Captured

The Divided Realms #1

by Maggie L. Wood

Fifteen-year-old Willow Kingswell has been listening to her Nana's tales of faeries and enchanted kingdoms for as long as she can remember. But when she is magically transported to the realm of Mistolear, she is stunned to learn that the stories were true, and that she is actually a princess. Suddenly, Willow has to fit into a royal family she didn't know she had, deal with customs she doesn't understand and sort out her feelings for Brand, the handsome knight who has sworn to protect her.
On top of everything, she may also be the key to saving Mistolear from a terrifying spell. The nefarious faerie prince Nezeral has pitted two kingdoms against each other in a life-or-death chess match, in which people are the game pieces. As a pawn, Willow now glows with the light of the game and must find the courage and cleverness to battle Nezeral before her loved ones fall. Could a meager pawn really be the most powerful piece on the board? "Captured" is the first book in the thrilling Divided Realms series.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Magic, Fiction, Adventure, Fairies

284 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2011

About the author

Maggie L. Wood lives in London, Ontario, where she writes in between doing the cooking and cleaning, reading her favorite YA authors, and watching her favorite AMC, HBO, and Netflix shows. Her books, Captured and The Darkening, of The Divided Realms series have had two different publishers and have both been orphaned by their former publishers before the 3rd book in the series (Auralict) could be published. Maggie has decided to publish Auralict and the Divided Realms series herself as e-Books, and as paperbacks through Amazon's CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform!

Reviews

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captured by Maggie L Wood is a fantastic retelling of a game of chess in a YA setting.

Back when there was an indie book store with fantastic deals, this book was one a giant cardboard cut out bookshelf with a for sale sign on it. At the time, I wasn't a giant reader but I was getting bored with Twilight and vampire novels in general so I picked this book up. Little did I know, that I'd become obsessed, the third book would be in development for years and years and years and I'd forget this book was on the back of one of my shelves for YEARS. So, like I tend to do - I avoid my four giant to-read book shelves with physical copies and reread some old "classics".

This YA book is truly incredible - yes it's your typical romance, adventure, action and thriller story but instead of vampires or fairy tales - it's chess!! I'm horrible at chess, but I love seeing someone make a book around it! It's original, and while it's probably been done before but I've never found the book, I really enjoyed it!

Our lead isn't just some frail princess falling in love, no she's ready to be a superhero in her own realm! At this time, most of the books I was reading were weak girls who just wanted a boyfriend. When I picked up this book and saw a strong heroine, I was amazed. And I still am! It's such a great, unique story and it's upsetting seeing that barely anyone has read or reviewed it!

This is a 110% recommended read from me. I would love to see more books by Maggie L Wood popping up on bookshelves all around the nation! She has a unique look on the world and her books aren't the usual silly vampire story. If she had room to grow and write more books, I'm sure her writing ability would sky rocket and rival some of the best.

Five out of five stars.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fantasy novel. I was drawn right into the characters and plot, and I think you will be, too.

[Awesome Klar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book was exceptionally good. The author did a very good job at describing what was happening.I really thought that I was right there watching the characters. Basically it was awesome!!!

[Arooj · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was little, instead of wishing to be a princess, I instead wanted to be an awesome superhero with awesome powers. Even now after having grown up I still wish this. However, there is this teeny, tiny part of me who wishes to be a princess. Really. Captured isn't only a book about a girl finding out she's a princess-it's also about a whole other fantasy world. And I love me a good fantasy book!

The synopsis doesn't exactly do a good job of describing the book, so let me explain. Willow is a normal teenage girl who has lived her whole life hearing stories about this fantasy world her Nana has created. One day she gets sucked into this fantasy world and realizes that not only is it real-she's a princess. And that there's this huge family feud going on in the form of a chess game. Yup. Chess. Willow learns that she's the only one who could stop this feud because she was apparently born for this reason.

First of all, despite the rating I gave this book and what I'm going to say later, I actually enjoyed this book a lot. I like fantasy and dreaming about being a human who's actually a very important princess. So this book was very fun to read. However. There were some things that kept me from loving this book. The plot was good, but there was just so much information to digest that I couldn't keep up and felt confused/lost many times. I liked the whole idea of the Chess game but it's probably more enjoyable for those who actually know how to play Chess. Which I do not. At first I thought "Hey, it's ok, I'm sure it doesn't matter if I have no clue how to play the game." but I felt really left out. Even when the moves of the game was explained, I didn't understand how it affected the game. But, eh, maybe that's just me and my dumb self. Also, there were too many characters. Like, a lot. Queens, Kings, Knights, etc., so a lot of the times I didn't even know who was speaking. The index at the beginning helped though, but not a lot. There were many other things that didn't make sense to me, such as how there was magic even though they said it's all gone and how their world even existed. Still, I liked the idea of the novel but felt it could have been much better.

