“Over everything, I choose you”
- Marissa Meyer, Heartless
This is the delightful and heartbreaking story of the Queen of Hearts before she became the queen that Alice encounters in her adventures.
“Over everything, I choose you” Cath could spend the rest of her life baking in a little bakery with her best friend, Mary Ann, but as the daughter of a marquess, but Cath's mother wants to see her married to the king. However, at a ball thrown by the king, Cath becomes acquainted with the new court joker, Jest and becomes rather enthralled with him. Cath does all she can to put off the interest of the king and make plans to live her life her own way, but life just gets more and more complicated. This is the delightful and heartbreaking story of the Queen of Hearts before she became the queen that Alice encounters in her adventures. “I love you, a thousand times over. And I will never apologize for it.” Every night the boy-king of Khorasan takes a new wife and in the morning she is dead. Shahrzhad does the unthinkable - she volunteers to be the caliph's next wife. However, she vows that she will put an end to his murderous reign by killing him. Shahrzad enchants Khalid with stories that cannot be completed in one night, thus preventing her execution. During her nights with Khalid, Shahrzad discovers that he might not be the monster he is thought to be. Meanwhile, Shahrzad's father is meddling with something dangerous to get her back and her former sweetheart, Tariq is getting ready to wage war on Khalid to get Shahrzad back. Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, this is a love story tangled up in magic. I have died three times, and three times been reborn, though I am not yet twenty in the old earth years by which it is still the fashion to measure time. This is the story of my three deaths, and my life between. My name is Khemri. Being a prince isn't all that unique when there are hundreds of thousands of princes in the universe. However, Prince Khemri thinks he is pretty stellar individual. He has high hopes of being the next emperor despite his inexperience and youthfulness. He quickly finds out how special and inept he really is. After an initial stint in the Navy, Prince Khemri is sent on a special training mission. While on the mission he discovers how regular humans live and this completely changes how he thinks about things. When it comes for him to make major decisions, it isn't as easy as he thought it would be. This is a futuristic novel with a lot of made-up tech talk, which can be confusing at times. Once you learn to just gloss over the jargon, the story flows more smoothly. Khemri is incredibly cocky and full of himself, but at the same time he has a great sense of humor. This was a very different type of story, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sage has spent the past several years in orphanages and one day Connor, a nobleman, picks Sage to come with him. They stop at several other orphanages and Connor picks out other boys before heading to his estate. There, Connor reveals that the royal family has been murdered and one of the boys will be chosen to become the missing prince - the boy thought to have died several years before. The boys have two weeks to learn as much as they can to beat the others out because the boys who lose likely won't see the next day. Nielsen does an excellent job of keeping you guessing; Sage is the missing prince, no he can't be, the real prince really is dead and so on. Sage is an excellent narrator giving clues that the reader only picks up in hindsight. I can't wait for the next installment, but I'll have to as it isn't expected to be released until next spring with the title The Runaway King. This trio of companion novels takes place in a collection of kingdoms where there are people born with "Graces," specific abilities, such as strength and fighting. Gracelings are distinguished by their differently colored eyes and in most cases people are wary of gracelings. In the first novel, Graceling, Katsa is a particularly feared because of her graced fighting skills. She is feared even more because her uncle, the king, uses her as a bully to keep his nobles in line. He sends Katsa to deliver brutal physical punishment and threats and Katsa hates to be used so. In an attempt to do something worthwhile in the world, Katsa and several others have formed a council to carry out justice and assist those being oppressed. On one of those missions, Katsa comes across another graceling, one that will change the way she sees her life.
Fire takes place in a neighboring kingdom where there are not gracelings, but monsters - creatures of indescribable color and beauty and Fire is a human monster. Like gracelings, monsters are greatly feared for their ability of mind control. Fire lives secluded with a select company of people who are able to resist her beauty so as to live in peace. She has come to accept her quiet life and doesn't expect more. However, Fire is swept up in the war raging around her when her ability allows her to look for enemies, and she finds something she never expected: love. Bitterblue takes place years after Graceling and Fire and features a character from Graceling. Bitterblue has become queen after the death of her tyrannical father. She struggles to be a good queen after the kingdom has suffered from terrible oppression, but she finds that difficult with advisors who want to protect her from knowing the atrocities her father committed. Bitterblue's frustration leads her to disguise herself and enter the city. There she learns more about her people and the conditions in which they live. She also meets a graceling who intrigues her and pushes her to be a better queen, though he doesn't know her true identity. I absolutely love all three books and while Cashore has said she is done writing books with these characters I felt that the ending of Bitterblue left room for more. I'm hoping she reconsiders and continues giving us more of these characters. As the eldest child of the king and queen, and without any male heirs, seventeen-year-old Alera is expected to select a husband and assume the throne by her next birthday. Alera's father is looking forward to stepping down and passing the responsibilities on to the next generation. He has selected his successor and given the young man permission to court Alera. He has also given Alera some time to find a husband on her own, but her time is running short. The man of her father's choosing, Steldor, is arrogant and condescending and Alera can't stand him. However, her choices are slim and it is either marry Steldor and become queen or step down and allow her sister to take her place as queen and Steldor’s wife. A further complication arrives when someone from the enemy nation is caught on castle grounds. Furthermore, Narian, the son of a noble family who was snatched as an infant by the enemy, has now returned after sixteen years. Alera is intrigued by all that is going on and when she meets Narian, she knows there is no way she can marry Steldor and is determined to make her father see that Narian is not a threat. This is an engrossing read that requires the reader to weigh Alera's choices between duty and love. In Allegiance, Alera’s life becomes infinitely more difficult as she is torn between love and nation and the series is concluded in Sacrifice. |
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