Where do I even begin?
Every once in a great moon a book comes and rips you up inside. It moves you and things change. You can't move on. You can't read more. Things have changed. My friends, I've recently learned this is called a book-hangover. This made me feel things on a very deep level. I had dreams about this for weeks and could not pick up a book for a good 3-4 weeks after I finished this series. I ate it up and read the 3 books in 5 days. Thanks Scribd!!! That being said, I plan on reviewing each book. The first one wasn't as compelling as the last 2. But it definitely lays an exceptional foundation for the roller coaster that is to come.
Anyways, in the first book we are introduced to Kelsea. A princess who has been hidden away (like Sleeping Beauty) for her safety (people really want her dead). When she is of age to become Queen, the Queen's guard grabs her and brings her to The Keep (the castle). When she gets to the castle she is horrified by people being herded into cages- sold into a form of slavery as tribute to the Red Queen. If one stops the tribute of slaves, the Red Queen invades the depressed, impoverished Tearling kingdom. It does not matter the age of the person- children or adults can be a slaves. Kelsea's first act upon riding into court is putting a stop to this madness, knowing full well the consequences.
This act grabbed me instantly because it was sudden and also well-thought out by Kelsea. Again, I'm not going to go into great detail, but one of the reasons I love Kelsea is because she weighs out everything and thinks ahead. She always is thinking of who she wants to be and balancing it with whatever consequences that may bring her people. She is an exceptional leader- no thanks to either of her unfortunate parents. Kelsea idealizes her mother only to find out she was vain and weak in the face of great terror. No one except a tiny few know who Kelsea's father is. The only thing we really know is that Kelsea's mother loved her male concubines and her father was one of these sad men.
The first book deals with the coming consequences of Kelsea's decision to stop slavery. It also deals with her cleaning up the criminal activity of court, learning of her mother's disgraceful decisions, and also that her Tearling jewels have some sort of power she can and can't control. Some good powers and some bad- we don't really know the complete nature of these jewels. We are briefly told about William Tear (the founder of the Tearling Kingdom) and his so-called Crossing. We don't know completely what that means except that the Tearling came from a different place that was worse. Thankfully, the second book expands upon this completely.
Why do I love this so much? Hmmm....how to explain.
Kelsea is an ever-growing character full of complexity. She's torn, she really doesn't know her family history, and she really doesn't know much about real-life Tearling except what she read in books. You see a naive 19 year old girl grow into a strong woman by the end of the book. She is a hero we can love and respect. I also loved Mace and Andalie. Andalie is an interesting character- also saved by Kelsea. Andalie's husband is basically a pedophile and abuses her and her children. She is very mysterious in the first book, but useful. Mace is basically Kelsea's number one. He's stubborn, strong, and is full of brute force. The Red Queen is intriguing too and turns out to be just as complex as Kelsea in the end. If Kelsea had an evil alternate ego, the Red Queen would be the answer.
The themes of redemption and consequence run through this book as well. Everything has a consequence. Is the cost of freedom worth the coming terror from the Red Queen? This is Kelsea's struggle. But each choice she makes leads to her people loving and respecting her more. You do see this and her struggle becomes that much more disheartening. Tearling will be invaded. Tearling has no real army. Their weapons are bad. Their resources are worse....they will not win. And basically this is where the book ends. My heart is stopping already and the real story hasn't even began.
A couple more things...real quick. This is a fantasy book. For now. If you like fantasy, this is for you. But for those dystopian-loving fans, I encourage you to stick around for book 2 and 3. Oh yeah. It most definitely goes there.
5 star rating.
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