love with said ice princess; Mareleau is jaded towards love and does everything to not get married, even put her champions in mortal danger (which was frankly hilarious at the beginning).
I don't know exactly how to rate this YA fantasy book. Or what to say about it. So this will probably be some disconnected impressions.
I was engaged, but I felt like both the characters and world-building needed to be explored in more depth. For example, if you asked me to describe prince Teryn psychologically, I wouldn't have much to say. In a medieval setting, the 16 or 17-year-olds should be somewhat more mature, as expected of the times.
As a main character, Cora seems quite capable of protecting herself, in a non-exagerated Black Widow sort of way, of course, which I really appreciate. I liked how the unicorns weren't just pets or fantastic animal companionsTM. She is probably the more interesting one. Okay, Salinda is cool, although she is mostly the wise older figure that spews advice character type. (btw, I'd love a glossary on how to pronounce the names, Idk if I should read them according to the English alphabet, or for example, if I could use the Portuguese one in certain names that would sound way more interesting that way - oh well)
Morkai, the villain, kept triggering me. I'm not even joking around. Lay off with the harassment and unwanted man-handling, you sick man. Eaten by your own Beast due to your stupidity was a good end for him
Even though the parents were being unreasonable and ridiculous about the marriage, which irritated me, I wasn't invested in the romantic drama. Sorry, Mareleau, Larylis you whiny baby, Teryn or Cora. And everything could've easily been fixed how it was, I think everyone thought of that while reading. Readers: Why doesn't Teryn renounce the throne, so Larylis can be king and marry his childhood sweetheart? Then Teryn marries Cora, and Ridine will remain independent.
I would've liked more Lex (he's so salty), Valorre and Cora's Forest Family (see what I did there). In a story like this, characters are what really motivates you. If you don't know much about a land and its people, why will you care fervently about their quests?
And King Dimetreus? We need some family time soon.
All in all, if this world and/or characters were more interesting, I'd probably have finished faster. I'd be upset only if the unicorn died at the end of the book, which would be fine if this was like a psychological thriller with horrible characters, but it isn't. Speaking of horrible characters, Helios' death was so satisfactory.
prationality's review
3.0
Part of what grabbed my attention for this book was the cover - it reminded me of many of the books I read when I was younger. Young girls becoming friends or partners with unicorns was Lexie-catnip. And still is, let's face it.
I had expectations for this book based on the cover and premise. Adventure. A princess in hiding helping the unicorns. A courageous but somewhat clueless young prince. Banter. Hijinks. Unexpected romance built from trust and camaraderie.
The book fulfilled those expectations...after a fashion.
Cora was an adventurous, resourceful and decisive princess. After initial misgivings she decides on her path because it was the right thing to do. Teryn is a clueless but largely well meaning prince who was rather naive (all told). He comes around to the right thing only because Cora pushes him towards it. A lot.
My problems lay in the fact we jump between four different viewpoints. Cora and Teryn primarily, but Larylis (Teryn twin brother) and Mareleau (the Sela Princess that Teryn is trying to woo) more often than helpful.
Often one viewpoint would end on something seemingly important (for example an ultimatum between Teryn and Larylis), but we'd skip around to other viewpoints that dont directly relate to that previous viewpoint's tension before going back and finding out that off screen it was resolved.
It drew me out of the story and made for abrupt transitions. I thought once the stories converged it would resolve some issues, but it created new ones. Sometimes I couldn't follow how Teryn drew this or that conclusion since as a reader I learned the same facts during Cora's viewpoint, but didn't read where she relayed that information to him. Or vice versa. I'm still confused how near the end Teryn for captured by Morkai. To my understanding, Morkai's henchman captured Cora and somehow 3 days later he also had Teryn and Lex. .
It felt a bit like the author really wanted to get Cora's story buttoned up and had a separate story involving Teryn she wove into it. Cora's time with the Forest Folk is barely given time to thrive before she's off to help the unicorns, much of the beginning of that adventure being glossed over as we instead followed Teryn and two other Princes Quest. She's barely with the Princes for a hot second on their joint adventure before they're captured. That's a little longer going, but the wrap up after the fight is...confusing (there's a special short story that clears up some of the confusion that's available after you finish and click a link in the Kindle book).
Largely this may have worked better for me if the book had been clearly broken up into the different Adventures or separate books. Having Larylis and Mareleau have their own viewpoints cluttered up the beginning when we're trying to establish how the players get into place. Especially as they all but disappear for 3/4ths of the novel.
While understanding where Mareleau was coming from (and to an extent Larylis) was nice, it made Teryn look like a fool for embarking on such a dangerous Quest and undercut Cora's realization that her fate was leading her away from the Forest Folk. Cutting out Larylis' angst and Mareleau's antagonistic viewpoint would not change any of the plot at all. Neither viewpoint had anything to do with Morkai's plot, except to give Teryn a reason to be there.
Overall this is a solid three for me.
I had expectations for this book based on the cover and premise. Adventure. A princess in hiding helping the unicorns. A courageous but somewhat clueless young prince. Banter. Hijinks. Unexpected romance built from trust and camaraderie.
The book fulfilled those expectations...after a fashion.
Cora was an adventurous, resourceful and decisive princess. After initial misgivings she decides on her path because it was the right thing to do. Teryn is a clueless but largely well meaning prince who was rather naive (all told). He comes around to the right thing only because Cora pushes him towards it. A lot.
My problems lay in the fact we jump between four different viewpoints. Cora and Teryn primarily, but Larylis (Teryn twin brother) and Mareleau (the Sela Princess that Teryn is trying to woo) more often than helpful.
Often one viewpoint would end on something seemingly important (for example an ultimatum between Teryn and Larylis), but we'd skip around to other viewpoints that dont directly relate to that previous viewpoint's tension before going back and finding out that off screen it was resolved.
It drew me out of the story and made for abrupt transitions. I thought once the stories converged it would resolve some issues, but it created new ones. Sometimes I couldn't follow how Teryn drew this or that conclusion since as a reader I learned the same facts during Cora's viewpoint, but didn't read where she relayed that information to him. Or vice versa.
It felt a bit like the author really wanted to get Cora's story buttoned up and had a separate story involving Teryn she wove into it. Cora's time with the Forest Folk is barely given time to thrive before she's off to help the unicorns, much of the beginning of that adventure being glossed over as we instead followed Teryn and two other Princes Quest. She's barely with the Princes for a hot second on their joint adventure before they're captured. That's a little longer going, but the wrap up after the fight is...confusing (there's a special short story that clears up some of the confusion that's available after you finish and click a link in the Kindle book).
Largely this may have worked better for me if the book had been clearly broken up into the different Adventures or separate books. Having Larylis and Mareleau have their own viewpoints cluttered up the beginning when we're trying to establish how the players get into place. Especially as they all but disappear for 3/4ths of the novel.
While understanding where Mareleau was coming from (and to an extent Larylis) was nice, it made Teryn look like a fool for embarking on such a dangerous Quest and undercut Cora's realization that her fate was leading her away from the Forest Folk. Cutting out Larylis' angst and Mareleau's antagonistic viewpoint would not change any of the plot at all. Neither viewpoint had anything to do with Morkai's plot, except to give Teryn a reason to be there.
Overall this is a solid three for me.
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