Legacy of Kings Book Review

Title: Legacy of Kings
By: Eleanor Herman
Release Date: August 18, 2015
Pages: 428
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: Hardback
All thoughts and comments are my own.

SUMMARY:

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to a newcomer…

Katerina must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But she doesn’t account for her first love…

Jacob will go to unthinkable lengths to win Katerina, even if it means having to compete for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince.

And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet betrothed, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the shocking details of real history, New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known, Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series. 

NON-SPOILERY REVIEW:

Okay, honesty time. My roommate got me this book for my birthday, last September, because I thought the cover was pretty. It's been sitting on my shelf ever since. Well lucky for me, Harlequin Teen gifted me with an eARC of Empire of Dust recently. What better excuse to finally push this to the top of my TBR? The book for me, started off a bit slow. There were so many places and different POVs to establish in the beginning. After getting accustomed to all the characters, the book went by pretty quickly. I liked the third person narrative, but personally feel like there are too many POVs. I think there are about six, including two minor characters, that the reader gets a chance to follow. While this does offer a great wealth of knowledge on the situations happening at the same time, there were some POVs that I liked more than others. I really enjoyed Kat's and Cyn's chapters, even though there were more of Cyn's in the beginning than later on. I am strongly hoping to see more of her and her side plot in the sequel.  Also, we only see Zo for many three chapters, I feel like her ending chapter leaves much to be desired and was not a very well chosen place for her to be at the end of the book. I will riot if there is not more on her in the sequel. I feel like Zo could be a real star, but her story is extremely sad and distressing. It took a lot out of me to read what she has to endure. 

That being said, I went into Legacy of Kings having read the prequel, Voice of Gods. Let me just say that I HIGHLY recommend reading it before starting the series. It clears up a lot of possible confusion throughout the novel. Also, having read it, I knew some things that I thought were important to look after and I still did not see that ending coming. It went completely over my head. That twist was much needed in order to help the book and possibly the rest of the series continue with the same drama that propelled Legacy of Kings. I really enjoyed all of the research and history that is interwoven into the story. 

OVERALL:

I really enjoyed Legacy of Kings more than I thought I was going to. The prequel novella left much to be desired, and the writing did improve in this series debut. I felt transported back into a world full of war, mystical creatures, and treachery. Oh and did I mention Magic? There's so much more magic in this book than I was expecting and loved that aspect of it. Blood, Romance, Betrayal, Magic, what's not to love?

RATING:

Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman 4/5 Stars

Be on the lookout for a review of the highly anticipated sequel, Empire of Dust. Also, if you feel so inclined as to preorder it before it comes out on June 28, 2016 Eleanor has a preorder game set up on her website, which you can find HERE. I already did. :) Share your thoughts on Legacy of Kings in the comments below!