Book Notes: Legacy by Cayla Kluver

"Now, as seventeen-year-old Princess Alera of Hytanica is besieged from all sides by suitors vying for the Throne, a teenage Cokyrian boy, Narian, is encountered within the walls of her Kingdom, a boy who will show Alera a world where women serve a purpose and not just a husband. As Narian helps Alera find her voice, she struggles against an arranged marriage that will shatter the life she has scarcely begun to live. And when Narian’s shocking past is uncovered, and war with Cokyri looms once more, he must fight to defy a fate ordained at his birth."


When I got my hands on a copy of this book, I immediately wanted to read it. I love that old English type of feel and just love the way they talk. The prologue was grabbing, however I felt like it took a while for the book to connect the story. Though the storyline was interesting, the book was slowly paced making it feel much longer than it was. For a first novel, I feel like there could've been more said about the kingdom where she lived. Other than a few celebrations, I didn't get a good feel for what the kingdom was like. With these minor issues, I will say Kluver did a great job in characterization. She was able to balance personalities in a way to show the positive and negative sides to a character. There wasn't a time where I absolutely loved a character or hated them. Though someone did something bad, as a reader, I was able to understand their reasoning behind it. The one thing I did wish she did was to write more about London. He was such an intriguing character for the storyline and the relationship between him and Alera seemed so close, I wanted to understand why they acted the way they did. 


If you're a reader who enjoys a lot of detail, this would be a great book for you. I personally found it a bit annoying to have pages devoted to what the characters were wearing everyday, that I would just start skimming when I saw a long descriptions. The book overall started strong but fizzled out towards the end, leaving me disappointed to wait for the next book to really see where the story goes. I probably will read the next book just to see what happens, but if the pacing continues like this book, I doubt I'll get through the series.