An eighteen-year-old queen in love with the enemy as their countries pass the point of no return...
Bound to a man she cannot love, Queen Alera of Hytanica must forget Narian, the young man who holds her heart. For Narian is destined to conquer Hytanica at the behest of his master, the powerful magic-user known as the Overlord. Alera doesn't truly believe Narian will fight against Hytanica-until Cokyrian troops attack with Narian commanding the charge.
Faced with the greatest betrayal a heart can know, Alera must set aside personal feelings and lead her kingdom through its darkest time. And when all hope, will and courage seem lost, she must find strength and remember that even the blackest night must have a dawn....
Allegiance ( Legacy #2 ) by Cayla Kluver
Paperback, 523 pages (Greek edition)
Published at October 2011
REVIEW:
Hmmmm....i'm really trying to calm myself to write this review. *deep breaths*
Kluver is young. We all know that. But she is older than the previous book. And i can't say the writing style changed much from then. It was more well written, that's true but i could still see a young person behind and sometimes i felt like the wrong words were picked to describe. I think that if Kluver had picked a more normal YA, with not so much epic fantasy in it her writing would match better the story. It's not bad...it's just...not that good for me either.
Then we have how the story progressed. I have to say the whole idea, and finally the war, and some things happened at the war was just really good. Wonderful way to continue the story and make it interesting. It was the reason that made me read it until the end. I wanted to know what will happen so i did not stop, though believe me i wanted from the first 100 pages.
Now...Alera....our main character. To say it simple. I hated her and i still hate her. She is just so annoying. I can't connect with her, and while she has some moments of clarity she once again becomes her annoying self. She is selfish to the bone. Yes, she had the bad luck to marry someone who didn't want. But for god shake's, she is a queen now! There is a war! Her sister was kidnapped! And the only thing she has in mind is if Narian still loves her, how to get Steldor mad and go horseriding? She acts childish all the time. Does she even care about her people? Except 1-2 times you see her worried about her female friends, the rest book is her worrying over small things. She is not even strong enough, to stand the pressure of a queen. And poor Steldor, doing so much for her, the kingdom. She does not deserve him at all! I mean...your are going for negotiations for both your sister and your kingdom and you actually are so calm to think "how good Narian look, and if he loves her" while there is a big chance you die when you don't even know how to fight? I'm a big fan of romance in books, but sometimes it just doesn't work all the time.
So yeah...the whole thing just didn't work out for me. I really don't like Alera and how she acts. And the end of the book was even more disappointing.The only people who made me finish the book was Steldor, London and Kanan.
The fact is i'm going to buy the next one. Just because i want to know how the story ends. I don't know how i will manage to keep up with Alera when she is the main character so i just hope there are many scenes with the rest characters to help me. Allegiance was a really good sequel idea for the story, but i just wish it was from another person's POV.
P.S: There might be some spelling mistakes with the character's name because i have read the book in Greek so i'm not entirely sure i translated them right.
P.S.2: The cover above while it's beautiful, it doesn't match the feeling of the story at all. My favorite ones are the Greek ones, with art of the characters. Here my copy to see how it looks:
Hahahaha!!nice review!!!i waited eagerly for it!!:D :D
ReplyDeleteFirst i agree with you about the cover!The greek one is surprisingly good!And i think you got the spelling right in the names!Perhapse the kingdom of Hytenica needs a spelling change but the others sounds good to me!
Great review. I like how you approach the book with honesty and candor.
ReplyDeleteAwesome, awesome review. I couldn't agree more with you. I loved the story and the direction everything took, especially once the war started. I also love London, Cannan (I think that's how it's spelled in my version?), and Steldor. I really hope the sequel is told from their perspective, at least some of the time (the prologue is!)
ReplyDeleteBut, argh, I HATE Alera. I think she might be the worst "heroine" I have ever read. I even despise her more than pretty much every villain I've read (because at least them we're supposed to hate).
I'm with you on the writing, too. I was really disappointed that the writing hadn't improved. The author is both older and in the hands of a professional editor/publisher now. The writing should have been tightened up A LOT.
I like the cover of your book a lot. It's much more representative of the story.