Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me an arc of The Stolen Kingdom by Jillian Boehme in exchange for an honest review!

Real rating: 4.5 stars

Let me start off by saying that if you’re in a reading slump, read this book! This was SUCH a well written/well developed standalone fantasy novel. The Stolen Kingdom is set in a world where a tyrannical ruler reigns supreme as his bloodline wrongfully stole magic from it’s rightful people. Where there is power, where there is magic, there is a ruler who is corrupted by it. Prince Alac, who has seen first hand how power hungry the possession of magic has made his father, is forced into a position he’s has no control over. Meanwhile, Maralyth, who knew from a young age that she possessed magic, finds herself caught up in a scheme to restore the kingdom’s magic to its rightful bloodline. Both Maralyth and Alac find themselves in roles they’ve never imagined for themselves, but, as they find out, sometimes things are much bigger than their own wants.

If you love POV shifts this is definitely the fantasy read for you! Luckily both characters are equally as likeable which makes every single chapter exciting to read. I absolutely fell in love with both Maralyth and Alac, the pacing of the novel, and the worldbuilding. Each character had so much depth and learning about the magical elements were truly enjoyable. I love the character dynamics and how everyone seemed to have their own story to tell. I will say that I wish we got a little more from the ending but I thoroughly enjoyed this standalone and will definitely be buying and recommending this book to friends as soon as it hits the shelves!!

Forbidden magic. Forbidden love. Mysterious histories. I was first attracted to this book because of the fantasy & wine combination, and I was grateful that those themes were present throughout the entire book. The story started slow, and I found myself wishing there were more details about the setting and character backstories, but the backstory was meant to be part of the mystery and I ended up enjoying that aspect.

Once Mara got to the castle, I was truly hooked and the writing itself got more interesting and creatively descriptive as the book progressed. Alac & Mara are both interesting leads, and I loved the POV changes so we could see inside their heads. Mara is a strong character, and her development from a motherless nobody into a queen-to-be was natural and believable. The underlying mystery of Mara's bloodline kept me intrigued and I was curious how Alac and Mara would stay connected in the end.

Mara's magic is a beautiful complement to the stolen magic, and this stolen magic's infiltration over the kingdom is creative and unique in its destructive properties!

My only disappointment in this romance is that it lacked a full embodiment of passion that felt like it was building. Mara even describes her relationship with Alac as intimate, but it never really got intimate. Since the wine content of the book already leans toward adult (I couldn't have my 6th graders read this), I wish the romance content was a little more adult.

I will definitely recommend this book to others and leave public reviews on social platforms.

Political power grab in a magical kingdom far far away? I love the fantasy genre and the missing heir trope in general but parts of this were too fanciful even for me. Mara's quick acceptance of Lord Nelgareth's offer is not believable. The Stolen Kingdom starts slow but her change in status is whiplash quick. Her personality changes on a dime and suddenly she's screaming about what she'll do when she's the queen. Alac's family has just been brutally killed in front of him but he's taking himself to task about how he feels about her, as if this was some kind of romantic spurn instead of murder. I found myself mumbling "yeah right" a lot. The one highlight was Nelgareth's death. Even there, I wish it would've been described in greater detail. He was such a great villain. I would've liked to see him more developed.

Overall, I loved the storyline for a young teen audience; otherwise it needs more depth, development and possibly expand it into multiple books.
I'll be keeping my Bookstagram post up today through the pub date. Beyond that the book cover image will remain in my ARC highlights @AprilsBookishLife in Instagram all year. The review will is up now on Goodreads and Twitter (links included). I will also gladly post a review on Amazon after publication. Thank you so much for letting me review it early.

Maralyth, a winemaker’s daughter, has a secret. Born with a magical power that most people believed was lost or stolen long ago, she uses it to help the vineyard. However, when others learn of this secret, Mara’s entire life turns upside down. A young woman who never wanted more than to be a successful winemaker has the throne thrust upon her when she is kidnapped and told that she is the rightful heir.

With her life and the lives of those she loves threatened, Mara has no choice but to take the throne and become a better ruler than the current greedy king. Her feelings change when faced with the harsh realities of the coup and she meets the handsome and kind prince. Will Mara reveal her secrets? Will she ignore her feelings and take the throne?