Like I said earlier, there are a lot of characters so I'll just talk about some main ones. Willow was...a nice girl. But I didn't think she was as special as everyone kept saying she was. I couldn't really connect with her. She just a nice girl, I guess. The one character I was waiting to make his appearance was Brand, Willow's Knight-in-shining-armour. Who's sort of a jerk, but that was expected. I admit, I have a thing for hot Knights who pledge to forever protect you. I'm just a hopeless romantic, I guess. Brand seemed really desperate to be some kind of a hero but I thought he cared too much of what others thought of him. And he was barely there for half of the book, so not much romance was included (awww~). The Kings, Queens and others in this realm were all a blur since I couldn't manage to keep up but I have to say that their decision to give a baby the power to save them somehow was a bit dumb. I mean, why not give it to someone else rather than a kid who won't even understand anything? I don't get it. I also didn't get how they knew nothing about Earth. They should have atleast some knowledge, right? One of them said they knew about molecules, but they don't even know about electricity? Again, many confusing things that weren't properly explained.

The ending wasn't the big epic showdown I was expecting and I didn't really like it. The book sounds a lot like a Disney movie actually (not saying that's a bad thing because I myself actually enjoy Disney shows at my age. Guilty pleasure). It's a light, fun read and more appropriate for younger YA readers. I don't think I'm going to continue the series because I just know I'm going to forget everything, and it wouldn't be fair to read the other books if my heart just wasn't in it.

All in all, it was a very fun book to read and I found myself imagining to be a princess in a castle while reading.

[Julia B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I previously read this book under its former title The Princess Pawn, and was surprised to find that this was the same book -mostly. It was slightly unnerving, because this book is the same book with a new title, however I'm fairly certain that there were minor changes done to it. Before I discus the story itself, I'd just like to say that I perfered the title The Princess Pawn to Captured. The Princess Pawn was a unique, interesting and memorable title. Captured, well, what does that tell you about the book? Nothing. It's not very memorable either. I don't really understand why they republished The Princess Pawn.

However, although I am upset about the change in title, I really like this story. Captured is set in the magical land of Mistolear, where two kingdoms (Gallandra and Keldoran) are at war against their will. A faerie named Nezeral has placed a spell on them so that their kingdoms are transformed into a giant game of chess. The king and queen of both kingdoms become the white and black king and queens on the chess board and members of their court are magically assigned other chess pieces to represent. The queens have all the magic in the land under their control.

Willow has been raised Earth her whole life. She believes the tales her Nana tells her of Mistolear to be fiction. Then one day she is magically transported there. She is a white pawn, and the duty to save both kingdoms has fallen to her. White's queen, Willow's grandmother, has been Captured and as a pawn, Willow is to travel to the other side of the board and be queened. Everyone expects her to be able to save the kingdom, a kingdom she has only just discovered is real.

Willow is a believable and strong heroine. Brand, a knight, and Gemma, Willow's friend are the main supporting characters. Both are loyal to her and aid her on her quest. However, neither is particularly fascinating. The other characters in the book are interesting, but most are not very fleshed out.

This book is a fantasy with elements of romance and adventure that keep it interesting. It borders the line between middle grade and YA, and I would recommend it for readers of both.

Rating: 8.5/10
Characters: 7/10
Premise: 9/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Plot: 8/10
Writing: 8/10

[Arthur Pengerbil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Level: Grade 6-8

It has always been just Willow and her Nana. 15-year-old Willow has grown up listening to her grandmother's fairy tales about a magical realm called Mistolear. Willow used to enjoy the stories but as her grandmother slips further and further into Alzheimer's, hearing Nana talk of a fantasy world as if IT is the reality hurts.

One of her grandmother's fantasies was the "summoning spell" game where you could touch a special crystal and travel to another world. Willow had believed in the game with all her heart...when she was seven.

As her grandmother's illness progresses, Nana insists Willow carry the crystal at all times so they will be ready to travel to Mistolear when the time is right. On the night her Nana died, Willow touched the crystal and wished to be in another world. She woke up in Mistolear where she is greeted as the long lost royal princess who will save the land.



