D.P. Woolliscroft brings a politically charged novel to the scene. Below is my review of Kingshold!
My rating: 3/5 stars
Kingshold Blurb:
The King is Dead. Long live the people.
Mareth is a bard, serial underachiever, professional drunk, and general disappointment to his father. Despite this, Mareth has one thing going for him. He can smell the opportunity. The King is dead and an election for the new Lord Protector has been called. If he plays his cards right, sings a story that will put the right person in that chair, his future fame and drinking money are all but assured. But, alas, Mareth has a conscience after all.
Neenahwi is the daughter of Jyuth, the ancient wizard who founded the kingdom of Edland, and she is not happy. It’s not just that her father was the one who killed the King, or that he didn’t tell her about his plans. She’s not happy because her father is leaving, slinking off into retirement, and now she has to clean up his mess.
Alana is a servant at the palace and the unfortunate soul who has to attend to Jyuth. Alana knows that intelligence and curiosity aren’t valued in someone of her station, but sometimes she can’t help herself. And so she finds herself drawn into the Wizard’s schemes.
Chance brings this unlikely band together to battle through civil unrest, assassinations, political machinations, pirates, and monsters, all for a common cause that they know, deep down, has no chance of succeeding – bringing hope to the people of Kingshold.
My Review of Kingshold:
I was so excited to read this book! I even had an audiobook version to listen to. As I was reading, I got about halfway through the audio version, but could not continue – her voice started grating on me. I flipped over to the book and continued reading there. Initially, I had such high hopes for this book! While I love a good fantasy book, this was more political than fantasy – even though there is a fictitious world woven around it, I just felt extremely let down with the story.
As you work through the book, you will find that it is very wordy – and it’s easy to get lost. I walked away from both versions more than once. There was a need to digest what I had read and take some time to figure out what was actually going on. I think I was more disappointed with the overall tone of the book. I was really hoping for an escape from the political garbage that is going around right now, only to be confronted with it continually while reading.
I admit, that cover and title grabbed me immediately. Thanks for your review. Doesn’t like sound like it’s a book for me.
It was interesting, but not exactly what I was expecting.