Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Review: Prisoner of the Crown by Jeffe Kennedy

Series:     Chronicles of Dasnaria #1
Re-Release. Date:June 12, 2018
Publisher:Rebel Base Books
Length:160ish pages
Source:Amazon


Prisoner of the Crown is the first book in a new fantasy series by Jeffe Kennedy, which is either titled Chronicle of Dasnaria or The Lost Princess Chronicles... I'm seeing it as both, so I'm not sure which it is. I kinda like the latter best and feel it fits our protagonist best. Jeffe is branching out as this is straight fantasy (vs. fantasy romance), though it is connected to her prior fantasy romance series. As obtuse as I am, I didn't realize exactly HOW connected it was until I had read about 2/3 of the book!

Our heroine of this series is Jenna, Imperial Princess of Dasnaria. Jenna is the half-sister to Harlan (The Talon of the Hawk) and Kral (Edge of the Blade) and has lived her entire life in the seraglio below the Imperial Palace. The seraglio is like a harem, where the many wives of the emperor live and scheme, and raise their daughters to be pawns in political machinations. When Jenna is forced from her gilded cage, she is thrown into a harsh reality where she learns the cruel ways of men, her role as a pawn in a political game, and which family members she can trust.

This first installment is a coming of age, or coming to reality, for Jenna. While she learned harsh lessons that she thought prepared her for life beyond the seraglio, she quickly otherwise. Many of Jenna's lessons and experiences were hard to read, and may serve as a trigger for some people. However Jenna's plight forged a strong emotional connection with the reader, and drew me into the story. As I said above, I was so wrapped up in Jenna that I didn't realize exactly who she was until I was well into the book. I enjoyed following her path, and am very excited to see where the series goes from here. I have a feeling she is going to become a favorite heroine as the series progresses.

For those that have read The Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series, this book takes place prior to those stories. It was interesting to peek into the early lives of Harlan and Kral... and once I realized who they were, I almost went back and started the story over from the beginning just so I could soak in the info with new eyes. I was a fan of both of these heroes in their own respective books... so I was caught off guard by how much I didn't like Kral in his formative years. Reading this story definitely made me nostalgic - I wish I had time to go back and re-read the brothers' books to see what new tidbits I could pick out.

If you are a fantasy fan, you can't go wrong with Jeffe Kennedy.

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