For another tale of a teen thrust into another world try:

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn


For more book reviews from the HPPL Youth Department, click here.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes, a book is happy being a C+. There are books that make a solid attempt at being the next Harry Potter and then there are books that aim much lower and then succeed through less ambition. Captured didn't try to be anything bigger. It saw the competition, dusted itself off, and said "you know what? I'm just going to be a dumb, quick little read a reader will pick up when they're bored and want a time waster for a couple days" and left it at that.

In Captured, Willow Kingswell is just a normal teenager living with her Nana with tales of how her parents mysteriously died in a tragic childhood fire when suddenly she's magically whisked away into a medieval world called Mistolear. The two kingdoms in Mistolear are in thrall in a magical chess game controlled by an evil fae. The rules are simple; there are human beings that act like chess pieces, one of the kings in the kingdoms must be captured, and the losing kingdom has all of its citizens turn into stone. And it turns out, Willow is actually the missing princess and is related to both of the warring royal families. The only shot they have in beating the opposing faction is if they could queen a lowly pawn, and the only one available happens to be Willow herself.

And so the Princess Pawn sets out on her quest with her trusty guides Brand, her knight in shining armor (and is also an actual Knight on the chess board) that is really rude to her at first but soon grows to love her, Gemma, a plucky street urchin who had a really rough home life but doesn't let it break her spirit, and Malvin, the dorky apprentice mage with allergies who ended up being my favorite character in the book just from his sheer delightfulness.

At first glance, this book kind of reminds me of the stories I would write at age fifteen and keep on my hard drive as wish-fulfillment, only spruced up and published. It doesn't try to hide its cliches; it flaunts them and wears them like accessories.

And it actually kinds of succeeds in doing this by adding things not typical to these cliches.

For instance, her Nana was really the nurse from Mistolear sent to protect the princess from harm. Instead of Nana leaving Willow in the dark about her heritage, which happens in too many books with similar premises, she disguises Mistolear as imaginary children games to play with the adopted child and trains her in skills pertaining to the world like chess-playing and horseback riding. Unlike most books where the character transports to another world and can't bring any modern technology to aid them, Willow actually has her laptop with her and uses it a couple times to plan out strategies. The opposing king is not entirely evil so much as just a boisterous man who is feeling hurt over the death of his daughter and is taking it out on the other kingdom. The evil faerie and the good faerie both act like the fae folk in older literature in that they don't really connect too much with humans so much as they just want to prove a point. It's little touches like that that make the book shine.

However, perhaps it lacks those touches in places it needs it, because the main thing that stopped this book from being amazing was the complete lack of world building for Mistolear. From reading the summary blurb, I was picturing something akin to The Looking Glass Wars where the very landscape has been changed to suit the fae's little game and an actual checkerboard wasteland is etched into the world. Maybe the different pieces take on attributes of their pieces, with the King being practically immobile and the pieces that can travel much farther becoming messengers or assassins.

Instead, besides the Queens getting all of the magic (which is kind of odd considering that in chess are pieces that are nearly as powerful as the Queen; why can't the Rook or Bishop get some form of power?), some otherworldly glows applied to the Players, and a scene where the Princess Pawn is unable to move backwards on the board, the chess game is set up and...that's really it. There are some horrifying moments with chess pieces with human faces on them, but they could've done a lot more.

The world-building as a whole for both the locales and the magic is kind of lackluster too. I honestly didn't get a clear picture in my mind of any of the locations except for the really run-down, dirthole of a town in the middle of the book. There are castles, there is a tower keep with a dungeon, but nothing made them stand out. The magic spells cast near the end of the book felt like something was missing. There was just that element that was in some of the storytelling that wasn't in the others.

And then there was all the times I tripped over dangling plot threads that are spread throughout the book and are never explained away. Without giving too much away, there's an untrustworthy relative of the king who ends up becoming a player on the opposite side of the board and the later part of the book becomes a race against time before the pawn captures the king. He even has a goon in one of the towns that sics a mob after our heroes. Sounds like a secondary antagonist the heroine is going to deal with, right?

Nope!

Once Willow meets up with the evil fae and vanquishes him with a spell that's both poetic and kind of terrifying, this character just ceases to exist and no one talks about any potential threat he could still have in the kingdom. You're instead hit with a celebration after the finale and all your questions get swept under the rug. A magic spell caused time to travel differently between Mistolear and Earth and that's why Willow was able to grow at a different pace than the rest of her family members; this is brought up just once and no one addresses things like "what's happening back on Earth?", "is the time abnormality still in place and did months go by back on Earth during this quest?". Things like that are infuriating, especially when the character whisked from the home they've known all their life just doesn't ask anything about these things.