Written from dual perspectives, Alec and Mara, The Stolen Kingdom focuses on the thoughts and feelings of both characters. I like that you really get to understand both characters – their motivations, desires, concerns, and more. Mara is selfless, strong, and cares deeply about others. Alec is kind and sincere. He cares about the people and doesn’t want to rule if it means taking on dark power. I think the dual perspectives allows for an in-depth and honest view of both Mara and Alec. It also shows how similar and well-suited they are.

The blossoming relationship between Alec and Mara is sweet and complicated. This enemies-to-lovers romance is easy to root for. Both Mara and Alec are smart, brave, and kind. They both have a love of and interest in winemaking. Mara, in particular, has a long and strong connection to the vineyards and winemaking. It’s in her blood, and her power responds to living things.

Both characters also seem trapped in their current situations. Alec is surrounded by darkness and people who thirst for power (and magic). Forced to be part of a coup attempt, Mara’s actions are controlled by those who want to usurp the throne. The fear, uncertainty, and feelings of entrapment draw the couple together, as do their similar good qualities. Mara and Alec feel like they can be themselves with each other, which is all but impossible in their world of political intrigue and manipulation.

The magical aspects of the story are really interesting and highlight the age-old battle between good and evil. Good magic and bad magic, as well as good people and bad people, contribute to the story’s action, excitement, and character development. Lies, political maneuverings, betrayals, and secrets from the past, all of which relate to magic, also enhance the plot. Alec and Mara reject the dark magic and all it entails, and they both want to find a way to rid their world of it. However, this proves almost impossible.

I also loved the vivid imagery throughout the book. I particularly liked the bird imagery, especially in relation to Mara, who frequently feels caged and longs for freedom. There is one scene where Mara is served dinner, a tray of delectable food with a beautiful bird in the center. This bird, served up on a shiny platter, is similar to Mara, who is being trained and presented (not on a shiny platter but in shiny and new clothing and baubles) as the perfect figurehead. Later in the same scene, Mara describes the bed in her kidnapper’s home as “a nest of comfort in the midst of a nightmare.” This evokes such strong bird imagery and feelings of entrapment, and it highlights Mara’s fear, helplessness, and desire for freedom.

I enjoyed this standalone fantasy and think it will appeal to readers who like young adult fantasies with a great enemies-to-lovers romance. I also think people who like books with cool magic systems and political drama will enjoy the book. Thanks so much to NetGalley, Tor Teen, and Jillian Boehme for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I don't often read standalones, so it was very nice to read a book for once that wasn't a deep/long investment in world building and characters. To enjoy a story as just that, a story. A brief ride with some new fun people, to see where they went.

It was exactly the refreshment I needed after reading long series for ages!

Mara is sweet and likeable, and the romance between her and Alac is slowly built up.

She makes a nice MC, and is not annoyingly incapable or whiney like some can be. I liked seeing her discover her magical capabilities and unravel her family tree.

Alac is also interesting, and watching his personal growth was rewarding. I think both characters were given a good ending.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC of The Stolen Kingdom in exchange for an honect review.

While I'm normally a huge advocate for more self-contained fantasy stories that don't require sequels/trilogies, this book needed to be two books. The Stolen Kingdom sets itself up to be a well written take on the "fantasy character ripped away from normal quiet life when they find out they have magical powers has to kill a leader but accidentally falls in love while acting as a spy" trope, but so many things are rushed. Normally I'm okay with a bit of instaromance in these kinds of books, but because Boehme has clearly come up with a more complex, dynamic relationship that the plot needs to function, we flip from hatred to love to hatred to love way too quickly way too many times because of the short page count. This should have been 2 books so we could actually get to know the character and world. It would have fixed every issue I had with it.

This book was a fast and entertaining read for the most part but I felt like it was a little too, YA. It seemed too innocent for the plot of the story.

Mara was smart, and likeable and I love reading about MC's who plot and think things through. She didn't seem young or out of her league. The romance was sweet but it lacked passion, which added to why it seems like the book is for younger readers.

I think this was a pretty good stand alone read but I think it would've been more enjoyable if the author slowed a bit with pacing and focused on the world building and created a slower burn for the romance between Mara and Alac.

The Stolen Kingdom tells the story of second prince Alac and the vineyard owner’s daughter Mara. Both have a secret, Alac doesn’t want to be a prince and Mara has a talent for encouraging her family’s grapes to magically grow. Mara learns her magic gives her a claim to the throne and a plot to overthrow the king is set into motion. However, the king is linked with a mysterious magic that must be kept contained. When the coup does not go as planned, Alac and Mara must fight to control the dangerous magic now sweeping the kingdom.

