I made it about 20% into this book and had to put it down. The timing was horrible and the main character just accepted whatever she was told without questioning a single thing. I just wasn't a fan.

A beautiful setting with dark undertones that bring an eerie, but fascinating story to life...
I really enjoyed this series. After reading this book, I went on to read the other two and look forward to the fourth. With stellar characters and a mysteriously addicting plotline, I am here to tell you this is both a rare find and an adventure.

Thanks to Net Galley but as much as I like Fantasy, this slightly missed the mark for me. Story was fine and good character building but just couldn't connect with this one. Sorry.

Heir of Illaria is a book I came across on Netgally that stood out to me because of the cover, hello gorgeous, and the mention of a necromancer king in the synopsis. If you don’t know this about me. Necromancing is a thing I find highly interesting but don’t come across too often. So that was an instant need to read for me. Unfortunately the book didn’t quite live up to the expected darkness.

To be honest, the book has a bit of a cliché young adult fantasy going on where the not so special girl finds out she is a princess, heir to the throne and has a special power. Which can be fun when it is filled in well and can manage to twist away from it at some point. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite manage to do that until the very end.

The start to the book, when we get to meet Wilona, feels rushed. We move through things incredibly fast and there is little explanation. Our main character doesn’t put her foot down about any of it and just lets herself get pushed around and accepts it all without any explanation to be honest. It made her feel flat as a character.

In the second half of the book she had a bit more personality about her. I liked how she made it clear she didn’t want to be queen and wanted to get away from that. She slowly grows into the role that a princess needs though and tries to put her foot down to her brother every now and then. She also doesn’t want to be married of. And is vocal about that in her own mind which is great. But doesn’t actually manage to get it out to the person that matters. It then gets so easily resolved for her so she didn’t have to deal with it. Bit of a shame really.

I found the magic system rather on the messy side. They are aligned with the elements. Fire and water are rare but why? And where do their powers come from? Is there a story or a legend surrounding them? They also have to make hand movements but then it is said they don’t have to be exact. And some can do it without movements. What are the rules exactly?

The romance moved too quickly unfortunately. I think there was potential there for a good romance but it just moved forward too fast. Where was the real connection being made?

The idea of the king necromancer which I would love to know more of and the ending were interesting. But there wasn’t enough emotional impact for me to truly care about it. There wasn’t enough bond between some of these characters to create the impact the author wanted.

Overall the book was an okay read but couldn’t pull itself away from the typical young adult fantasy. It also needs more world building, especially when it comes to the magical system.

I liked Heir of Illaria. I had never heard of the author so I wasn't sure what to expect. It was a good young adult book that I read it quickly and didn't lose interest. I may lend it to my 13 year old son who likes these types of books as well.

This one didn't work for me right off the bat but I tried to give it a go anyway. This one throughout the story felt very predictable and was pretty boring. It also had a very bad insta-love and really just didn't work at all for me. The last few chapters of the book were pretty interesting and I wish the rest of the book had been that good. This one could have used a lot more thought and editing in my opinion.

I enjoyed this book. It was a 1 day read for me sitting at home sick. This book could be considered the typical peasant finds out she's princess book but the author added some much more into the story which made it better. I love the romance in the book it is not instalove but it's not something that takes forever either. That being said the book has so much action that it feels like everything is happening back to back that within a matter of 1 week or less it seems. It definitely keeps you on your toes with all the action. It isn't a boring book that is for sure. The main character Wilona aka Etta has real emotions and thinks for herself. She is always questioning what is going on around her. At times she gives in and lets them think she will listen to them other time she stands up and argues. She feels real. Not a fictional character if you know what I mean. All in all I loved the characters even the evil ones. I liked the aspects of magic and reapers and Kings and Queens. This book has like a hint of Harry Potter to a hint of the Tangled movie. I can't wait to read more of the series.

After trying to read this book for over a month, I've finally had to accept defeat. I always feel like I need to read every book I'm lucky enough to receive from Netgalley so I can review honestly, so I feel really bad that I couldn't finish this one.
It wasn't that the writing was bad, I think it was more the one dimensional characters and poor world building that did me in.
Also I HATE insta-love, and once I got to this part I had to give it up.
A big thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this book.