Also, I have to admit, I was not a fan of the romance between Willow and Brand. It did not overshadow the plot the way other YA novels do, but a lot of their interactions didn't feel believable. Brand even disappears halfway through the novel. Since the book makes no attempt at hiding the sequel hook at the conclusion, it would've been more natural to have Brand and Willow become friends in Book 1 and then have their romance blossom in Book 2.

Despite my many complaints, it was an alright book and the good did outweigh the bad. It's a typical cliched medieval fantasy with a snarky heroine and her band of sidekicks including her future love interest and there's magic and swords and faeries. Perfect light, fluffy reading for a rainy day. I just feel it could've been a stronger piece and feel no need to read the sequels for the time being.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was initially worried when I saw that these books had been edited and re-released, however the changes don’t effect the bones of the story and serve only to mature the writing. I was happy to see that I could still enjoy the book so much, especially considering that it has been more than 10 years since I read it for the first time as a kid.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, I wasn’t amused. I thought the whole concept confusing... chess pieces, fairies, humans, etc. but...as I got more involved with the characters and the storyline, it became such an easy read! I really like Willow and Brand. I can’t wait to read more.

[Liana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super awesome! While there was a lot to process in the story, everything was so interestingly developed. I love it all! I'm excited to read the rest of the series! :D

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book surprised me. It was a cute story with a different spin on a fey/human story. Not a lot happening with the characters but I liked that it was different.

[Sarah Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An ordinary teenage girl discovers she’s a princess. And she has magical powers she must learn to use to defeat the bad guy. Oh, and she’s magicked into a fantasy medieval realm.

Sound familiar? Yup, does it me, too. But wait, this bk has an interesting twist. Our heroine Willow belongs to a family cursed to play a game of high-stakes chess. Really high stakes. As in, certain people in the realm represent pawns, rooks, knights, etc. They have a “Game glow” as part of the curse. And if they are “captured,” or so much as scratched by an opponent in the game, they turn into literal chess pieces.

The chess theme is really what sets this bk apart. Willow is a white pawn, but she is related to both the white and black sides. The grand strategy is to have her travel across the lands (across the board), and become “queened.” This means, just like in a game of chess, she will become one of the most powerful pieces in the game – in this case, she’ll have unfathomable magical powers.

The other unique setup is that not all the players in the game want to fight each other. Several of them have another, much harder goal: undo the chess curse by defeating the evil faerie, Nezeral. And Willow may be their last, best hope.

The realm of Mistolear is peopled by interesting characters. I wish the author had more time to go into detail about them, but that’s why there are sequels. We have a foster nanny, a whole album’s worth of relatives (cursed and uncursed) to meet, faeries who may or may not be using Willow for their own purposes, an apprentice mage, and most importantly, our love interest, Brand. Brand is also cursed as a player in this game of chess – a knight. He is obsessed with duty, mainly because he stands accused of betraying Willow’s parents (who are now both chess pieces). Brand is obsessed with protecting Willow and clearing his name, even if it means acting like an ornery prig for the first half of the book. Even though I found the romance between Willow and Brand a little forced, I enjoyed the growth in both these characters.

At first I did not like the character of Willow, but I think this is intentional on the author’s part. When we first meet 15yo Willow, she fails to stand up for a friend who is being teased by a cute guy Willow likes. But this bad beginning does give Willow plenty of room for growth, and the author gives her future opportunities to redeem herself. For example, a resourceful peasant girl, Gemma, helps them on the journey. Will Willow stand up for Gemma when Gemma is beaten and bullied by her employer? Will Willow offer the same kind of friendship in public as she does in private, when palace expectations dictate two girls from such different classes should not be friends? Linked with this is the general notion of self-sacrifice vs. selfishness. Who should Willow side with? And what is she willing to risk for people she just met?

In the end, Willow, with her new magical powers, must face the evil faerie Nezeral lone. And the ending is unexpected.

Overall: an interesting twist on a familiar setup, with a teenage protagonist who grows and matures.

