Kelsea has been hiding for 18 years. Now, she wants her crown back. But many people are willing to kill her to stop her from claiming her rightful place on the throne. With the help of her Mace, Lazaros, and her loyal guards, Kelsea has to prove herself worthy to her people or else, they may all end up facing their early deaths because the Red Queen, the ennemies' sovereign, doesn't like to share her power.
Yes, the world building was poor, the characters weren't exactly the best and the plot was simple, but you know what? I enjoyed it a lot and managed to finish this before A Crown for Cold Silver which I started a while back and still struggling through (although I might have abandoned it). I really loved the Fetch. He is so mysterious and we don't know a lot about him, but we can sense that he will play some special role in the sequels and we know that even though he wants to appear bad, he is indeed quite nice and cares for the people. Awesome guy really.
What I also liked was Kelsea's naiveté and her recklessness. Typical teenage behavior and quite understandable if you ask me. But then you might tell me, "But she was educated by good people, taken care of from a young age and loves to read books...and she's 19. She should know better." Dude, she was isolated from the world during her whole childhood. Her only sources of information from the outside world were from books. I think I would make mistakes too if I was bound to suddenly be the ruler of my country.
What I didn't like was the fact that we don't know anything about this supposedly magical necklace that seems to be the center of attention in this book. Nothing is explained, many questions are left unanswered. What also really bothered me was the fact that Kelsea was like " Oh yeah we're in the year 280 and such. We have kingdoms, long dresses, no paper press, two doctors and we live in a poor society that serves a singular rich kingdom, but my favorite author is Shakespeare and Rowling"...Dude...What? Do you even chronology?
Anyways, let's just hope that the sequel will be better.
3 Stars