Review: Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Legacy by Cayla Kluver and Narrated by Anna Chlumsky

Legacy Trilogy #1

YA historical fantasy, Published 2009

Challenges: YA Historical Fiction, Audio Book Challenge, Mt. TBR

Shelf Life: 7 months – bought 9/20/11

Read April 2012, 12.5 hours unabridged

Story: 4/5

Narration: 5/5

Book Blurb:

I noticed his eyes. They were blue, sharp and intense. Despite the youthful glows of his suntanned face, his eyes were cold and unfriendly, suggesting he had great experience in the world and was now expecting the worst.In her seventeenth year, Princess Alera of Hytanica faces one duty: to marry the man who will be king. But her father’s choice of suitor fills her with despair.When the palace guard captures and intruder—a boy her age with steel-blue eyes, hailing from her kingdom’s greatest enemy—Alera is alarmed…and intrigued. But she could not have guessed that their clandestine meetings would unveil the dark legacy shadowing both their lands.In this mystical world of court conspiracies and blood magic, loyalties will be tested. Courage won’t be enough. And as the battle begins for everything Alera holds dear, love may be the downfall of a kingdom.

Thoughts:

I originally started this book back toward the end of last year, and ended up setting it aside for something else.  The story just never grabbed me, despite the fact that I really wanted it to.  When I saw that it had been narrated by Anna Chlumsky, I decided to give it another try and thoroughly enjoyed the story.  Anna really does a great job narrating the story.  Like many first books in a series like this, the plot did seem to drag for the first half of the book – I was dying to know if there was going to be any real action at all.  The beginning of the book did grab me, but it seemed to take forever for the next real thing to happen.

There is a great attention to detail, which I did enjoy, but was ready for something exciting to happen.  I was often disappointed by Alera’s actions because in Hytanican society, women have very limited roles and she has yet to defy her father, the king.  There were many twists and turns that happened that I was definitely not expecting.  I was expecting a little more romance or love triangle as well, but most of the storyline revolves around Alera being married off to someone who she despises.  By the end I just knew I had to know how Alera would deal with the consequences of her fate.  With Cayla being such a young writer, you just know her next works will only get better and better.

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