[Mandii · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and I have a funny history. I read it was back when it was still The Princess Pawn and the cover donned not the elegant black, read and white one it does now, but three characters (excluding Willow) that appeared in the book for all of half a chapter. Now its been repackaged, rewritten (not a whole lot, but the difference is notable), and republished. Is it better? Well, perhaps the correct question here is not whether it is better but whether or not it is good. And, as it turns out, the opinion of the ten year old inside me still holds true. It is.

Captured, as it is now known, is a fun, fast, light read that I think any middle-grade girl who likes fantasy would absolutely love. There's nothing graphic in the story, no swearing, no real violence (with the exception of one scene that you don't even really see, just hear), and the diction is simple but effective. The concept of the story being based around a real-life chess game is original and unique, and I almost guarantee that at least one character will steal your heart. For some, it will be the Willow, the princess, some Brand, the knight. For me, it was Malvin, the mage (he was my favourite character when I read the when I was ten, and he still is. Some things never change huh?).

Overall, this book was entertaining. I will give it that. The writing is what you would expect from a kid's book, but the plot moves quickly, and despite Willow and Brand's relationship feeling a little stilted, the foundation for something deeper is definitely established. It's no loss if you choose to give Captured a chance, and who knows? You may be surprised.

[Kara Cardwell]

This was a sweet and short introduction to the Divided Realms series. Early on I was introduced to Willow and in turn introduced to the realms, family, and people (/creatures) she had no idea existed. Therefore, like Willow I didn’t know much about the new world and was forced to cope quickly with the complicated situations.

Everything moved so quickly, but Willow and her companions seemed like a good enough team to handle all kinds of adventure, which I’m looking forward to with the upcoming books in the series.

Until the end of the book I thought the problem in this book would be spread out over the series, but it turns out that it wasn’t the main problem. It was more like a symptom of the main problem, and was solved by the end of the book. I’m not sure how I feel about Willow solving the dilemma by the end of the 1st book.
On one side I thought the ending came too fast. But at the same time, I don’t like when authors drag out a situation so that the same problem can be used throughout the remaining books.

It was nice to begin to learn about this magical world and the history behind it. The information given in Captured reminds me of the beginning stages of a snowball. It’s just starting out, but as long as it keeps on rolling and continues to grow, there’s potential for it to build. And this means bigger romance, adventure, and magic in the next books, which I’m looking forward to!

[Eden · Rating 2 out of 5]

The cover:

It's got potential to be pretty, especially with the contrasting red, black and white. But the Photoshop effect is all too clear around the girl; just from the lighting, you can tell that she wasn't originally from this checkered hall. And somehow the whole shebang looks eerily Breaking Dawn-esque.

The book:

The chess game premise was interesting, but on the whole the writing in this book fails to deliver. The world-building is run-of-the-mill, complete with uselessly exotic names, enough family history to brainwash you and a Medieval-age lack of technology. (Why is it that magic cancels out all forms of modernism?)

Out of all the stock characters, Willow’s love interest Brand is perhaps the most unique, possibly only because he is her love interest — and because he gets turned into a chess piece. However, that removes him from the action halfway through the book, and afterward our interest wanes, even when the antagonist (who is, unrealistically, thoroughly evil) makes his appearance.

The plot movement is very straight-forward and fantasy readers looking for momentary satisfaction won’t be disappointed. There’s nothing wrong with this novel per se; it just could’ve been improved by a large, large margin.

[Manisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with the cover as soon as I saw it, and I thought "it HAS to be good", and guess what? It was! It was so much better than good! This book was just pure creativity( like harry potter)! A teenager who comes to a strange land where she is a princess and realizes that there's a huge real life chess game going on, and she is the pawn who has to go to the other side of the board to become a queen so she can get magical powers and defeat an evil faerie prince so that the Game spell can be lifted and the kingdom's chess people don't turn into marble pieces! It started off really interestingly, and it just kept getting better and better and better, and at the end, I was feeling dazed and all I could think was I HAVE TO READ THE NEXT BOOK!!! I can't wait! The story was very super fast paced, and I felt like something was always happening, and that there was NEVER a dull moment in the book. Oh, and willow! I loved her name, her personality, the way she thinks and her non-idiotic-ness. She is brave, strong, wise, smart, beautiful on the inside (and outside, probably), and I just love how she thinks! She is just the kind of person I like to think I am... Actually, I don't think so, I know so ;D

