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The Princess and the Paladin
Gail has never in all her life wanted to be queen. As the twenty-third daughter of the Karbaan of NaRasch, she is neither rich nor prominent within her family, and content to keep it that way. Far from the line of succession, her only goals in life are to remain unremarkable and avoid doing anything that might cost her head. Therefore, no one is more surprised than she when a summons comes to her from the royal city, and the Karbaan gives the province of Gaeline to her for her seventeenth birthday.
An extravagant gift quickly turns into an inconvenient curse when her father dies only a matter of days later. His successor, Gail’s brother, inherits an uncertain crown and immediately sets to work securing his rule. In a midnight trial he convicts Gail of treason and imprisons her within the formidable Shadokoep, claiming the crown of Gaeline for his own.
But captivity might not be as permanent for Gail as her brother would like. The Paladin has in mind to abduct a Princess of NaRasch. When he learns that there is one held in Shadokoep, the undefeated fire-wielding warrior is faced with an opportunity he cannot pass up – to break into Shadokoep and humiliate the Karbaan by stealing his prized prisoner.
An extravagant gift quickly turns into an inconvenient curse when her father dies only a matter of days later. His successor, Gail’s brother, inherits an uncertain crown and immediately sets to work securing his rule. In a midnight trial he convicts Gail of treason and imprisons her within the formidable Shadokoep, claiming the crown of Gaeline for his own.
But captivity might not be as permanent for Gail as her brother would like. The Paladin has in mind to abduct a Princess of NaRasch. When he learns that there is one held in Shadokoep, the undefeated fire-wielding warrior is faced with an opportunity he cannot pass up – to break into Shadokoep and humiliate the Karbaan by stealing his prized prisoner.
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2013
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 18, 2013
Kyra's Star Ratings:
World-building: * * * * *
Writing: * * * *
Story: * * *
Characters: * * *
(I was provided with a free copy of this book for the purpose of giving an honest review.)
The Princess and the Paladin takes readers on a journey through the great Empire of NaRasch at a time of impending revolution. Gail, the youngest of the old Emperor's multitude of children, is given an unexpected gift: a kingdom of her very own. When the old Emperor's oldest son takes the throne, Gail is suspected of treason and imprisoned. She's rescued from her imprisonment by a warrior in the thrall of a mysterious sword - the Paladin, which begins her adventure through the lands of the NaResch Empire.
Fantasy novels can often be loosely grouped into character-based, plot-based, and world-based novels. The Princess and the Paladin reads very much like a world-based novel, in which the main focus is on the history, geography, and political tensions in the Empire. As Gail is handed off from one group of people to another, we get an extensive tour of the land and learn a lot about its history, including the tensions that are now leading these various groups to join together in rebellion against the Empire. There's some spectacular scenery and exciting action along the way on Gail's dangerous journey. I particularly enjoyed where she is taken white-water rafting (or canoeing) along a river through the mountains. There's also dragons and some other cool creatures.
The weak point of the story is Gail herself. We follow her on her adventures, and she's the central character of the story, but we know very little about her personality or what she's thinking or feeling or, especially, what she wants. She also doesn't really make any of her own decisions; she's just taken from one place to another by the other characters. This lack of ability to determine her own fate is an issue that comes up a few times - she objects from time to time over not being given any choice in what she does or where she goes. The others tell her that she does have a choice, but the choices she's given are really no choices at all, and she just goes along with what everyone else tells her would be best for her to do. According to the author's notes, The Princess and the Paladin is the first part of a longer work, The Fall of NaResch, so I assume that later on, Gail moves into a position of having more control over her life and her choices. She does start to come more into her own as she begins to master the magical sword Maroward, and has a lot of potential to become a powerful character later on.
The Paladin storyline and the rebellion storyline don't seem to be connected to each other, but I assume they tie in together more later on in The Fall of NaResch.
Besides Gail, there are a number of other characters in the book who are brought to life quite vividly. I especially liked the three young Pirates (who are the ones who take Gail on her white-water canoeing adventure). The writing is clear, with well-done descriptions that bring this vast, magical land to life. There's a lot to like about this book, and it will be interesting to see how the threads of the story laid out here develop later on.
World-building: * * * * *
Writing: * * * *
Story: * * *
Characters: * * *
(I was provided with a free copy of this book for the purpose of giving an honest review.)
The Princess and the Paladin takes readers on a journey through the great Empire of NaRasch at a time of impending revolution. Gail, the youngest of the old Emperor's multitude of children, is given an unexpected gift: a kingdom of her very own. When the old Emperor's oldest son takes the throne, Gail is suspected of treason and imprisoned. She's rescued from her imprisonment by a warrior in the thrall of a mysterious sword - the Paladin, which begins her adventure through the lands of the NaResch Empire.
