Synopsis:

Twins Carys and Andreus were never destined to rule Eden. With their older brother next in line to inherit the throne, the future of the kingdom was secure.
But appearances—and rivals—can be deceiving. When Eden’s king and crown prince are killed by assassins, Eden desperately needs a monarch, but the line of succession is no longer clear. With a ruling council scheming to gain power, Carys and Andreus are faced with only one option—to take part in a Trial of Succession that will determine which one of them is worthy of ruling the kingdom.
As sister and brother, Carys and Andreus have always kept each other safe—from their secrets, from the court, and from the monsters lurking in the mountains beyond the kingdom’s wall. But the Trial of Succession will test the bonds of trust and family.
With their country and their hearts divided, Carys and Andreus will discover exactly what each will do to win the crown. How long before suspicion takes hold and the thirst for power leads to the ultimate betrayal?

Review:

This book wasn’t bad. Wasn’t brilliant but definitely wasn’t the worse book I have read this year. I feel as though this book is going somewhere and maybe the sequel will get it there? Guess we will have to wait for the sequel to find out.

The start of the book was fantastic, the setup, introducing the new characters and their world was all brilliant. I had to quickly make myself a coffee before I dived into this book, after all I believed all the hype that was put out about this book! So with my delightful coffee, I got comfy and I sat there and watched while it slowly wondered downhill from there.

The story is based twins, who are inseparable and each other’s best mate but unfortunately, that changes when the King and Crown Prince (their older brother) are assassinated, their mother the Queen suddenly becomes too crazy to take the throne, and the Elders in Council force Carys and Andreus to compete for the crown.

Let’s start with the world they live in, they have windmills set up to keep their medieval town/city alit to protect them. Monsters? Demons of the dark? I dunno but this was a massive tick of hell yeah in my book. I still love that the book finishes and you have no idea what they are trying to protect their people from? I dunno but I am going to have to buy the second book to find out!

The two main characters were okay, not fantastic, but I did love their morals… well to an extent at least and they ae royal twins after all. I didn’t really like how they progressed throughout the book though, which leads me back to my main point of this book is building up but to what? The twins Carys and Andreus look out for one another and protect each other as much as they can. Which is kickass, I loved it. What I didn’t like about them is that Andreus has a secret and you hear about it in on nearly every page. Rule of three people! Only ever repeat things three times, if no one caught on or was listening after they were informed, then they are a lost cause. You only need to hear that he has a secret that Carys has to protect three times, no more. Carys, even goes to the extent of getting wiped to protect this secret. Anyway, beyond this introduction to them, they don’t evolve, their thoughts, communication and actions don’t really evolve from that. I really hope they do in the next book, because I am expecting more.

Another part of this story that I didn’t like was the fact that Carys and Andreus had to fight for the throne, when A) aren’t they royalty, can’t they get someone to compete on their behalf? B) Carys doesn’t even want the thrown and suggests her brother takes it. C) Why isn’t tis settled in a council meeting instead of having the two royals fight to the death? This just didn’t sink with me at all, but I stayed on course, coffee and hand and waited for this to turn around and go back up that hill……

This book has everything I wanted but it just wasn’t executed properly and I sat there wanting and needing more. I really hope this book develops more in the sequel.

ISBN: 9780062673336

Publisher: Harper Teen

Rating: 2/5