Meh ( )

DNF'ed at 15%...this is the sequence of events:
- my nursemaid died. the king betrayed my family! the king put a pistol to my head! I am now a hostage.
- 14 years later. I love the king! his daughter hates me! I love botany. I shouldn't do magic but I do since a year so it's ok. Mysterious guy! the king is sick! MY FATHER IS AWFUL I AM SO GLAD I WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM HIM. why is the King's daughter's lover accusing me of regicide? I SHOULD HIDE EVIDENCE TO ENSURE THEY DON'T THINK I AM GUILTY.
- they accused me! I ran! OMG MY NURSEMAID WORKED WITH MY AWFUL TRAITOR FATHER ALL THESE YEARS. I'm going to run toy best friend's house! oh no her father did shady shit and omg the King I adore who has kept me hostage all these years is maybe a villain??? Mysterious guy again! Safety?? OMG MY AWFUL FATHER I AM LEAVING SAFETY NOW.

plus a lot of talk of plants. I'm sorry this was not for me.

I so wanted this to be at least a 4 star read-but *heavy sigh* it falls a little short.

At five years old Lady Elanna is caught up in the political turmoil between her father and his enemy the King of Eren. The kingdom is divided between those who hold the magic of the earth, and those who hunt the witches. When Elanna's father is uncovered as a a rebel the King takes Elanna hostage and raises her in his court. Although her parents try to guard and protect her from afar, Elanna becomes a victim of Stockholm Syndrome and loses her true identity. As the years past Elanna begins to experience episodes, which can only be attributed to magic and she cannot understand how she could come to have this power.

This was Bates debut novel-the premise of the story was wonderful. How Bates expanded and grew her characters and the world, well it just could have been better.

This was the first book of a series. Because my library has the 2nd book, I am going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and hope book 2 does not disappoint.
( )

It's hard to invoke memories of famous books like Lord of the Rings without making it feel like you ripped something off. But Bates does it flawlessly. The mountain people and Helm's Deep, the army of the ancestors... It was a joy to see that LotR had been an influence on Bates' writing, and that I wasn't likely the only one to see that! Just enough similarity to call on a memory, and different enough to feel like an entirely different concept. The plot isn't anything new, but it didn't need to be. The characters were fantastic and well-thought-out. With that, enough guesswork to make the specifics of the ending uncertain, and just the right amount of heartbreak, this was well worth the read. 4 stars. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this. I thought it was a well-written debut fantasy, with an interesting world/mythology. I liked the heroine. Elanna had understandable doubts throughout, but she was never overly wishy-washy. She took action, even if things didn't work out exactly as planned, at least she did SOMETHING.

I've seen criticism about insta-love, whiny characters, and repetitiveness, but IMO none of that was here. True, the romance between El and another character happens after a relatively short amount of time, but if you've read any other YA fantasy or any romance, the length of time before anything happens in this book is practically a lifetime in comparison to many other books out there! Personally, I liked this a lot more than several other of the extremely popular YA fantasy series out now.

Full disclosure: I received a free advanced reader's edition of this title from the publisher in a Book Riot giveaway. I liked this book so much, though, that I bought a final copy to support the author and I look forward to the rest of the planned trilogy. ( )