2.5 stars

Heir of Illaria by Dyan Chick is a fantasy novel about a peasant girl, Wilona, who discovers that she's the one true heir of the Kingdom of Illaria which is ruled by her nefarious necromancer uncle.

After her grandmother is murdered and she barely manages to escape, she is taken under the wing of a secret group of people who have apparently been watching over her for her entire life.

From there, Wilona launches on a journey of learning to act like a princess & attempting to defeat the Necromancer King.

This book, unfortunately, was just not my cup of tea.

There were so many high fantasy tropes that I felt like I've read this plot multiple times, especially with my year-long stint of voraciously reading on Wattpad.

Girl is long lost princess. Must defeat evil ruler & become queen.

This isn't anything new for me. Princess training and maid bonding is becoming very cliché these days, though there's nothing wrong with clichés.

But when I read novels outside of Wattpad, I expect them to be unique. When I want to read a cheesy, trope filled novel, I'll go to Wattpad and thousands will be there for me to choose from. But when I'm reading off of Wattpad, I have considerably higher standards. I'm looking for unique novels that aren't the same recycled plots.

I might have liked this so much more if it was set in a historical Asian setting or a Middle Eastern setting or something besides the classic white-people filled medieval-ish kingdom.

Heir of Illaria is just so...basic.

I could predict the plot after being spun around with a blindfold on.

Wilona is the hidden princess and true heir of the Kingdom of Illaria. Her evil necromancer uncle murdered her family & she was whisked away as a child to be kept safe from his terrifying rule. Now, as a teenager (barely adults are always a prime to start ruling, of course), her grandmother (who isn't actually her grandmother) is murdered and she is introduced to a secret group that's been opposing the Necromancer King.

This group wants her to be a princess, and she has to go through 'princess training' before she joins the other rebels.

But wait! There's more.

She's also a sorcerer with rare powers. (Gasp!)

This is the type of medieval high fantasy plot structure that has been seen time and time again.

I mean, the novel starts with Wilona picking berries, which is almost as bad as using picking herbs to start a novel (see almost every post about starting novels i.e. this one).

I was hoping the berries would be special or significant, but she was just out picking berries...because she wanted to?

The tropes and clichés in this novel just did not cut it for me. I had a pretty hard time getting through this because it was boring for me to read something where I could guess everything that would happen.

Because of this, I had a really hard time connecting with the plot line. I think the pacing was decent and followed this plot structure, but in my specific case, neither appealed to me.

And the main female protagonist, Wilona, was in general very hard to connect to.

She was barely flawed. A quick learner at archery, sorcery, and how to be a princess was all attributed to her having "royal blood." In my mind, she wasn't very special. Her narrative wasn't entertaining, but she wasn't annoying, although a lot of the novel was her inner narrative about how she didn't want to rule.

Wilona was very bland to me as a typical perfect peasant-to-princess.

The romance between her and Ashton was very insta-love as well. In the beginning, she despises him, but somehow within around 2 chapters, they suddenly like each other & are kissing.

I would have preferred the novel to center around Saffron, her guard who is in love with her long, lost brother, or Max, her long lost brother.

Their dynamic was much more interesting and the anti-hero plot line was something I could go for.

I think some people could definitely enjoy this novel if they loved reading this plot structure. But I am just not one of those people.

This book was unfortunately not for me, but that doesn't mean it's not right for you! If medieval high fantasy is something that appeals to you, I would wholeheartedly encourage you to read this.

I was so excited to read Heir of Illaria and the verdict is... it was decent, but no more than that. I put way too much stock in the premise of this book. Queens!! necromancy!! Magic!! Alas, the writing hit me rather flat.

It's hard for me to pin point exactly what it was for me that didn't do it. The writing <I> wasn't </I> terrible, the characters <I> weren't </I> annoying, yet somehow, it all still felt very flat to me. Maybe it's that we really aren't give a good history of the world other than a sentence or two. Maybe it's that our main character and her love interest literally go for hate to love so fast I could have gotten whiplash. Maybe it's that the MC accepts everything presented to her rather easily and the struggle isn't described well or in depth. I couldn't get into this world. In the end, after writing this review, I think what it comes down to is the lack of information.

I think Heir of Illaria is a solid solid read for those getting into the fantasy/romance genre, but a well seasoned patron may find it lacking. I believe I would have really enjoyed this book in my middle school or high school years. The characters can be funny, the main character likeable enough, and the struggles of coming of age something people in their teens can relate to.

