Friday, June 16, 2017

My Thoughts: Royal Bastards by Andrew Shvarts

Royal Bastards
by Andrew Shvarts
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Publication Date: May 30th 2017
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 352
ISBN: 9781484767658
Genre: Young Adult | Fantasy
Source: Review Copy

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Being a bastard blows. Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children.

At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children.

Then, at a feast honoring the visiting princess Lyriana, the royal shocks everyone by choosing to sit at the Bastards’ Table. Before she knows it, Tilla is leading the sheltered princess on a late-night escapade. Along with Jax, Miles, and fellow bastard Zell, a Zitochi warrior from the north, they stumble upon a crime they were never meant to witness.

Rebellion is brewing in the west, and a brutal coup leaves Lyriana’s uncle, the Royal Archmagus, dead—with Lyriana next on the list. The group flees for their lives, relentlessly pursued by murderous mercenaries; their own parents have put a price on their heads to prevent the king and his powerful Royal Mages from discovering their treachery.

The bastards band together, realizing they alone have the power to prevent a civil war that will tear their kingdom apart—if they can warn the king in time. And if they can survive the journey . . . (Goodreads)

My Thoughts...

I’ve had a copy of Royal Bastards sitting on my shelf for a while now, and while it’s taking me longer than expected to get to it, I absolutely couldn’t wait to get started on it. Have you read the summary for the book? It sounds completely interesting, right? Well, it was!

The book is full of all kinds of interesting characters, but it was the female heroines in the story that I loved the most. Tilla was awesome, and though she was a royal bastard, she didn’t let that get to her, and proved more than once throughout the story that she could totally hold her own. Same goes for Lyriana, the visiting princess who managed to surprise me more than a few times throughout the story. I love that this story has strong female heroines! Don’t get me wrong, the guys aren’t too bad themselves, but the girls really made the book.

The storyline for the book was definitely fascinating, and I flew through the pages wanting to know what was going to happen next. There were a few pretty brutal parts in the story that made me a little squeamish, but I was too curious to know what was going to happen next to actually put the book down, as I usually would. This book has it all; action, suspense, love, betrayal, and so much more. I assume that there is going to be a second book, as some things were a bit left undone at the end, and I’m really curious to know what is going to happen next.

Overall; Royal Bastards was definitely an interesting read, and I really enjoyed it even more than I expected to. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for info on a sequel, and, if there is one, it will definitely be added to my TBR as quickly as possible.



1 comment:

  1. This is on my TBR for a while as well! Good to read you liked it :)

    ReplyDelete

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