Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Legacy by Cayla Kluver


My Summary: 

Alera has just turned seventeen and is the Crowned Princess of Hytanica, oldest daughter and heir.  Her father has requested that she marry the son of the Captain of the Guard, Steldor, so that he may become the next King.  A mid-evil society, Hytanica doesn’t consider a woman fit to lead the kingdom.  As Queen, Alera duties would include organizing the social gatherings, providing an heir with the right bloodline, and looking as beautiful as possible.  While Alera has been raised to fulfill such duties, she does have opinions and is curious to the affairs of state.  Still if she could stand to be in the same room with Steldor, she would willingly comply with the Kings demands.  Steldor is gorgeous and the pick of most women in the kingdom for their husband, no one understands why Alera resists his courting.   Alera, however, thinks he is egoistical and conceded.  When he stops talking about himself, she is often trying to get his hands off of her.  Can she buy enough time to find another suitable candidate?  And who is the mysterious boy who has been captured by the guard?  Why do his steel blue eyes cause such a reaction from Alera?  But what hope does she have really but to do as her father and the kingdom expect?  What will Alera do?

My thoughts:

3 stars – a good read

Legacy is a masterpiece of incredible description; unfortunately I’m not a fan of wordy description.  While I liked the story, I found myself hunting for it in the almost 500 pages around sometimes full pages of description.  I like Alera.  She has some spunk in her and several times took risks that made me proud of her.  She stood up to her guards and her father in a day and age when that was not a lady’s place.  I was sad for her that she was being forced to choose a husband at the young age of seventeen that she didn’t want to marry.  The other women in the story were typical for the time and didn’t hold my interest.  

 As for the men, I was very interesting in London.  I still have so many questions about him.  He is a mystery that I hope we find out more in the next two books.  Steldor annoyed me as much as he did Alera.  I found myself grateful that we went long periods of time without seeing him, something I normally would think was strange for one of the sides of clear love triangle.  Narian, of course, is my favorite male.  I wish we had spent more time with him.  He was around even less than Steldor and was the third side of the love triangle.  There were so many times when he would find Alera but we didn’t find out what they talked about or if he kissed her goodbye.  I would have happily lost 2/3 of the description for those blanks to be filled in.  Or even still, I would have read another 100 pages to hear about them. As for the rest of the males, you can have them.  I especially disliked the King, as he couldn’t find it in himself to remain King for a few more years and allow his daughter time to choose a husband she would be happy with and who would make a good King. 

I know Alera the best and my heart is broken for her.  The ending of the book was abrupt and without a clear finish to much of anything.  She is left in a terrible situation for which I’m not sure how she can recover.  I will, of course, read the next book because I need to find out things progress for Alera.  She has captured my heart.

Not much paranormal in this romance, a small hint of magic and a promise of more.  It’s more of a historical romance.  If you like that type of book, then go for it.



I have declared for the Net Galley July challenge and this book is part of that.  Thanks to Net Galley for access to this book. Check out the challenge here.

1 comment:

  1. I have this waiting on my Nook and can't seem to pick it up... I'm also not a fan of searching through tons of description to find the story :(

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