[Cherise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've followed this series since the first publication of this book as "The Princess Pawn" and always enjoyed the world and magic that Maggie L. Wood created in this story. It's a wonder I never got more into chess as a kid since the first time I read this was in middle school, but I guess I was more caught up in the magic of a fantasy realm than the chess playing itself. This was a re-read for me as i'm finally getting around to reading the last book in this trilogy and wanted to refresh my memory of the previous books before getting into it. I can say it definitely still stands up years later. The way the magic system is described is one of the more intricate and well thought out systems i've encountered in fantasy, which I think was one of the things that's kept me interested in this series for so long. I also love how strong willed Willow is. She approaches magic from both the perspective she's taught about it from in Mistolear as well as logic and reasoning from her upbringing on Earth and I love that she doesn't just forsake where she grew up to conform to the world she's pulled into.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I initially found the concept of people being linked to chess pieces in a large scale game of wizard chess to be silly and strange. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the novel and think it was well executed. This style of fantasy that combines our world with a fantastic one is very effective for teens. It allows them to deal with issues like war and family drama at a safe distance. At at the same time they feel close to the action because of the character from our world who sees things as they would and uses contemporary slang amongst the backdrop of knightly banter. I usually prefer this type of story to be in 1st person narrative but Wood did a good job of making it work without this.

I thought the ending was original, creative and appropriate. It defined the book for me and I think I would have preferred for this to be a stand-alone novel rather than a trilogy because it’s rare I’m so pleased with an ending. The novel flowed nicely so I finished it quickly but it had some memorable parts, separating it from other quick reads.

[Alyssa (The Shady Glade) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The one thing I really enjoy about small press/self published books is that even though many of them are terrible, there are some gems out there. This is one of them. The idea of two kingdoms being trapped into playing a giant magical chess game was a unique one, and in the end I enjoyed it a lot. Willow really grated on my nerves at first, but she grew on me eventually. The writing doesn't flow as well as your standard press YA book, but it wasn't bad either. One of the nicest things was that although the end did lead into the next book, the story here is pretty much wrapped up and complete on its own. I'll definitely be picking up the next one in this series.

[Kerri · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Captured' by Maggie L. Wood has a very unique chess game storyline. Unfortunately the plot drags at times. I found my self having to turn to the 'Cast of Characters' page more than once to try to figure out who characters were which was very disruptive to the momentum of the story. I found the male lead 'Brand' very interesting and was disappointed at his removal from the story halfway through the book. Honestly there just wasn't enough spark in this book to make me want to read the second in the series. :o(

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't get the book, what with all the complicated names all the characters have and the game (chess) they are playing. The story gets all hard to understand at times and I didn't really enjoy the whole process. I'm giving it 2 stars instead of 1 because there were some nice and funny scenes in the middle of the book.

I'm probably not gonna read book 2 in the near future.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the cover of this! It CAPTURED my attention... haha

Captured puts a nice twist on the typical "normal girl finds out she's a princess and the whole kingdom is depending on her to save it" with the added element of a magic chess game that uses real people as the pieces. And unlike many YA trilogies today the book had a satisfying conclusion and not a ridiculous cliffhanger.

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. The beginning was
boring and I almost stopped reading it. The middle starts becoming more interesting as a love story starts to unfold. Then the book gets boring again. But, by the ending the book becomes extremely interesting. Author picked a fun and creative theme. If you can push your self past the boring parts the last quarter of the book is good:)

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fantasy novel. I was drawn right into the characters and plot, and I think you will be, too.

Check out my full review of Captured here.

[Kira · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite different, to say the least. It follows Willow, who is part of a collosal game of chess where lives are at stake. I was apprehensive at first glance, but it turned out to be a fairly good story.

[Suzanne Toon]

Though her books are hard to find, I like Maggie Wood's writing. And doesn't every girl want-in some way-to be a princess? Well, being a princess isn't easy for Willow. If you want to know more, read it! And the second book, The Darkening.

[Heather]

"a series that intricately weaves the adventure and strategy of gaming with the romance of faerie tales and medieval folklore"; "luscious descriptions, comedic timing and fast-paced action" (taken from Can. Children's Book News) Recommended for Gr 7+

[Lydia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really cool idea! Buuut I felt like it wasn't the author writing the story, more like typical phrases, plot, and characters in redone fairy stories that have been way overused. In other words, not original.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first started to read this I thought it was kind of amusing, but as I read on it got boring. I continued to read it because I thought it was just going through the plot, characters and back story, but for me it didn't get better and I have no interest in reading the sequels.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were very, very good -- including that fantastic cover and the premise of the story. Parts of this book were not very good at all -- like the pacing and the clarity of the plot. Still, this is a book full of potential.