Rating: 4.5 stars
Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A Middle Grade Book
Defeat the Goblin TBR: The Shiny book (added in December 2024)
Disclaimer! The author is a friend of mine, but my opinions are my own, and I bought the book with my own money (because friends make sure friends get royalties).
As part of the peace agreement between the Green Shores and the Blue Mountains, Prince Mirounga (called Miro), nephew and heir to the king of the Green Shores, is sent into fosterage to the Blue Mountains. He is still grieving his father, an admiral who died in the war between the countries, but understands that spending a year working as a squire at the court will foster new diplomatic ties between the countries, as well as teach him important skills he will need when he becomes king in the future.
The Red Sands was another country defeated by the Blue Mountains in the war, and it has also sent a young man to train with the royal guard. Tarek is the younger brother of the sultan, and he's clearly not intending to befriend any of the other recruits. He mostly keeps to the stables, more comfortable around the horses than people his own age.
The two young men are pretty much exact opposites. Miro is almost as tall, wide and strong as an adult, but painfully shy, while Tarek is slender, agile and very flexible. During the second part of their training, the recruits are all supposed to be stationed in the snowy borderlands near the Black Mountains. There are multiple complications, which mean that all the recruits, even Miro and Tarek, need to learn to work together, or lives could be lost.
In 2014, my friend Trine wrote a book, Crippled, retelling an old Danish fairy tale. Now she has written a sequel, set in the same fantasy universe, but focused on different characters. The boys who grew up over the course of Crippled are now the King and the General of The Blue Mountains, having fought and won a difficult war. King Vincent has a wife, a daughter and another child on the way. After the war, it is time for diplomacy, and the countries that lost both have to send a young man to apprentice in the Royal Guard for a year.
This book doesn't retell any particular folk tale, but is a coming-of-age tale for the very different young men and how they find the friendship, belonging and well, the courage, to be who they were always meant to be. The story is in parts funny, adventurous, thrilling and moving. At more than one point in the story, especially towards the end of the book, I teared up and sniffled a little, because the writing hit me straight in my feels. I liked the first book, but I liked this one even better, probably because of the emotional beats. I just wish the stories were longer.
Because I am lucky enough to have insider knowledge, I know for a fact that my friend is working on the third book in series, set in The Red Sands, involving the eldest princess of The Blue Mountains (who, it is hinted at having some unusual abilities) and the only princess of The Red Sands. So after two books where boys are the protagonists, we get to see the story of some young ladies, who build a friendship while solving mysteries together. I'm very excited.
Judging a book by its cover: The first book in the series involved princes from the Blue Mountains, and the book cover was a lovely sky blue. One of the protagonists from this book is from the Green Coasts, and as a result, the cover is green.
No comments:
Post a Comment