Member Reviews
Thank you so much for allowing me to read this book! I absolutely loved it and couldn't put it down! It gave me a Mulan vibe that I loved! The story brought me straight into the world!
I really wanted to like this book. The synopsis held so much promise, but the book failed to deliver as much as I hoped for from it. I enjoyed it well enough, but with a few tweaks it could have been an even more enjoyable read.
What a fun and entertaining read! Loved the author’s style and I’d definitely read them again. More books, please!
This was good story. Not great, but good. I struggled a bit and I know this is a classic case of, “it’s not you, it’s me,” since everyone I know that read it, loved it.
Did not finish this story, wasn't for me. I hope other readers enjoy this story, it's very promising and sounded amazing. I just couldn't fight my way through.
What did I just read?
I'm sorry but this just wasn't for me.
I can't think of what else to say. This was very disappointing. Those were a couple of hours of my life I could never take back.
I liked our strong-willed female protagonist but the story was so predictable and there wasn't enough character development to feel anything about these characters.
I received an ARC of this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF. Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this early copy! I decided to not keep reading this one, it was not for me. Thanks!
Yet another promising start to a new series by the author. This trilogy occurs in the same world as True Reign and Reign of Secrets series, but does can be read as on their own Great plot, strong heroine, light romance, and a richly described medieval world make this book a must!
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an arc of this book in exchange for honest review.
In a kingdom where women aren't allowed to inherit properties, Reid had to spend her whole life pretending to be a man so that she can inherit her father's. property. So one day when one of the princes discovers her true identity and sees her sparring with a sword, he offers her to join a secret organisation for assassins and spies known as the Realm of Knights. To save her family from being convicted for treason, she agrees to work with the prince. But as she gets more involved in the court politics, she finds herself questioning if she can trust anyone at all.
This book completely took me by surprise. I did not expect to love it as much as I did. The world building and intricate court politics highly impressed me. Reid is a very strong, intelligent and empowering character and it was amazing to see the plot unravel through her eyes. However, I would have loved to get to know the other characters too. I am especially intrigued by Prince Ackley - he seems very cunning and motivated but we just don't know much about his motivations. The political aspect of it totally blew my mind - towards the end. I had to put down the book several times just to absorb all the things that were happening. I always love a fast paced book that can keep me on edge and this book just did that for me. The ending very unexpected and I can't wait to see what happens in the future installments. This book is an underrated gem and i am surprised that not enough people are talking about it.
I received this complimentary ARC from the publisher, courtesy of NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
2.5 stars out of 5.
This was a pleasant read, if a predictable one.
The summary tells you that the main character, Reid, is a girl who is pretending to be a boy and you can pretty much tell what's going to happen from that. That's not to say that it's not done well because Reid is a compelling character, that perfect mix of capable and brave and self possessed. There were moments that seemed a bit trite, like Reid putting down her hair and then everyone falling head over heels for her, but for the most part, Reid was fun to read. I will also say that I wouldn't have minded more descriptions in the writing, just a little bit more ornamentation.
The love interests in this book are of the generic, YA fantasy type, and overall, I think that this is a fine book for middle schoolers- the target YA audience. I think it's just become hard for me as a 21 year old who's read a lot of YA fantasies, to read a YA fantasy that doesn't have some sort of twist, some sort of subversion or unique take on the YA fantasy trope.
This felt like another supernatural teen story. Nothing fresh and rather stale. The voice is immature and tedious. Couldn’t make myself finish it.
Realm of Knights is a promising and exciting new series. I love YA and medieval settings so this was a really fun spin on it. I really enjoyed the main character, Reid. The pacing was quick and could have used a few more moments to breathe in between certain events.
There was a bit of a cliffhanger so it will be exciting to see what comes next!
