[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Delacorte Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
Beatriz, Daphne, and Sophronia – triplet princesses, born to both rule and ruin. Each left for their assigned country and prince; each expected to marry and then enact their mother’s plan. But nothing has gone as expected.
Beatriz has discovered unexpected powers while also facing betrayal. She’s sequestered in a nunnery under charges of treason.
Daphne has been the target of several assassination attempts, but not from the corners she might have expected.
And Sophronia….
The triplets have gone off course from their mother’s plan – but the Empress has been working her own scheme all along. And she’s not the only one.
Review
AMAZING! This was fantastic! The minute I finished, I sat, stunned. What a ride.
In some ways this is the sort of mid-trilogy book that mostly serves to set up the big action of book 3. There’s not a ton of ground gained here. That being said, there were some fantastic moments and fascinating reveals. The book is completely engrossing, and I loved it! But at the same time, I feel like it mostly kept me in a holding pattern for book 3.
There’s some great character development going on in that “holding pattern,” though. We continue to learn about the triplets and their mother as well as other friends – and villains – from book 1, Castles in Their Bones. Once I finished the last page, I was ready to start over again. Sadly, I have fallen behind in my reading, so a re-read will have to wait. On the plus side, once my personal print copy arrives, (hopefully with the UK cover which matches book 1 better than the US cover), I’ll be able to book tab this like I did book 1.
This was a fun book annotation practice I tried in January. I really missed the ability to continue tabbing with my e-ARC.
Fans of book one should immediately pick up the sequel – and carve out time because you won’t want to put it down. Fans of the author’s Ash Princess series should definitely check this series out asap – I think you will love it!
Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*
*♥♥♥♥½ – I loved it! Would re-read.