The Stolen Kingdom is an interesting standalone containing many classic fantasy tropes. It ultimately missed the mark with me, but I do think younger YA readers might enjoy this more. The romance happens quickly and I found it hard to connect with the two main characters. My favorite part of this book was the dangerous magic, it was very compelling and mysterious. I would have enjoyed seeing more character development and slowing the pacing so that we could see more of Mara’s training, Alac and Mara’s friendship, and Alac’s relationship with his family. I also wish there had been more diverse and LGBTQ+ representation included. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but this could be a great place to start for a young YA reader looking for a beginner fantasy book. The Stolen Kingdom releases March 2, 2021. Thank you to Jillian Boehme, Tor Teen, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Standalone fantasy is so rare and I really enjoyed this one. I loved the idea of stolen magic, and the espionage in this book was fun and exciting. I think this will be a great one to recommend to fantasy fans!

I was very impressed with this book. It wasn’t something I would normally grab, but I’m excited that I did.

I really enjoyed Mara’s character. She was very unique. She has an interesting power that you wouldn’t expect an author to create, but it was done beautifully. I loved Alac’s character. He didn’t like what his father did and I loved his part in the book.

I especially loved the romance in this book. I loved how they grew together and I loved watching their romance blossom.

This book suprised me very much. It had a great world building. Strong characters and an amazing plot. It was very easy to read and sucked you right in. You just couldn't stop reading, you wanted to know what happens next. It was really wonderful and i can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will start off by saying that I almost didn't read this book. If you find yourself in the first few chapters of the book and unsure whether you want to keep reading, I encourage you to give yourself through chapter 7 before you call it quits. I was struggling to find interest in the book until about chapter 6, then I was intrigued and wanted to see how everything would play out. I'm glad I did. It was a fast read after chapter 6.

Maralyth is a vintner's daughter who doesn't realize that the magic she carries is from a bloodline thought to be lost and stolen. When she is kidnapped and told that she is the rightful heir to the throne of Perin Faye, she agrees (against her will) to a plot involving the murder of the king and his sons. What she doesn't expect is to find one of the sons, Alac, to be kind and charming. She also doesn't expect him to catch her doing what he considers "good" magic. He then asks her to help him understand and stop the stolen magic that runs in his family from king to king. As the days drawer nearer to the coup against the king, Maralyth realizes that in killing the king and his sons, the magic will have no body to inhabit and will be loose to destroy all of Perin Faye. Her fear of the stolen magic and her feelings for Alac are what propel her to stop Alac from drinking the poison. Maralyth's decision has unforeseen consequences though when she finds herself on the run after Alac realizes that she was part of the plot to kill his father and brother. While on the run, she learns that Alac did not perform the ritual to inhabit the magic. She watches as the magic destroys the things around her, including her people. Despite being wanted for murder, Maralyth finds herself needing Alac to help her in order to stop the stolen magic from killing everyone and everything.

I liked that the story was told from both Maralyth and Alac's point of view. I enjoy hearing how both the main characters think and how they feel about each other. Maralyth is a strong, female character who cares for others and in doing the right thing. Alac is a little hot-headed and definitely lets his heart make most of his decisions, but he makes a good counterpart to Maralyth. I also think the dual point of views work well for pushing the story forward. It kept me turning the pages to find out what happened next, especially when Maralyth was on the run from Alac.

I wouldn't say that this story was by any means an absolute must read, but it was compelling and captivating and it still deserves five stars.

3/5

In a kingdom where magic is forbidden to all but the king, a young girl hides a terrible secret. Raised since she was a child on her father’s vineyard, Maralyth has always known she possessed magic, an act that could endanger herself and her family if discovered. Upon finding out that the very magic she’s been taught to hide is proof of an ancestry worthy of contending for the throne, she is immediately entangled in a cruel plot to supplant its current ruler. To do so means courting death, and the outcome far more deadly if she fails.

