Crown Duel Review

Hello!! I know it's late but I really wanted to finish and review this book. I have also decided that I will review a book every Friday. Now on to this book, you will notice that I tend to enjoy books that take place in hierarchy-type settings, like with kings and queens. Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith was certainly not a disappointment. I give this book 4/5. As you may have remarked, I never write my own synopsis for my reviews or anything really. This is because I am absolutely  rubbish at summaries (British expression that I have picked up from some books, but haven't had the courage to test out on my friends). So to stay true to my regular fashion here is the synopsis of this book from Goodreads.

Young Countess Meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill-prepared, which threatens the very people they are trying to protect. But war is simple compared to what follows, in peacetime. Meliara is summoned to live at the royal palace, where friends and enemies look alike, and intrigue fills the dance halls and the drawing rooms. If she is to survive, Meliara must learn a whole new way of fighting-with wits and words and secret alliances.

In war, at least, she knew in whom she could trust. Now she can trust no one.

The first thing I have to say about this book is that the beginning was a bit slow. It took a while to truly grasp who Meliara and her brother Bran were and that the were going to lead a rebellion. I also didn't know that the King Galdran was not a very liked ruler until part-way through the book. But after the part where they allied with Shevraeth, it was all uphill. I found myself getting really into story and being suspicious of every new character introduced. The one character I didn't like very much was Bran, while the rest of the characters remained constant personality wise, I felt that his character wasn't very well developed. It started off where he was a very important character but then the author seemed to drop him. He showed up less frequently as the book progressed, frankly I didn't understand him at all. But that is a small flaw in a truly amazing book, so I recommend this book for all the people who love fantasy and books about kings and queens (I still have no name for them).  I really loved this book!

-lorri300