Fabi (@fghittoni on Instagram) kindly sent me a digital copy of her book to review – thank you! This was a fun read that drew me in from the start, reminiscent of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. And there are certainly many bonus points to be given for the amazing art work!
Synopsis
Prudence Clark lives a seemingly normal life in Cambridge with her best friend’s family. But a series of strange events compounded by a wave of kidnappings is about to turn everything she believed about her existence upside down.
A brutal attack catapults her into a new reality – one that makes her the most important refugee of the Council of the Five Kingdoms. Now, she’s charged with the task of finding the King’s runes to stop Alanel, the most malicious and ruthless being, following his escape from prison.
Alanel has declared war on the king of Arkana. Now, even more shocking truths come forth, exposing long-held secrets about Prudence’s past and her destiny. Her newfound knowledge will prompt her to embark on a treacherous journey to face dangerous beasts in the most inhospitable of places. But her journey will not be alone, she’ll be joined by the Company of the Rose, brave warriors that will fight by her side, and hopefully, lead to the retrieval of the runes before it’s too late.
Review
My first impression of this book was really positive, because the art work is amazing, from the cover to the very last page. This added a nice vibe to the story as well.
There were few things that bothered Prudence, and one of them was touching her book. Obviously, anyone who loved books so much as she did would hate their prized possessions being manipulated by hands able to hurt them.
Same, Prudence, same. This way, Prudence started off as a pretty distinctive and relatable main character: she loves to read, she wants to go to Cambridge, she has a best friend she cares about a lot. But then the story starts to take off and all those things are suddenly out of the window. At least, Prudence doesn’t seem the least bit confused or concerned about all the things she never knew existed and all the danger that lies ahead of her. Which makes it hard to relate to her. The other characters were nice enough, but I had a hard time telling them apart at times.
When it comes to the plot, I was drawn in straigt away, because of the mystery being introduced right on the first page. So I was off to a good start. When the mystery started to unravel though, I found myself quickly losing interest. The reason for that, is that I kept a lot of unanswered questions. There were a lot of details left unexplained and that got me less invested in the story, because I had a hard time picturing the world the story took place in and making sense of the story. I think the story was really great in the author’s mind, but she had a hard time conveying it.
Conclusion
All in all, this made for a fun read for YA fans of Lord of the Rings. The art work in the book is seriously amazing and it definitely took the whole thing to another level. I was drawn in right from the start, but unfortunately that didn’t stick throughout the whole book. Overall, I did enjoy reading it, because it had a nice vibe to it.
Anniek's Library 