I received a copy of Heir of Illaria by Dyan Chick from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Initially it was the cover that caught my eye. I hoped that the story lived up to the cover and it surpassed my expectations. I was done reading this and looking to read everything by Dyan Chick within a day.

The writing was fast paced, exciting and immersed the reader into the universe of Illaria. While it did follow the trope of an unwilling royal, there were enough new aspects added to in that made it feel new with a world of sorcerers, necromancers and other supernatural elements

Wilona aka Etta, had no idea she was actual royalty. She thought herself an every day peasant. A chance encounter with the Kings guard changed everything. The reader follows Wilona through her journey of self-discovery, meeting her family, the struggle of becoming a sorceress and a possible leader, and navigating love.

There were a few predictable moments but the unpredictable outweighed them and I found myself not minding the predictability of certain characters.

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. I did as soon as I finished reading it and I have the next books in the series ready to buy on payday!

This book took some time for me to really get into it and enjoy it fully. The beginning felt a little rushed, but by the middle of the book the action started to pick up and the story became more intriguing.

Although we have seen the whole 'normal girl is really royalty' storyline before, I still enjoyed the plot of HEIR OF ILLARIA. I enjoyed the progress that both the story and the characters made and I also enjoyed the world that everything took place in. For most of the book the pace was great, but there were times that it went a little too fast and I felt like the details just weren't there. These issues weren't huge enough to ruin the story, but they were worth mentioning. The dialogue was awkward too, and I just didn't get a sense of any of the characters' personalities.

I was granted this book yesterday and when I went to access it the book was archived. I did not have the opportunity to read or review it. I would have liked the opportunity, but it was not possible. This also occurred with a different title from the same publisher. I check my e-mails frequently, so it was already archived when granted to me.

This one is a hard one to review. For the majority of this novel, I was bored. Very, very, bored. There was a lot of stuff going on and it was a non-stop adventure yet at the same time, the story was just not holding my interest. It almost felt like there was TOO much going on within the storyline with the main character's background/identity and all of these discoveries were happening in such a short period of time. It was hard to get a grasp on each new development because shortly after, something else would be introduced. Sorry if this is coming off confusing but I'm really trying to avoid giving away any spoilers.

With that being said, even though this wasn't the novel for me, I could see others enjoying it. It's fast-paced, has magical elements, and has romance. Personally, if anything, the romance was the part of the novel that most kept me reading.

I rarely ever begin a series without continuing but with this series, I doubt I will continue. It was mediocre and I don't feel the interest or attachment to any of the characters/story enough to continue.

**Thank you to the publisher for supplying me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**

Am I a cover reader? Apparently. The cover drew me in for this book. It’s just gorgeous. And it looks mysterious and compelling.

I wish the story was as promising as the cover. Maybe I should have read the synopsis more thoroughly, the first person trite way it reads should have warned me away.

I was quickly bored with this book. No major plot twists. Incredible amount of tropes. And sketchy world building and character development.

I really wanted the author to dig into the magic system, or the rebellion, but the story just fell flat.

First, there are a ton of tropes in this story. Instant romance. Instant talent characters. One dimensional villains.

The romance was just frustrating. Instant hatred to life long love in less than a week. One week!

And I have no idea why the two characters are instantly so attracted. It just didn’t add up. At all.

I’m trying not to be harsh with my review, I really am. But I felt like the author kept telling us who the villains were. There wasn’t any real surprise to the ‘plot twist.’ The main character just needed to say what we were thinking out loud.

When everyone tells the main character, trust your instinct, multiple times, it gets very repetitive. It felt more like the author was screaming at us to trust the character.

The rebellion held a lot of promise. The Ravens were well-organized and skilled fighters. I enjoyed the scenes featuring the rebel camp, as well as their planning and training times.

Will I continue this series?
No, I don’t think so. If there were fewer tropes, and more character growth, I might have.

Perhaps the story improves with the sequels. If you’ve read the entire series, share your thoughts. I’d love to hear if the story and characters improve.

