First impressions

A clean and simple cover design with a nice pop of color.

The bad

The narration was a bit strange at the beginning of the novel with Alosa describing the intention behind every little action. This thankfully disappeared once the action really got started and the story took off.

The beginning was a little slow, in general. Don’t get me wrong, action was going on but it seemed like the same events were occurring over and over again. Things were happening, but nothing was really happening, and it all felt a bit repetitive.

The good

Alosa is by no means a perfect character but I really appreciated Levenseller’s efforts to create a heroine who defied traditional gender stereotypes. Alosa’s commitment to herself and who she was as a person sets an example for young people today. (Ha, young people. I sound so old, I swear I’m only a teenager, at the time of this review.) It’s not very often that we see a female heroine who is clever, strong, fair, determined, caring, and loves both her weapons and her dresses. This is my kind of princess.

This book was filled with a large cast of characters, which usually I’m not a fan of because it makes it hard to really know any of them. But I found myself really appreciating all of the characters in this story. Even the minor ones.

The Last Word

Overall, a fulfilling read with plenty of adventure and a heroine to make you laugh out loud (or lol as we teenagers say it).

I’ll definitely be picking up the next book to see how Alosa’s adventure continues…