Helpful Score: 1
I always look forward to reading a Kingfisher book and I am never disappointed. This one, though, took me a bit to get into it. It starts out about a small royal kingdom who has to marry into a larger royal kingdom in order to get the protection they need. The family of the small one finds out their first and eldest daughter/sister has died. Now it is up to the middle daughter to marry and carry on the family legacy. The youngest daughter, Marra, is sent to the convent to "preserve" her for a possible future marriage. We follow Marra as she learns what sacrifices her family has really put themselves through in order to save their people. When Marra decides that this to outrageous, she sets off on a quest to rectify everything that has gone wrong. This is where the story starts picking up for me. Along the way she picks up members that join her quest. Once the fellowship has come together that is where the story really got enjoyable. One of Kingfisher's topmost talents is her character building and sense of camaraderie they unveil. The group of friends set off on a mutual pursuit of justice. At that point I was hooked and devoured the rest of the book.
Lovely little fantasy, nice fairy-tale underpinnings with a few twists. Read my full review in the June 2023 PBS blog.
