3 stars: A Good Read
Series: Legacy #2
Paperback: 490 Pages
Publication: February 28, 2012 by Harlequin Teen
Only I saw Narian for who he truly was: a young man with courage and an independent mind, and made to pay for what was outside his control. He couldn’t help his past any more than he could help the way those intense, deep-blue eyes pierced me and held me captive.
An eighteen-year-old queen in love with the enemy as their countries pass the point of no return…
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….
The beginning of the novel was all that I could hope for. Steldor and Alera’s marriage comes to a rocky start with Alera avoiding intimacy and Steldor respecting her but for some flirtations. However, the awkwardness is still there, and both have tempers that cause them great frustrations. I can’t help but wonder why Alera continuously refutes Steldor’s advances rather than permitting him to continue courting her after marriage and trying to get to know him better. After all, when she agreed to marry him, she should have expected to carry her duty, as Queen and a wife, to produce an heir.
I was frustrated with Alera for the most part. While the motivations for her actions in book one are understandable, she’s a Queen now by her own choice, and she ought to take responsibility now. Yes, she wanted to protect Miranna, but she now has a duty as Queen to fulfill yet she still acts like a rebellious teenage girl. I feel that Alera was in denial about a lot of things. She keeps Steldor at bay despite her responsibility to him as a wife to respect him, rather than try to anger him, and to produce an heir to keep the royal line running. She goes horseback riding without regard to her position. She refuses to forget about Narian.
I grew more fond of Steldor, who is obviously trying to be a good husband, as the story progressed, and it is apparent that Alera develops some feelings for him. However, Narian is still the one she loves, though she can’t deny that he has joined the enemy forces, a fact that coincides about the same time that her sister is abducted by enemy forces. Something possible only because she told him about a certain tunnel.
It is after the castle falls to the enemy that my interest in the story wavered as the anticipation built in book one fell short of my expectations. I won’t list all my grievances. I don’t want to go on a rampage because some things didn’t go my way. Let’s just say that everything happened a little too conveniently and that while I liked Legacy, Allegiance just doesn’t follow through all the way for me.
Thus far, Alera has been a pawn in a game of mens. In Sacrifice, the final book in the trilogy, she will be a woman in her own right, with her own power. I look forward to seeing what she does.
An ARC was provided by the publisher for review purposes
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Author: Crystal
A story girl at heart, Crystal is a bibliophile who can easily spend the day immersed in a good read. She writes under the name Kristy Wang. You can follow her writing adventures on X and Instagram @_kristywang.
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