Genre: Fantasy

Chapters: 18, including prologue and author notes.

Recommended audience: Teen fiction (13-19 years)

Description: "Don't judge a book by it's cover."

.....

Only women can rule the mysterious island Ascor. Lila happens to be next in line for the crown. The problem is, she doesn't want to become queen. It's a boring responsibility, one that doesn't satisfy her daredevil personality so she decides to take up vigilante duties to protect her land from harm. She vowed to independent and not to trust anyone. But when she is pulled into a whirlwind of adventure and murder, will things start to change?

Okie dokie, looks like I have yet another book to review, fantastic. I must say this book captured my attention, similar to attractive women pull all the men. Everyone is beautiful on the inside people, EVERYONE. But hey, I'm not here to give romantic attention, I'm here to review a book. Let's see here...this book has 426 reads and 81 stars currently, that's awesome! I'm just going to tell this right here and now, this was a pretty decent book, definitely worth the time it took for me to read, which wasn't very long considering the length of the chapters. So without further ado, let's do this before my battery dies.

1. Writing Style✍

So I has to re-read some sections of the book to get a taste of author's writing style. When I did read over it again, I fell in love the story all over again. The writing style allowed me to comprehend the actions of the characters and the atmosphere of the locations within the story. I actually enjoyed it. No extremely large words were used, and even if they were, context clues. Fair amounts of similes and the use of imagery allowed me to picture MOST visuals the author attempted to create. Here are some lines that absorbed me into the story.

⚠️SPOILERS AHEAD!⚠️

"Of course, her parents would put fliers up, possibly even rewards, so she couldn't go around like this, basically wearing a sign saying Hey, I'm Lila, yeah I'm the one who escaped."
(Chapter One)

"All them scurried away like rats, not even looking back."
(Chapter Two)

"The ship was a small one with sails that made it look unstable."
(Chapter Six)

"She was wearing a white dress, her black hair was braided into a bun, the only thing the crown."
(Chapter Seven)

"Lydia's heart was in her throat."
(Chapter Seven)

Pretty decent material. I didn't have much of a problem with the style at all. I may have abandoned some other lines, but perhaps it'd be better to allow the readers to obtain the information themselves. I'll just wait here...actually I can't, moving on.

2. Plot📖 (Spoiler Time!)

Ahem, so after using both my phone and laptop to write this review down, I have grasped the full understanding of the plot, which wasn't difficult to understand in the first place. Now I don't mean that in a bad way, the plot was easy to follow and what made it interesting was the fact that the author knows who did what and I know that's the case in just about every book, however it feels different here. Here's the plot, an upcoming princess named Lila runs away from her royal responsibilities so she can live her preferred lifestyle.

While she escapes from the castle, Lila partners with a humorous and optimistic girl named Deanna or Dee for short. These two travel from Oakenshire City to Nashos, all while Dee constantly serves as entertainment while Lila carries her own secrets that is hidden from Dee. The overall plot was pretty common with other works of fantasy, but the way the author presents it and throws a twist into the mix makes it very unpredictable. There is no warning of what comes next, I mean, it's a fantasy book, anything could happen at anytime. Yes, that applies a majority of books. However, this author NEARLY mastered it.

I say this because at the beginning of the book, the reader is presented with Lila almost becoming queen, but she escapes. We aren't given any background what made her choose a more adventurous lifestyle. Yes, some moments of her childhood was mentioned in the following chapter after the second installment, but I didn't feel more connected to Lila as a character. Speaking of characters...you know what that means.

3. Characters🙋‍♂️🙋‍♀️

The characters were enjoyable and didn't feel like normal, overused cliches. Lila felt relatable as I'm sure some of us wished to be our own being, escaping from the protective chains from our parents. Dee was my favorite for reasons that are obvious once you read the book. My favorite part about the main characters, Lila and Dee, is how they completely contrasted each other in terms of personality. With Lila's seriousness and Dee's humor, the story never dies in interest. Though the characters were enjoyable, I didn't feel as connected to them as I would like to be. The most I felt to the characters was that they were just relatable, but I would like a stronger feeling than that, you know? The lack of a sufficient backstory makes it difficult to feel as if I'm in the story myself. But, the personalities of the characters slightly make up for it.

4. Environmental And Character Descriptions

The descriptions weren't the absolute worst. With that being said, the descriptions weren't the absolute perfect either. I mean, I was able to grasp a picture of what the author described, but that picture wasn't complete. What I'm saying is that the descriptions could've been more specific. Now, I have gotten some feedback about my book containing too much "detail" with my characters, but I'll discuss that later.

As an author, you would want the reader to completely understand what your characters and environments look like. You did a great job at it, but I couldn't find any specifics like a character's skin tone. Hey, I'm obsessed with this kind of stuff so I could be a little off, but I'm sure you'll understand. I would also like to point out that at the beginning of each chapter is a picture that represents the theme of each chapter, lovely.

5. Originality💡

Being honest, the reason why Lila didn't want to become princess felt overused. I understand why she doesn't want to be a princess, but it's the same reason I find. Now, I understand that it can be difficult to come up with an idea that NOBODY has already done, but with the amount of people in the this world, all I have to say is good luck. Sometimes these ideas are unrecognized. But your originality did spark with the locations in the story. I haven't seen such creative names in quite a while. I fallen in love with the names and how much thought went into the final product. Keep it up!

6. Overall Tone 🎭

The story was exciting from beginning to the last installment. The story brought mixed feelings of suspense, humor, excitement, and sadness. I just couldn't stop reading it and not for this review, I genuinely enjoyed the book. Just about everything an adventure-styled book should include was in this book.

With everything reviewed, let's get into the final results!

Rating Score: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 and a half

Yes, four stars and a half. Yes, this entry was nearly a five star book in my opinion. The issues I mentioned did result in a whole being taken, but the positives convinced me to give half a star back.

In terms of errors, I only spotted one.

Original: Dee's exited face

Correction: Dee's excited face

The should be corrected as I looked online and it was fixed. And that was The Runaway Queen by Floating Magpie, please be sure to give it a read and help it grow. Make sure to spread the word about this book review as well! Until next time, now...didn't I have another book to review?