Now I’m all for court intrigue. Never has it been said that I am not a fan of drama. Mix all that together with ill intentions, and a sinister plot that threatens the current state of governance, and I’m sold. For the most part, The Stolen Kingdom hit the brief on what it was trying to accomplish. It’s a short and sweet standalone that packs quite a punch, all in under four hundred pages. The characters are likable, with the arc of the main character being perhaps my favorite thing in the novel. Just really here for stories about women reclaiming their power and then using it to serve their own interests. There is something about that that never fails to entertain me. Where this story inevitably falls short though, is in everything below the surface level of the novel. The world building was incredibly underdeveloped, and most of the supporting characters lacked the depth that was needed of them. This is clearly the outcome of an overambitious plot that tried to cater to so many different audiences. Not saying that a project like that is impossible to accomplish, but to execute something of that nature requires a steady hand. Each element felt that it either had too much attention paid to its exposition, or not enough. The romance for example, came so far out of the left field I could not enjoy it at all. Not only did the two love interests lack enough romantic chemistry, but the development of their relationship was devoid of any real substance. Altogether a let down seeing as the romance was what drew me into this in the first place. Generally speaking, this will probably be a hit or a miss for most people, a risk I think comes with reading any standalone.

Trigger warnings: blood, violence, gore, murder, death of a main character, abduction, self harm

What I loved
- The story.
- The twist at the end.
- Alac.
- The pace
- Simple magic system. With not too much jargon.

What could be better
- The descriptive writing. There were parts of the book we didn’t need certain bits of information. Some of it felt too much like it was just filling pages.
- Maralyth, she didn’t resonate. She felt cold. Maybe that was intentional though??
- We need a little more chemistry between the 2 MC’s. As a reader you need to feel it in your bones. That there’s a spark. A fuse. Anything!
- Not enough world building..


I did really enjoy this. But it took a while to get into. The end twist was good and I didn’t see it coming so that’s always good.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Macmillian-Tor/Forge for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Maralyth is a winemakers daughter who won't inherit the vineyard despite her love of the process. The vineyard will go to her brother. Yet Maralyth has a secret. One that has kept her families vineyard prosperous, despite the king's tax.

When Maralyth is given a opportunity to overthrow the king who's stolen power is her birth right, she has to make choices between the family she's been stolen from and the one who stole from her.

Alec is second in line to the stolen magic that frightens an entire kingdom. Once his brother is married and his wife produces an heir, Alec is free to do as he pleases. Except a plan to put the true heir on the throne throws Alec into a position that her never wanted.

I enjoyed this book. The romance was there in a very YA sort of way (lots of blushing and heated bellies). Overall a decent plot and I will be keeping an eye out for the next in the series!

3.5 stars
Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC.

Mara lives on her families Vinyard. Her mother had passed away years before which left her to do the kitchen duties. She is soon abducted by one of the vineyard workers and taken to a Lord at the palace. There so uncovers some of her families history.

For the most part this book was enjoyable. I felt like it was a but rushed in some of the areas. The romance is quick to happen and there wasn't much back story to the magical system or Mara's family line. I'd say this book is a standalone but the author could easily write a second or have a spin off. I'd be interested in both.

I feel that I have already seen everything The Stolen Kingdom attempted to do in other books, and other authors did i much better. There was very little character development, and I'm so tired of the "we just met but we're instantly soulmates" storyline for teenagers. None of the characters were fleshed out or interesting, and there wasn't a good enough plot to save the story.

For a hundred years, the once-prosperous kingdom of Perin Faye has suffered under the rule of greedy and power-hungry Thungrave kings. Maralyth Graylaern, a vinter’s daughter, has no idea her hidden magical power is proof of a secret bloodline and claim to the throne.

I loved this magical story—the perfect fantasy adventure I needed to read. I absolutely adored the romance between the main characters. I could not read this book fast enough!

The Stolen Kingdom is a pretty simple fantasy story for younger readers. Unfortunately, I found it too simple for my liking, the character development a bit odd, even disturbing in one particular case, and the world-building quite weak. I also fervently wished the writing style had less telling and more showing. I also couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the plot lines seemed very similar to other very well-known fantasy novels.

The story follows young Maralyth, who grows up on a very famous family vineyard. Maralyth loves the vineyard with all her heart, and even uses magic to help the grapes and vines along, despite her late mother’s intense, lifelong fears over the fact that her daughter has magic. One day, despite her mother’s many warnings, Maralyth is finally caught using her magic and kidnapped. To her surprise, her magic comes from the Dallowyn bloodline, meaning she is the rightful heir to the stolen throne, and its titular kingdom. With the safety of her family’s safety threatened if she chooses not to take up her role as rightful Queen, Maralyth reluctantly joins the plans for a coup and begins her royalty training.

