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Title: The Kiss of Deception
Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1
Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. an imprint of Mcmillan
Genre: Young Adult Fiction - Fantasy, Romance
Release Date: July 8, 2014
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher, opinions are honest and my own. – review policy here.
In a society steeped in tradition, Princess Lia’s life follows a preordained course. As First Daughter, she is expected to have the revered gift of sight—but she doesn’t—and she knows her parents are perpetrating a sham when they arrange her marriage to secure an alliance with a neighboring kingdom—to a prince she has never met.On the morning of her wedding, Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, hopeful when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—even as she finds herself falling in love. - via Goodreads
"Today was the day a thousand dreams would die and a single dream would be born."
Pearson shows all of her assets in The Kiss of Deception with beautiful prose and a very powerful opening line. Fortunately for readers the prose is just the foundation of a fantasy world which intertwines the familiarity of the middle ages along with original world building via languages, religious texts and prophecies, and ethnic cultures. While the presence of magic is obscure it is forgiven with swoons, action and the main character, Lia's tongue.
Told from six voices which belong to four people, the art it is the subtle battle to claim the voice of The Assassin and The Prince as Princess Lia takes the role of main narrator. Pearson plays with your logic to keep you guessing and experience all of the manipulations alongside Lia. There is one chapter where Pauline, Lia's best friend and handmaiden, is introduced as a narrator and comes across as awkward and irrelevant. While you root for a narrator be careful which team you choose because there's a 99.9% things may not be what they seem.
Fans of fantasy and historical fiction will not be disappointed. For the rest of you plow through the slow, world building beginning and coast to the finish with the mystery, action and betrayals.
Why I'll be reading book two...
I did not expect to like this read as much as I did! The twist! OMG, the twist! It totally snuck up on me because I thought I had figured it all out and well... let's just say I didn't write the book so obviously I had no clue what was coming up.
The world building, the men of our triangle, the languages... I ship it all! It was a bit slow in the beginning because there's some foundation to lay down and I was impatient but once everyone came together the pace quickened.
Two things I did not care for... the first being Pauline's random chapter narration. Maybe she'll be a narrator in book two? The second being the religious or prophesying that occurs between the chapters. It may just be me but it usually made me more confused than not. I have a feeling those who are more into classical literature will appreciate it more than I did.
I'll be reading book two because there is a cliffhanger ending and I needed it like... yesterday! I also want to know what else is around the corner. I'm expecting more secrets to be revealed and more magic to surface.
4 Stars
This sounds so good! I'm glad you shared such a good review - it makes me feel pretty good about wanting to spend time reading it. The cover is gorgeous!! I'm going to add it to my TBR list right now :)
ReplyDeleteTracy @ Cornerfolds