Dally, a kitchen maid from a small village, finds herself thrust into a position of great power when her magical gifts are revealed. She joins Queen Shona in fighting the ancient evil that threatens to destroy the realm, but even with her incredible natural talent, will it be enough?This book definitely satisfies the question of what happens next in the series, as the over-arching plot is decidedly the focus of the book. I just found myself wanting more than the plot had time to allow.
The beginning (really, the whole book) felt very rushed. I think it would have been better to take time to develop the the main character a bit more before thrusting her into the heart of the action. Even though I've read the first two books of the series (absolutely necessary for this one to make sense), I struggled to catch up with Dally's rapidly changing life and to really connect with her. Untrained though she is, everything magical comes to her without effort, and it felt like her greatest struggles happened before the story began. I wish we could have seen her discover her bond with the wolfhounds while under the tyranny of her mistress, how she found the ability to speak telepathically, and what made it so her myriad of other powers don't seem to faze her in the least, all while living in a land where magic had for years been forbidden outside of special enclaves, not to mention the fact she's a pariah in her village. This would have made a great book! Instead, it's all just backstory, dished out amidst the arrival of Queen Shona's army in the first few chapters.
The story is told at a very swift pace, and I wish it could have been slowed down to develop more and make it more dramatic. It all felt just a bit too easy--I wanted to see more struggle, both externally for the characters and internally for Dally. In the end, I feel like I read half a book--as if all the victories and exciting action parts were pulled out and pieced together for this book, and the rest of the story--the struggles, the failures, the mundane aspects of real life--are languishing somewhere with the character-building backstory.
Thank you Revell for the free book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.
Legends of the Realm
1. Emissary
2. Merchant of Alyss
3. The Golden Vial
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