Quests of the Kings by Robert Evert
Pages: 280
Publisher: Diversion Publishing
ISBN: 9781682306994
Genres: Fantasy, YA
Published: 14th March 2017
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Synopsis (Goodreads) - From the author of the Riddle in Stone books comes a thrilling new series for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Kristin Cashore.
Across the realms, the kings' quests captivate the imaginations of nobles and commoners alike. These dangerous competitions pit the most daring adventurers against each other as they compete for riches and glory for their kingdoms.
Plain and ordinary Natalie, a sixteen-year-old peasant girl, loves listening to stories about famous adventurers, but the thrilling action of the kings quests seems far removed from her everyday life of mucking out stables and working every odd job she can find to support her siblings and disabled mother. However, after a violent run-in with Brago, a ruthless adventurer who believes Natalie is a threat to his mission, she is dragged unwillingly into the latest contest.
On the run from Brago, Natalie seeks refuge with a rival adventurer, the legendary Sir Edris, and his squire, Reg. As they toil together to find the object all of the kings desire an ancient golden harp Natalie starts to feel safe with the fatherly knight. Yet, despite Edris s protection, Brago is never far behind. When one of Brago s cruel plots separates Natalie from her protectors, she must become as strong and cunning as the adventurers of old to save her friends and stay alive.
My Review
I received an ARC of this book from netgalley. When I read the synopsis of this book it sounded like something that I would really enjoy. Recently I've really been getting into fantasy books more and I have to say that I enjoyed this book.
The main character in the story is a young woman called Natalie. She is such a feminist and I love it. In the beginning of the book all this talk of marriage is flying about. People saying that she needs a husband to take care of her basically. But she's wasn't having any of that, she set every person straight. While she was a strong character and I did enjoy reading about her sometimes I felt that she was slightly whiny and ungrateful. I mean a lot of shit things happened to her so I can understand why she might be a bit upset but there are times when people have done nothing but try to help her and I couldn't help but feel that her reaction was so mean. Also, while I did love that she stood up for women, sometimes she jumped to conclusions about what people and accused them of being sexist when they really weren't.
I have to say that although the main character was great, I found that I really enjoyed reading about the supporting characters more. I'm really glad that there were so many great ones because without them I feel like the story might of fell slightly flat.
I think the plot for this book is great, it's not the most original plot I've ever heard but I don't mind that at all. It's a really easy book to read and one of the things that stood out to me most was the way the author described scenery. He had a way of making me vividly imagine everything and it really immersed me in the story even more. I absolutely flew through this book, the beginning and the end especially, I felt that in the middle it came to somewhat of a halt for a while but it wasn't too much of an issue as it soon picked up again.
For a final thought, I really enjoyed this book and felt like it set up a series really well. While it wasn't one of my favourite books ever it was still impressive and I'm definitely interested in reading more in this series at some point. I'm excited to see where these books go. Overall I gave this book 3.5 stars.
Thanks for reading!
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