Book Synopsis:
king by day. Shadow by night…
Long ago, the kingdom’s noble houses rebelled against the goddess… and for their treachery, the firstborn of each noble family was cursed.
One with perilous beauty.
One with destructive knowledge.
One with insatiable bloodlust.
But the royal house Mortara received the worst affliction of all. For while the king exists during the day, he fades into nothingness at night…until his twenty-first birthday, when he will be lost to the shadows forever.
Now an acolyte has arrived at court. Like all the second-born children, she’s destined to serve the goddess and become a Seer…only Cerise Solon has no gift of foretelling. In fact, she has no magical gift at all.
Instead, she’s surrounded by courtiers and priests – smiling sycophants whose hearts are filled with secrets and lies. And at the centre sits His Majesty Kian Hannibal Mortara, with his haunting eyes, sharp tongue, and an unerring ability to send her pulse skittering.
As the spectre of his twenty-first birthday – and the full force of his curse – approaches, the kingdom holds its breath.
There’s only one way to save a dying king… and it lies with the one person who’s hiding the biggest secret of all. Cerise.
My Review:
The Half King is an action packed, magical page turner that I thoroughly enjoyed!
Firstly I absolutely loved the world building in this book. The intriguing world the author has created was fascinating to explore alongside the characters. Each noble family in this world is afflicted by a curse relating to their role in The Great Betrayal of the goddess which I thought was very clever. I really enjoyed learning more about the different curses and the different roles that each family member carries. As the story goes on we learn more about the world and that nothing is necessarily as the characters have been led to believe.
Cerise was a very interesting main character. On one hand I really liked her and admired her bravery as well as her determination to try her best despite not having any skills to help her. However on the other she infuriated me with her naivety and her inability to consider a point of view that was difficult from her own- particularly at the beginning. She often acted a lot younger than her years though this is probably due to her sheltered temple upbringing. It was lovely to see her grow in confidence throughout the book as she gained knowledge about her past and discovered more about her destiny.
Overall, as you can probably tell, I absolutely loved this book and will be recommending it to all fantasy lovers. I was quickly drawn into the book and into the wonderful world the author has created. There was always something happening to keep me reading and lots of surprising twists that ensured the book was very hard to put down. The romance side of things was a bit of a slow burn but the reasons for this was explained and I felt that it seemed more natural because it. The reveal at the end was very well done, especially as I thought I had everything figured out so it took me completely by surprise which I always love. This is the first book in the series and I can’t wait to read more and see what happens next.
Huge thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me onto the blog tour and to the publishers for my copy of this book. If you’re a fantasy fan I highly recommend this book – Particularly if you loved The God Killer series as it reminded me of it at times.
About The Author:
Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. She lives with her family in Cincinnati, where she writes romantic fantasy and science fiction adventures for the young at heart.
Over The Rainbow Blog 