Side note, I’ve never given a book a One Star Review. I don’t think of myself as a demanding or harsh reader. I wish authors the BEST as they write. This entire review was super hard for me.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

Well I tried but after more than 60% in, I realized I just didn't care what happened to any of these characters because they were so dull. I was trying to stick it out for the Necromancer King because he sounded interesting but after Saffron starting talking about preserving Wilona's virginity so she remained pure, it was the last straw. The insta-love in this book was probably the most ridiculous I have ever read. That alone should have deterred me but I kept trudging along for the plot that never really happened. Oh well.

ThaThank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book! I am giving an honest review of this book.
I read the description of the book and thought this sounds so interesting. I had no idea who Dyan Chick was, but now that I do I will be awaiting her next book. Heir of Illaria is a surprise in the sense that you get so many different things in this book. It starts out with a young woman learning that she is a princess in hiding. Wilona is a peasant girl living in a small village with her Grandmother. After an encounter with the Necromancer King’s guards, Wilona learns that she is in immediate danger. Before she knows it, a group called the Raven’s, has swept her up and revealed that she is princess Etta of the Aqualine linage. Etta is now finding out about her family’s history with the current King. Heir of Illaria has a little something for everyone. Wilona is torn between being herself or being the princess’ her people need. Can she be more than just what the Raven rebellion wants? Can she take on a King who destroyed her family? Heir of Illaria is full of twists and surprises that you don’t expect. The most interesting part of Wilona/Etta is that she herself finds that magic lives on from her family and it is up to her to defend not only her people, but her life. I love that Dyan Chick gives her characters realist internal conflict. It is never easy to do the right things and we sometimes must experience life before those decisions are understood. Wilona/Etta has to learn how to think like a princess before she can act like one. I can’t wait to read the next book. I hope that it continues with strong characters and a realistic main character.

The story started out a little slow. Wilona's motivation seemed a little sudden and things seemed to come pretty easy for her. Not a bad story.

This book took some time for me to really get into it and enjoy it fully. The beginning felt a little rushed, but by the middle of the book the action started to pick up and the story became more intriguing.

Heir to Illaria follows a young girl, Wilona, who has had everything she's ever known essentially ripped away from her in the space of one day. She gets taken from her grandmother, her identity is not what she has always believed it to be, and her whole way of life changes.

This story is essentially a princess-in-hiding tale. This topic has been done a lot and sometimes it can be a little cliche, but I still enjoy it so I keep coming back to books with this type of description. The first part of the book which largely focuses on Wilona's discovery of her true identity and the subsequent lessons that follow this discovery, really felt rushed to me and not well fleshed out. I didn't find myself getting attached to her character until midway through the whole book. I think a large part of what bothered me comes back to her love interest and the way this relationship forms. It felt way too rushed and not genuine at all, even later on in the book I still just wasn't believing the love interest.

That being said, my favorite part of this book were the magical elements that the author added into it. Once I started to find out more about magic and how it functions in Wilona's world, the story really became more interesting. I loved that the antagonist was a necromancer and utilized this skill to rule his kingdom, it definitely gave him a creepier edge. I liked that the author chose to add in more elements of other character's stories towards the end, that piqued my interest and made me want to see what happens in the rest of the series.

Overall, I think this book had a slow start but ultimately shows promise as a series. I would like to see more of the world of Illaria and the other kingdoms surrounding it and hopefully that will happen in the next book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Illaria Publishing for providing me this “ARC” in return for my honest review.

This is the first book in the Illaria series by Dyan Chick.

We start out the book with our main character Wilona venturing into the woods to pick berries, even though her grandmother doesn’t like it when she goes out that far on her own. Everything is going fine until she hears horses, and turns and sees the King’s Guard, or part of it anyway, riding down the road. She is frightened immediately; The Necromancer King is evil and known for having vicious and cruel guards. She tries to hide but she’s too late, and the guards confront her. They see she is carrying a knife for protection and tell her that it’s punishable by death to hunt for animals in the King’s woods, even though that’s obviously not what she was doing. She tries to reassure them, and she thinks she succeeds. She runs home and tells her grandmother what happened, and as her grandma starts to talk with her the guards break into her home, killing her grandmother. They would have killed her but she was protected by a woman named Saffron, who says she is part of a group of people bound to protect her. She has no idea why anyone would protect her, and honestly, what did she need protecting from? She’s just a normal girl.