This plotline gave me really strong The Queen of the Tearling vibes, but it just doesn’t compare to the other young adult novel. We don’t see any of Maraylth’s royalty training, which I think I can safely assume would need to be very intense, as she grew up on a vineyard, sometimes working out in the vines with male crew members, but spending most of her time in the kitchen. Unfortunately, we are just told in passing that her lessons on etiquette, manners, and the important families are given to Maralyth at some point. This is in stark contrast to Kelsea, the heroine from The Queen of the Tearling, who spent her entire life in hiding, training, until she was ready to take back the throne.

It wasn’t in these plans for her to fall for the King’s second son, Alac. Maralyth and Alac are instantly attracted to each other. Coincidentally, the prince also has a keen interest in wine-making and hates the dark magic that consumes his family after they stole it from the rightful royal line. Outside of resenting losing his father and brother to the grip of this magic, and his interest in winemaking, there’s not a whole lot to Alac. Maralyth, with her caring heart and quiet observance, is the stronger character.

“Regardless of my attempts at guarding my heart, he’d wormed his way in. If I landed on the throne, I would spend the rest of my life regretting the loss of this funny, kindhearted, thoughtful prince who defied everything I’d come to believe about him and his family.”

I wish I could say readers are in for a treat to watch these two on a star-crossed lovers romantic collision course, as Maralyth and the nobles supporting the Dallowyn bloodline prepare for the coup, but they just aren’t. Maralyth and Alac are really just another case of instalove, with the two only interacting on a handful of occasions throughout the mere two weeks that they know each other. But it’s not their stilted courtship and shallow instalove that bothered me the most, it was what came after the coup attempt. Instead of being happy that Maralyth, the girl he has feelings for, saved his life during the culling of the rest of the family, Alac is furious at her betrayal and imagines a whole slew of violent things he wants to do to her in recompense, all in first person:

“I wanted to take her by the hair and slam her into the ground. Yell at her face until she shrank away, small and defeated. Throw her from a high wall and watch her fall.”

Yikes, just yikes. I couldn’t help but to be very disturbed and alarmed by Alac’s thoughts. Clearly Alac was not the prince charming he appeared to be. I was even more appalled and concerned for Maralyth when she reentered a relationship with him. I was very taken aback by his feelings, and clearly Maralyth obviously has no idea about the inner murderous thoughts of Alac. I honestly don’t know why anyone thought these violent urges about the main female character, especially those of the main male protagonist/love interest and not some evil villain were a good idea to publish, let alone in a novel geared toward impressionable younger audiences. My only guess was that perhaps the author was going for a bit of Red Wedding feeling from Game of Thrones, as the coup does take place at a wedding. Perhaps the author was just hoping to make her characters appear deeply hurt and conflicted, but it very much missed the mark, and instead made the main love interest look like a potential murderer. It felt much more like writing the beginning of a vengeance arc for Alac, than him still being in love with Maralyth and conflicted about the role she had in the killing of his family.

As an adult, I really couldn’t ignore Alac’s statements, combined with his obsession with having the woman he supposedly loved executed for the death of a family he never really liked anyways. Because of all of his inner thoughts, the happy ending of the novel, with Alac and Maralyth kissing me made me feel a bit ill. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would harm or worse, murder Maralyth at the first opportunity. Not a concern I like to have in my romances. And she allows him to leave and to study winemaking with her family, who has been used to hold her hostage before, so clearly no lesson has been learned there. To me, this situation seems more like a setup for future horrible political betrayal and takeover in a sequel than an actual happy ending.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to be said for the rest of the cast of characters either. Other characters are one dimensional and flat, only showing up when it’s convenient to move the plot forward in some manner. To make matters worse, we are told more about them than we are actually shown. For instance, we are flat out told, not shown, why Alac likes his best friend:

“That’s what I liked about Tucker–I could say things about my royal sibling that would normally be frowned upon at best, and he didn’t miss a beat.”

Alac’s best friend serves only as his personal guard when it’s convenient to need a guard in the story. He also serves as a confidant to the prince, but I know nothing else about the character outside of his service to his prince. We are not told about his family, his training, or his relationship with anyone other than the prince. Again, their friendship reminded me of a very pale imitation of another novel’s friendship, that of Prince Dorian and Chaol Westfield’s in the Throne of Glass series. Other characters aren’t much better off, with Maralyth’s father only being a tool to be used against her, and her brother only made another appearance at the end to have her graciously bestow upon him a position as a council member. And this was more to demonstrate what a great and wise Queen Maralyth was then for any other purpose. There’s simply no depth to secondary characters, and they are merely used as plot devices.

