A great book that is based on real history around the person of Alexander the Great. The author shows the ancient world and life that was lived in Athens and other cities. Some do really exist others are fictional. If you are in for a bloody, cruel, and ancient story mixed with some romance and mysticism then this is your book. I didn´t expect that end – wow. Questions after questions in the end and I REALLY hope that at least some of them will be answered in the second book. Though I enjoyed reading it - it was mostly fun -, there are still some things that could be approved.
Legacy Of Kings*
by Eleanor HermanBlood Of Gods And Royals Series #1
Publisher Harlequin Teen September 1, 2015
Genre Children 14+
Pages 428
Format Hardcover
Source Lovelybooks
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Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains, and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise. Alexander, Macedon´s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to a newcomer. Katerina must navigate the dark secrets of court life while keeping hidden her own mission: kill the queen. But she doesn´t account for her first love. Jacob will go to unthinkable lengths to win Katerina, even if it means having to compete with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander´s unmet betrothed, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.
Story
Queen Olympias is eager to fulfill a ritual to bring back the love of her life. The king, her husband is a rough man who doesn´t share the passion of his wife. Alexander is somewhere between. Not really accepted by his father because of a birthmark that lets him limp. But Alexander is determined to prove to his father that he is worth being the crown prince, being the legal heir and that he can not only protect his mother and friend but also the kingdom if he has to. But intrigues, deadly secrets, and a curse make it very hard for Alex to stand up to the destiny that seems to be awaiting him.
Style
An invisible narrator tells the story of Katerina, Alexander, Jacob, Hephaestion, and some other figures. Life at the palace is dangerous, for some deadly, for others full of intrigues, long-kept secrets and every day is a struggle to survive in this bloody world where nobody seems to be what they claim to be. Eleanor Herman´s writing style is simple. There flows a lot of blood, many dreams get destroyed and her way of describing the war scenes is very graphic. Her tone is soft even in the cruelest and bloodiest scenes and she has a very opulent way to bring a lot of characters into the story.
At some point, I stopped counting how many lines of action the author brought up in this book. The one with Zo I am still trying to figure out how she and Alex are bond together and what her further role in this story will be.
No doubt, Eleanor Herman has obviously a historian background. And it is kind of interesting to read that in combination with a novel and some fictional things. But after reading this book I guess the author wanted too much too soon. The plot is great, but the way how this book is written stays very facile. Everything is handled in a fast way, some scenes were supposed to be haunting and thrilling but they weren´t because of the speed they were uncoiled.
Characters
No question the author knows how to show her main figures and what they mean to the story. But despite that, she doesn´t give them great depth. They are easily exchangeable and that is a bit sad. I would have loved to get to know them better, to discover a bit more from their past. So it is a huge round dance of different figures that all have more or less to do with the ongoing story or what will come in the next book.
Katerina is a young woman who follows her childhood friend Jacob into the big city. Her feelings for him are confusing, she isn´t used to the fact that she has to worry about someone. And the power she feels inside her is something else. All her life she was told by her mother Helena to keep her power a secret. But now her instincts are telling her that she needs to use her that her survival depends on it.
Cyn, a young princess is one hell of a bitch. She does what she wants, fights for the things she wants to do, and yet she feels the boundaries a young woman her age has to live in. The king won´t allow her to go to war, she isn´t allowed to train with her brother and the other men anymore and she has a plan to get what she desires. A plan, so deadly and cruel that she won´t stop at nothing to achieve it. That woman got style and courage but also danger in her. I wouldn´t want to meet her in the middle of the night and definitely not without any weapon!
Conclusion
I had my fun reading it, yes, and I – to some point – enjoyed this book, no doubt about that either. But I missed the special something and saw a bit too less of the main figure Kat. I didn´t expect anything from it and that was maybe good. So if you are in for some bloody battles and some intrigues mixed with romance, then this could be your next read. So my rating is due to my fun and the great way the author was describing the battles.
Happy reading
*I read the German edition new release February 23, 2017, by Fischer FJB
Eleanor Herman
Eleanor Herman is a skilled historian and Master of the Cliffhanger. Skillfully, she blurs the boundaries between historical scandals and epic fantasy to retell the story of the most brilliant ruler of all time in “Blood of Gods and Royals”, Alexander the Great. She calls herself a “Sherlock Holmes of history.” Obsessed by all things royal and historical, she lives in McLean, Virginia with her husband, their black lab, and four extremely dignified cats.