Author: Andrew Shvarts
Format: ARC
Publisher: Disney- Hyperion
Publish Date: May 30, 2017 (Tomorrow!)
Source: Publisher
What's the Story?:
From Goodreads.com: "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."
My Two Cents:
"Royal Bastards" is the story of a bunch of bastards from various royal families in this fantasy world. The various royal families are at war with each other. Tilla and her band of merry misfits don't truly have a role in this royal world, they aren't in the line of succession but when they witness something they weren't supposed to, they become the linchpin to fixing things. This book is the first book in a planned trilogy that will appeal to YA fantasy lovers who don't necessarily mind retreading trails already known.
This book felt very familiar in a lot of ways. The world building feels vaguely medieval/ Game of Thrones (without the huge amounts of violence but still tons of action - this is definitely YA still!). The warring families feel vaguely familiar. Even the idea of the outcasts (the bastards in this case) feel familiar. For those that read a lot of this genre, this may feel a bit too familiar to be surprised.
Even with all the familiar feelings, this book definitely still had some great moments that made for a good read! The action in the book really got me! Once it gets going, it doesn't stop and it is easy to see why the book is going to be a trilogy in order to tie things up. There are some great scenes in the book. It can be hard to translate a lot of action into scenes that flow in a book but the author definitely succeeds. Action is definitely a driver here!
Overall, this was still an exciting story even with the familiar feel!
Maybe not quite for me. Thanks for the review. I like to read about books outside my own reading.
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