Sadly, the world-building doesn’t make up for the lackluster, and odd in the case of Alac, character development. Though The Stolen Kingdom tells us how important it is that Alac’s family, the usurpers of the kingdom are overthrown, there’s not really much talk about how big the kingdom is, the kind of upheaval that happened when they murdered the last of the Dallowyn line, or how little they care for their subjects. Readers know nothing about if other kingdoms would like to see their rule overthrown and would support Maralyth’s coup, or anything else. After reading The Stolen Kingdom, I know nothing about the name of the world, the kingdom, or how the world would be affected by a coup. All we are told, in passing, is that every century or so is that a Dallowyn pretender tries to stake a claim on the throne and a resulting rebellion results, which makes me think the author has read The Wheel of Time series more than anything. But it doesn’t seem like there are any lasting effects of these rebellions as far as I can tell. As a result, I really wasn’t that invested in Maralyth’s ploy. The stakes just didn’t seem that high.

The magic system has a bit more work put into it, but it is still only bare bones. We learn that the Dallowyn magic comes from the Holy Gods themselves, and that it is neither good or bad. The fact that Alac’s family, the Thangraves, murdered a Dallowyn king, who had made a deal with them to share the magic with them, is what made this stolen magic turn dark. That dark magic has cursed the Thangrave family ever since. Somehow, Maralyth can use the purer version of this magic, despite the Thangraves having supposedly stolen it, and doesn’t really need any training to learn how to use it. She just picks it up naturally as a child, and it becomes stronger over time. Knowing of her daughter’s true lineage, her late mother, who lived the rest of her life in disguise, warned Maralyth from using it for her own protection.

Even after reading The Stolen Kingdom I’m not really sure what the purpose of it was or who exactly the intended audience was. I’m not certain if it was supposed to be primarily a story of political intrigue, a romance, a tale of revenge, or a fantasy novel. What I do know is that it does not do any of these things particularly well. I also found it confusing that such a simplistic novel, especially for a fantasy story, seemed to have a lot more adult themes, such as kidnapping, graphic depictions and wishes for violence, and even the main character dealing with the unwanted affections of an older man. I feel that The Stolen Kingdom was trying to hit as hard and emotionally, as Game of Thrones, but it doesn’t even have an iota of the complexity or development to do so. It is also marketed as a young adult novel, but I don’t feel it is intricate enough to be considered one, despite the sometimes more adult subject matter. I wish The Stolen Kingdom had decided more resolutely what it wanted to be, a romance novel with light fantasy elements, a coming of age novel with a strong heroine, a political fantasy novel with tons of intrigue, revenge, and scheming, or a novel suitable for young readers. In its failure to decide, the novel truly stymies itself, and is more of a perplexing read than an entertaining or enjoyable one.

I wish The Stolen Kingdom had spent more time on developing every part of the novel, to be honest–from the world-building down to the most minimal side character. What was a good idea of star-crossed lovers, magic, rival claims to the throne, and a young woman coming into her own missed the mark, especially on the romance note. To me, it seemed more plausible that the novel ended political betrayal or domestic violence than with the happy ending it seemed to want to push at the same time it inexplicably made its male protagonist a villain.

If not for the murderous thoughts for one of the narrators, Alac, I would have said that The Stolen Kingdom might be a good place for very young teens to start their foray into fantasy. But I can’t in good conscience recommend this novel to younger readers, as I wouldn’t want my young teen thinking the romance between Alac and Maralyth is a healthy relationship model. Younger readers looking to explore fantasy would be better off sticking to authors like Tamora Pierce or Robin McKinley. I think if The Stolen Kingdom, which had so much potential in the root of its idea, had simply spent more time on creating its universe, bigger repercussions that did not concern violence between love interests, giving characters more of a role outside of each other, and writing with a more set audience in mind, I would’ve liked it a lot better.

I do love a great YA fantasy novel and this would mark off a lot of ticks for me. The author built a great world and the characters were well written. The first part of the story was a little slow, but it did pick up. I loved the storyline, at times it did lag, but overall I would recommend this book. It was a well written and a can't wait to read what's next!