SYNOPSIS:
How can she protect her kingdom, if she can’t protect herself?
Arie eagerly anticipates becoming Queen of her humble kingdom. Even when a Jinni’s Gift manifests before her 18th birthday, she fights to hide the forbidden ability.
But when a neighboring king attempts to marry her and steal her kingdom, discovery feels imminent. Just one slip could cost her throne. And her life.
A Jinni hunter and his crew of thieves are her only hope for removing this Gift. And she must remove it before it’s exposed. Or die trying.
The Stolen Kingdom is a loose “Aladdin” retelling. Set in a world that humans share with Mermaids, Dragons, and the elusive Jinni, this isn’t the fairytale you remember…
LINKS:
PREORDER: https://bit.ly/orderthestolenkingdomGOODREADS: https://bit.ly/thestolenkingdomgoodreads
SIGN UP FOR EMAIL ALERT ON RELEASE DAY: https://bit.ly/stolenkingdomrelease
BETHANY’S WEBSITE: https://bit.ly/thestolenkingdom
THE STOLEN KINGDOM BOOK TRAILER: http://bit.ly/tskbooktrailer
SPOILER FREE (with one exception)
I've been excited to read The Stolen Kingdom as soon as I heard about it. I love fairy tales and fairy tale retellings and I wasn't disappointed. I do agree this is a "loose" retelling but I enjoyed how the author wove the story together. In my humble opinion, it's a tale all its own.
The book starts off at a good pace but really pick ups after a few chapters. I loved meeting the team Arie, the main character, encounters a rag tag group of men. I feel like the synopsis is a bit misleading in the part that there is a Jinni hunter in the group. (SPOILER highlight the blank space to see it) In my opinion, Arie ends up being the Jinni hunter. I'd say it's more accurate to say that there are a group of men who are looking for, or hunting for a Jinni but were not successful on their own. (End of spoiler)
I had no problem imagining all the characters as they had their own personalities and voice. Even Naveed who uses sign language. There is one character who I felt needed more fleshed out or didn't quite understand his purpose in the group (I mean I do see his purpose but I feel like he could have been more) but it was minor, I wasn't that invested in him. I enjoyed all the other characters, I think Gideon was also a star of the book in his own right.
I had no problem imagining all the characters as they had their own personalities and voice. Even Naveed who uses sign language. There is one character who I felt needed more fleshed out or didn't quite understand his purpose in the group (I mean I do see his purpose but I feel like he could have been more) but it was minor, I wasn't that invested in him. I enjoyed all the other characters, I think Gideon was also a star of the book in his own right.
I enjoyed the world building once we got to it, but I feel like it would have been nice if we had a bit more world building earlier in the novel. It didn't detract from the novel but I feel like I really got absorbed into the world about half way to two-thirds of the book where I drank up any information about the world that I could.
The romance is sweet and not overwhelming but also made my heart ache at the longing between them. Kadin is a sweetheart and I definitely approve of him. I think one thing I would have liked to have seen more is more women characters that would help support Arie. I think the cast of characters were a bit heavy on the male side. This is probably a personal thing that I developed, I would like a more even number of women and men in the cast.
I couldn't stop reading about half way through the novel. I had to know more. I ended up binge reading this book in a day and have no regrets. My eyes easily flew across the pages. I won't say anymore lest it'd lead to more spoilers but I think the author did a good job on the build up of the climax of the story.
I suppose my biggest gripe would probably be the ending. It does complete the story arc but I was left with wanting at the end. It felt like too abrupt of an ending for me and I wanted more closure than what we got, but it's still a somewhat satisfying ending. After the book is completed, we do get a sneak peek into the first chapter of the next book. Although, that doesn't give closure to anything in the current book.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this "loose" fairy tale retelling but don't expect to see huge similarities between this book and the Aladdin you already know. It's mostly quiet little nods to the trope which I still loved. The writing is good and clean, the characters well written, and the world is something I'm dying to know more about. I'm already looking forward to the next installment!
The romance is sweet and not overwhelming but also made my heart ache at the longing between them. Kadin is a sweetheart and I definitely approve of him. I think one thing I would have liked to have seen more is more women characters that would help support Arie. I think the cast of characters were a bit heavy on the male side. This is probably a personal thing that I developed, I would like a more even number of women and men in the cast.
I couldn't stop reading about half way through the novel. I had to know more. I ended up binge reading this book in a day and have no regrets. My eyes easily flew across the pages. I won't say anymore lest it'd lead to more spoilers but I think the author did a good job on the build up of the climax of the story.
I suppose my biggest gripe would probably be the ending. It does complete the story arc but I was left with wanting at the end. It felt like too abrupt of an ending for me and I wanted more closure than what we got, but it's still a somewhat satisfying ending. After the book is completed, we do get a sneak peek into the first chapter of the next book. Although, that doesn't give closure to anything in the current book.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this "loose" fairy tale retelling but don't expect to see huge similarities between this book and the Aladdin you already know. It's mostly quiet little nods to the trope which I still loved. The writing is good and clean, the characters well written, and the world is something I'm dying to know more about. I'm already looking forward to the next installment!
3.8 out of 5 rating for me!
(An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any other way.)
No comments:
Post a Comment