Author: M. Dalto
Publisher: The Parliament House
Publication Date: 11 December 2018
Pages: 246
Format: eBook - EPUB
Genre: Fantasy
Source: ARC via NetGalley
Two thousand years ago, the Prophecy of Fire and Light foretold the coming of the Queen Empress who would lead the Empire into a time of peace and tranquility. But instead of the coming of a prosperous world, a forbidden love for the Empress waged a war that ravaged the land, creating a chasm between the factions, raising the death toll of innocent lives until the final, bloody battle.
Centuries later, Alexandra, a twenty-two-year-old barista living in Boston, is taken to an unfamiliar realm of mystery and magic where her life is threatened by Reylor, its banished Lord Steward. She crosses paths with Treyan, the arrogant and seductive Crown Prince of the Empire, and together they discover how their lives, and their love, are so intricately intertwined by a Prophecy set in motion so many years ago.
Alex, now the predestined Queen Empress Alexstrayna, whose arrival was foretold by the Annals of the Empire, controls the fate of her new home as war rages between the Crown Prince and Lord Steward. Either choice could tear her world apart as she attempts to keep the Empire's torrid history from repeating itself. In a realm where betrayal and revenge will be as crucial to her survival as love and honor, Alex must discover whether it is her choice - or her fate - that determines how she survives the Empire's rising conflicts.
I did um and ah a little before requesting Two Thousand Years on NetGalley. The premise sounded good, but I was on the fence. In the end the good reviews decided me, but sadly I didn't feel the book in the way those readers did. First off, the good points. I really enjoyed the set up of the story, with a normal young woman swept out of her life and taken to another realm to fulfill a prophecy. It had all the makings of a great tale. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to care much about the characters. I didn't hate them, but they didn't thrill me, and I found the progression of the story pretty predictable, so it struggled to hold my attention. Mostly, I disliked Reylor. I wanted to understand him and his motives more. He came across a little two-dimensional. He did some truly awful things, but I didn't feel I ever understood why, except that they made him 'the villain'. I would have liked to have understood the world of the Empire and the Prophecy more than I did. Often when things happened it seemed only to be because it served the plot and what the author wanted to have occur next. There were also a few grammatically niggles, with incorrect tense cropping up here and there.
I am hovered between two and three stars on this one, but in the end I have gone with three, simply because I did like the idea even if the book didn't quite come together overall for me. Plus, there are plenty of positive reviews on this one, so just because it didn't suit me, it doesn't mean other readers won't find something to enjoy here.
No comments:
Post a Comment