Soon Wilona leaves with Saffron and they are headed to a friend of Saffron’s house. Wilona and Saffron encounter King’s Guard’s cruelty along the way, and Wilona wonders why no one tries to stop the King from doing these things.

“The King’s Gaurd doesn’t need a reason. They just enjoy killing. Most of the people in the larger
towns live in a constant state of fear.” She said.

My jaw clenched. This shouldn’t be happening. “Why doesn’t anybody do anything?”

Saffron glanced at me, the ghost of a smile on her mouth, then turned away.

It’s clear that Saffron knows something Wilona doesn’t, and when they arrive at Lady Genevieve’s house she finds out what it is.

"I looked at the symbol on my necklace and then back at the symbols covering the tapestry.
The Ouroboros engraved on the charm seemed to glow. It was the same symbol. I dropped it
as if it had burned me. Why am I wearing a royal crest around my neck?

Anything related to the previous king was considered treason. That’s why this symbol was
illegal. I could be hung for wearing this."

She finds out that she was the daughter to the old king, and the only one to escape the slaughter when the new king took over the country by force. That her real name isn’t even Wilona, it’s Elisabetta, Etta for short. She is the only one, seemingly, who can rightfully rule the country, and that is why the king wants to kill her. She decides she wants to help their cause, but makes it clear that she doesn’t want to rule if the time ever comes. She is meant to be a political tool to make alliances with other countries. So she takes her “princess lessons” as she calls them, and they move on their way to the next part of her lessons, world history and politics.

On the way their carriage is stopped by a King’s Guard, and there’s too many for Saffron to handle, and Etta has to kill a person for the first time. When they arrive at Sir Henry’s house, he teaches her all he can and gives her a very foreboding warning: Do not trust anyone. After Sir Henry’s they move on to the main resistance camp; the “resistance” is called The White Ravens. This is where she meets Max, the leader of the White Ravens, and apparently, her brother. Etta starts to train with weapons whenever she can, and develop her magic, but he’s determined to marry her off to another country for political alliance, and Etta is not happy with that. She tries to develop her magic as much as possible to hopefully convince her brother not to send her away.

She keeps getting a really bad feeling about her brother but she tries to ignore it. He seems very power hungry to her, and determined to do whatever he wants to be King. Meanwhile, while she practices she gets closer and closer to Ashton, Max’s apprentice, who is studying to become a sorcerer himself. Even though they know it could never be, Etta falls in love with Ashton. He is the only one, besides Saffron, who knows about her water affinity, the most rare magic affinity in this world. Affinities run in families is what she is told, and she finds out her father had the same affinity she does.

The whole book kind of takes off from there, telling the story of going up against the King, and the choice Etta makes when she learns something huge about her brother.

Likes:

--> Etta. Her whole character is just amazingly well-written. I liked that she wasn’t just auto-ready to rule an entire country. A lot of YA will do that secret princess trope and write it to where they didn’t know they were a princess, but they’re ready to rule a country when they find out. I liked Etta’s story-line, it felt very organic. I liked that she made her own choices and stood up to her brother when she had to, and that she made the right choice in the end when she learned a big secret.
--> Etta’s magic. It was so cool the way she took down those reapers. I LOVED the arctic fire concept it was AMAZING!
--> The LOVE in this book. I hated Max, but I loved Saffron and I felt really bad for her. Etta and Ashton were a thing of beauty. I adore “i hate you but come to love you” trope-y love stories. While it is a trope, it was written well, and I don’t mind them to begin with.
--> I loved the whole entire part where she was at the Sorcerer Trials with Ashton. It was so interesting to see the magic, and watch Etta make yet another ally and learn how to do some spells. I also liked the little bit of jealousy we get to see from Etta 🙂
--> I read the entire book in one sitting. While it did have minor issues when it came to being either rushed or dragged out at times, it kept me entertained. I am definitely reading the rest of the series.

Disliked:

--> The beginning of the book, up until Sir Henry’s house, felt kind of rushed to me. I think that Dyan could have spent more time developing that part of the story. A lot of the story kind of feels like it has weird pacing.
--> Poor Saffron getting played

four-star-rating

The book lost one star for pacing, and trope-y story elements but overall this was a fantastic story and I would definitely recommend it to people who like YA, Fantasy, lost-princess-tropes and female protagonists with a backbone.