Review: Allegiance by Cayla Kluver

From Goodreads: Bound to a man she cannot love, Queen Alera of Hytanica must forget Narian, the young man who holds her heart. For Narian is destined to conquer Hytanica at the behest of his master, the powerful magic-user known as the Overlord. Alera doesn't truly believe Narian will fight against Hytanica - until Cokyrian troops attack with Narian commanding the charge. Faced with the greatest betrayal a heart can know, Alera must set aside personal feelings and lead her kingdom through its darkest time. And when all hope, will and courage seem lost, she must find strength and remember that even the blackest night must have a dawn ...

My Rating: 3.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: With the prospect of war looming between Hytanica and Cokyri, Cayla Kluver's Allegiance raises the stakes for its characters and has a darker feel than Legacy, the first book in the Legacy series. That said, Allegiance can kind of be divided into two parts: the slow first half which goes into excessive detail about Alera's daily life as queen – the writing still hasn't been tightened – and a more intense, exciting second half.

Alera remains as annoying as ever in Allegiance and makes me so happy that I'm not a Hytanican subject under her rule. The other characters in the book seem to think she's so great, but I have no idea what they see in her. I mean, even though war is brewing and she's the queen, Alera just seems to mope about losing Narian or attempting to meet him in secret, thus putting herself and her country in jeopardy. Talk about selfish! Narian may have sworn to never harm her but he is on the enemy's side.

Narian actually isn't present much in the book and so there's not a lot of romance. However, Kluver does give Steldor a chance to make more of a lasting impression on the reader. I wasn't really a fan of Steldor in Legacy and at the beginning of Allegiance because he was smug and cocky, but he matures so much over the course of the novel that it’s hard not to be in love with him by the end. It doesn't hurt that while Alera is trying to learn more about Steldor, she gets to spend time with his dad Cannan and his uncle Baelic, two characters I liked.

As well, I was really pleased with the way Kluver ended Allegiance. Unlike a lot of books which end on massive cliffhangers because they're part of a series, the ending of Allegiance wrapped things up very nicely. It was so satisfactory in fact that I was actually planning on not reading the final book in the trilogy since I thought Kluver wouldn't have much more of a story left to tell (aside from what happens with the romance between Narian and Alera of course). That is, until I read the excerpt of Sacrifice. It looks like I was wrong!

Allegiance was released in February 2012 by HarlequinTeen.

Comments About the Cover: Although it’s gorgeous, it’s not very accurate. Alera is capable of riding on a horse by herself and when she does so, she wears breeches.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Harlequin Teen) for free via NetGalley. 

Review: Legacy by Cayla Kluver

From Goodreads: The first boy disappeared on the day of his birth, on a night when the pale yellow moon of the nighttime sky turned red and bathed the heavens in the ghastly color of blood, on the same night the Kingdom of Cokyri abruptly ceased its merciless attack. Across the land of Hytanica, under the shadow of the crimson moon, infant boys continued to vanish. Not until the blood had faded from the sky did the disappearances stop and the bodies of the murdered infants were found outside the gates of the city, a final word from the greatest enemy Hytanica had ever known. For the next sixteen years, peace reigned, but one mystery remained unsolved. The Cokyrians had abducted forty-nine newborns, but returned only forty-eight bodies.Now, as seventeen-year-old Princess Alera of Hytanica is besieged from all sides by suitors vying for the Throne, a teenage Cokyrian boy, Narian, is encountered within the walls of her Kingdom, a boy who will show Alera a world where women serve a purpose and not just a husband. As Narian helps Alera find her voice, she struggles against an arranged marriage that will shatter the life she has scarcely begun to live. And when Narian's shocking past is uncovered, and war with Cokyri looms once more, he must fight to defy a fate ordained at his birth. 

My Rating: 3.5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: I have a weakness for princess stories and with a gorgeous cover like that on Cayla Kluver’s Legacy; I knew I had to read the book. The writing was nicely paced and with elements of action, duty, betrayal, love and family, the story kept me engaged until the end.

One of the things I noted though was that there is a lot of description about the food, setting, clothes, etc. As someone who is bad at visualization, this made it easier for me to imagine stuff, but at times even I found all the descriptive passages bothersome.

In terms of the characters, I felt like I only knew them in a superficial way. Alera, as crown princess, wishes that she could have more input but is hindered by her patriarchal society. She spends little time with her mother so readers don’t really get to know the queen, and although Alera and her sister Miranna are close, Miranna seemed friendly but kind of shallow to me. As for Alera’s dad, I disliked him because he was putting immense pressure on his daughter to marry Steldor just because he wants to abdicate.

While Alera doesn’t like Steldor as a person, she thinks he is handsome and so in a way there is a love triangle. Her romance with Narian – he and Alera’s bodyguard London were the two people I thought were really interesting – is sweet and I liked that they got to know each other a little bit before hooking up. I’m interested to see what’s going to happen with Alera’s (romantic) life considering the ending.

Legacy is a little unpolished but it’s obvious that Kluver is talented. With some editing, I think the Legacy series has the potential to become great.

Legacy is released by Harlequin Teen today! 

Comments About the Cover: The cover reminds me of The Luxe series, which also had amazing covers. I love the colour scheme, the choice of the font, the pose and am a big fan of extravagant dresses being worn by the cover model.

In exchange for an honest review, this ARC was received from the publisher (Harlequin Teen) for free via NetGalley.