WRITER.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

342 pages

Fantasy, Romance

Spoiler-Free section

I adored this book. Especially the main character, Coriel. She is apprenticed to a wise women (her grandmother), and is aware of many herbs and potions that can do anything from easing childbirth to encouraging love, and she even is knowledgeable about rare poisons. She is the illegitimate daughter of a royal lord, and sister to the lovely Elisandra who is fated to become the next queen when she marries the crown prince, Bryan. Coriel spends most of her time at her grandmother’s house, but spends the summer in the Castle.

The beginning sets up what will become integral to the story as a whole. Coriel goes in a company of men, including the crown prince, on an expedition to capture aliora, who seem to be like the fae. They are gentle beings that are nonetheless known for enticing people to spend forever in their home of Alora. Aliora are kidnapped by hunters like Coriel’s uncle Jaxon and are sold at high prices as slaves. The castle itself has a whole band of aliora as servants, and they are kept under control with metal shackles. Their considerable power is greatly dampened because they have severe reactions to metal.

This book goes on to flesh out the moral issues of the slave trade, the struggles that come with being an illegitimate child in a kingdom where propriety is prized, whether marrying for love is more important then solidifying alliances through marriage, and so much more.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

Spoiler time!

Coriel’s growth as a person and as a young lady in this novel takes center stage. At the beginning, she is quite naive, easily charmed by the flirtatious Prince Bryan, despite several prominent red flags. When he kisses her hand, this is clearly a life-changing moment. Her sister, Elisandra, however, sees through Bryan easily and is unattracted to him despite their betrothal.

Coriel is also blissfully unaware of the inherent wrongness of the slave trade. She grew up spending summers in the castle, where she was waited on by aliora servants. The aliora are creatures of great kindness, and do not let their misery in captivity show. They are capable of great forgiveness.

This story is a coming of age. Coriel grows and learns as she progresses from child to adult. She is eventually able to see the aliora’s slavery as what it is – a grievous evil. This is hammered home when an aliora child is kidnapped by Jaxon and is scared and depressed, unable to hide her feelings as much as the adult aliora do.

I definitely was cheering for Coriel when she released all the kingdom’s aliora in one night. It was a long time coming, and I admired her courage when she even admitted to it with pride, taking her resultant banishment in stride.

Throughout the book she gradually realizes that Bryan is a two-timing, cruel young man. This is especially apparent when he punishes an aliora who hit him by dragging the aliora behind his horse for a mile. It gets to the point that Coriel is relieved when Bryan dies.

I was a little concerned when Coriel made a love potion for a guard to use on his crush. I was worried it would inhibit the woman’s true desires and kind of brainwash her. But the way Coriel described it, it seems that the potion instead caused the person who drank it to be more open-minded and aware of the charms and vices of others. This is reinforced by the fact that Coriel took the potion herself and was able to analyze others more effectively.

The ending was beautiful, if a little predictable. That’s actually why I rated it a 9 instead of a 10. In the last section of the book, it is clear what is going to happen and I was just waiting for the events I knew would occur. It was still satisfying when it happened, though. And the foreshadowing throughout the book (such as the fact that Bryan will not drink water) was well done, so I didn’t really mind.

If this review piques your interest, be sure to pick it up!