I was given this ARC for my honest review
This book wasn't for me. It didn't hold my attention at all and just wasn't my type of book. It will probably be someone's favorite, but not mine
I have to say I have a hard time positionning myself on that one. I Don't think I liked it, but it was not completly bad. I think this book is so far from reality that we cannot put it as an historical romance. It is a work of fiction, but the story is so far from reality that i could not get into it. I have to say I never really felt any real emotion towards the main character , Reid. I flet she was never in grave danger, i did not understand her emotions, i could not Believe her attraction to an other character… it did not captivate me.
Realm of Knights was quite a bit different from what I expected based on the description. I was expecting Reid to be hiding her gender through the entire book, but her identity is revealed to the princes pretty quickly and from there on it isn't much of a secret except from a few people.
I know that the societal roles of women in this world are important for comparing and contrasting Marsden with other places. This is necessary for the story, but there were times when I was so over the discussion of how bad women have it in that society. It did make me thankful for how far we have come from a time in history that was similar or even worse on women than what was portrayed in the culture of this fictitious nation.
My biggest frustration with Realm of Knights was how quickly things seemed to happen, big decisions being made, feelings declared, a little too easy fixes. Reid is swept away from home to the castle. Revealed to be a girl. Joins the Knights without really finding out what that means. Sent on a mission with zero real skills to accomplish said mission. The same complaint goes for Reid and Gordon. Reid finds him attractive and he's pretty much the first person she's ever had a crush on. She and Gordon really didn't have enough interactions for me to have built any level of depth to their relationship.
Ultimately that ending is what saved Realms of Knights for me. I can't stop thinking about where that ending might go. Which direction is Jennifer Anne Davis going to take this in? I went hunting for book 2 even though this one has barely been released.
Realms of Knights wasn't without issues for me. I was reading it quickly and wanted to know what was going to happen, but I felt the writing could have been stronger. Until that ending. I just need to get my hands on the next book to see what's going to happen. Realms of Knights gets 4 Stars. Have you read Realms of Knights? What did you think? Let me know!
I finally got to this one and unfortunately this is another YA miss for me. There's nothing really wrong with this book. The premise was interesting (we all love ourselves a Mulan-story, where the girl disguises herself as man), but it had nothing standing out. The characters were meh, tropes we've seen 100 times and a very predictable plot. Due to the masses of YA that is now published I'm being harsher with my star ratings and I can only recommend this if you really like the premise/tropes in the book.
Thanks Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.
Not my cup of tea which was disappointing because I loved the concept of girl living as a man especially in this particular time period. Overall too many tropes I personally dont like but I hope others enjoy.
I haves read this ARC twice because it took me awhile to form a judgement on this work. I loved the author’s True Reign and Reign of Secrets series, and I was super excited for this. However, compared to her other works, this was really subpar. The plot seemed unbelievable. I could believe that for eighteen years, no one believed that she was a girl. The simple storyline seemed to stretch too thin. The characters had no development and we’re very unlikable. The cliff hanger seemed very forced and a way to get people to read the next book. Thus, this was very disappointing novel because I have read better books by this author. Still, I will continue to buy the rest of the novels to see if the story and characters have improved.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book. The plot initially sounded interesting-a woman forced to live her life as a man so that she can inherit her father's land- clearly not the most original concept but it was enough to keep me interested. However, pair the lack of originality with a plot that's devoid of character development and we have a problem.
Despite the premise, the book just didn't go anywhere. It just read in a really strange way: things would just happen over the course of a page, almost like they cut huge chunks of build-up out. This let to every potentially exciting plot point just falling flat. There were some moment of good dialogue but also a fair bit of repetition. The romance in the book was again, rushed, and tedious. It did not add anything to the plot nor the character development.
The ending was the best part of the book, with some interesting ideas raised regarding gender quality within this world of knights and royalty. I wonder if future books in the series will be less haphazard but I have to say I will not be reading them.
Overall, this book could have been something interesting but poor execution resulted in a badly-paced read and not even glimpses at a more exciting follow-up could make me stomach the inconsistent writing.