It's a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour The Half King by Melissa Landers.
About the Author
Melissa Landers is a former teacher who left the classroom to pursue other worlds. A proud sci-fi geek, she isn't afraid to wear her Princess Leia costume in public — just ask her embarrassed kids.
She lives in Cincinnati Ohio, where she writes romantic fantasy and science fiction adventures for the young at heart. Follow @Melissa_Landers on X
About the book
In a world where birth order determines your fate, what if everything you believed about yourself was a lie?
Like all second-born daughters of the realm, Cerise Solon has never ventured beyond the temple grounds where she lives in service to the goddess. But unlike her peers, Cerise is a complete failure as an oracle. Her inability to foretell a single tragedy has brought shame upon her family, something she sees reflected in their eyes during their rare visits. Everything changes when the head seer offers Cerise an opportunity to serve the Half King—a young man who rules by day and turns to shadow at sunset.
As a firstborn son, the king bears his bloodline’s curse, destined to vanish completely upon his twenty-first birthday. While searching for a way to restore him, Cerise finds a kindred spirit in the mysterious young ruler, and with his help discovers a startling revelation about herself that unlocks a powerful set of gifts. But the truth comes with a price. For she is no oracle, but instead the product of a union so forbidden its discovery would sentence her to death.
Despite her tainted origins, Cerise might be the key to restoring order to the land and saving the man she’s quickly growing to love...if she can outlive those sworn to destroy her.
This one had me hooked pretty fast, I am sucker for a bit of magic and extensive world-building. I can live without the obnoxious love interest and inevitable breathlessness, and must have romantasy element of a lot of the popular books in said genre at the moment, but a gritty little power and magic plot is always a pull.
It definitely has more of a pull towards the YA end, rather than adult, although how one accidentally discovers ones magic leans perhaps a little more towards the latter. The children of nobility forced to carry the punishment of past generations. The Great Betrayal has laid the paths for the destruction of some born first to families, the isolation of others, and often a great burden to the majority of them.
The second-born appear to have it a little easier, case in point is Cerise Solon. Although one could argue that the fact the ability of Seer she is supposed to possess has in fact never manifested in any way shape or form. Pretty much useless, and yet suddenly she is ordered to serve the Half-King. Once there the young man with one foot in the world of shadows and the other foot in a world spent fighting the impulse to be self-destructive, well he becomes a pivotal part of her story. A story full of secrets and unknown power.
It's an interesting and entertaining read, one that delivers a solid beginning for a series that promises to draw readers in.
Buy The Half King at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: Bantam; pub date 21st November 2024 | Hardback | £16.99. Buy at Amazon com.
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