Fantasy novels can often be loosely grouped into character-based, plot-based, and world-based novels. The Princess and the Paladin reads very much like a world-based novel, in which the main focus is on the history, geography, and political tensions in the Empire. As Gail is handed off from one group of people to another, we get an extensive tour of the land and learn a lot about its history, including the tensions that are now leading these various groups to join together in rebellion against the Empire. There's some spectacular scenery and exciting action along the way on Gail's dangerous journey. I particularly enjoyed where she is taken white-water rafting (or canoeing) along a river through the mountains. There's also dragons and some other cool creatures.
The weak point of the story is Gail herself. We follow her on her adventures, and she's the central character of the story, but we know very little about her personality or what she's thinking or feeling or, especially, what she wants. She also doesn't really make any of her own decisions; she's just taken from one place to another by the other characters. This lack of ability to determine her own fate is an issue that comes up a few times - she objects from time to time over not being given any choice in what she does or where she goes. The others tell her that she does have a choice, but the choices she's given are really no choices at all, and she just goes along with what everyone else tells her would be best for her to do. According to the author's notes, The Princess and the Paladin is the first part of a longer work, The Fall of NaResch, so I assume that later on, Gail moves into a position of having more control over her life and her choices. She does start to come more into her own as she begins to master the magical sword Maroward, and has a lot of potential to become a powerful character later on.
The Paladin storyline and the rebellion storyline don't seem to be connected to each other, but I assume they tie in together more later on in The Fall of NaResch.
Besides Gail, there are a number of other characters in the book who are brought to life quite vividly. I especially liked the three young Pirates (who are the ones who take Gail on her white-water canoeing adventure). The writing is clear, with well-done descriptions that bring this vast, magical land to life. There's a lot to like about this book, and it will be interesting to see how the threads of the story laid out here develop later on.
February 21, 2014
Princess Gail of NaRasch is summoned to The Karbaan, her father, where he bestows on her birthday gift she never could have imagined becoming Queen of Gaeline. Gail barely understand much about being a princess much less a queen. This matters little to Gail's brother Groschen, who becomes Karbaan, upon their father's death. Gail is summoned before Groschen on false charges of treason and conspiracy. Gail is imprisoned by Groshen no matter her protests that these accusations are false. Gail is confused by her surroundings and why Groschen would imprison her so. The Paladin~Leordon breaks Gail out of her prison and interchanges it with another prison with Bandits of the forest. Gail knows little history outside of Empire of Vessera. Gail gains many friendships as well as unknown enemies. Will Gail claim her kingdom? Will Groschen~The Karbaan stop hunting Gail? Who are Gail's friends? Can The Paladin be stopped? Can war be prevented? Your answers await you in The Princess and the Paladin.
This fantasy novel has all the classic elements fundamental to a good fantasy novel:Evil ruler, Rebellion, Warriors, Heroes, Magic, Heroines, and Swords. I appreciated the fact that the author didn't divulge key elements in the story too quickly or too slow either. Gail, our heroine, was and is a truly likeable character from first page to last page. Gail's eclectic and unique friends only added spice to this wonderful story. Groschen and Leordon were and are truly evil characters without remorse. Good without the balance of Evil makes for a very boring or little interesting story in my opinion. I look forward to more of this series in the future.
This fantasy novel has all the classic elements fundamental to a good fantasy novel:Evil ruler, Rebellion, Warriors, Heroes, Magic, Heroines, and Swords. I appreciated the fact that the author didn't divulge key elements in the story too quickly or too slow either. Gail, our heroine, was and is a truly likeable character from first page to last page. Gail's eclectic and unique friends only added spice to this wonderful story. Groschen and Leordon were and are truly evil characters without remorse. Good without the balance of Evil makes for a very boring or little interesting story in my opinion. I look forward to more of this series in the future.
November 18, 2013
A princess who inherited a kingdom, betrayed by her brother and ended up on a quest that she has no control over. It seems she is just a pawn for other kings/queens including her grandfather who wants his throne back. I understood that they are planning a rebellion, gathering soldiers and the like in order to overthrow a ruthless Karbaan but there is no clear progression of the war in this book (maybe in the next one?) It just focused more about her traveling from one place to another for short periods of time, making camp, eating, exhaustion, breaking camp, replacing clothes/ shoes and doing it all over again. I finally cheered when the princess was finally trained to fight and use her sword but it didn't get to the point where she was strong enough to fight the paladin herself. There's also no strong tension/connection between the main character and the paladin except their swords. He was just mentioned briefly at the beginning chapters until page 147 and then abruptly appeared again on the last pages. I liked the concept of the story and especially the part where they encountered huge cats, dragons and phoenix but the ending fell short from my expectations. Still a worthy read and will most likely read the next book.
November 7, 2013
I liked the book, but I'm not sure I liked where this book ended. It made it seem like part of a book versus a whole book. I'm not sure I'd say it left it at a cliff-hanger, but it didn't feel complete either. I liked the characters and the settings (geographical details were added in as you went along). I'll be interested to see where this story goes from here.
I was sent an electronic version of the book by the author in exchange for this review.
I was sent an electronic version of the book by the author in exchange for this review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews