Hmm. In the first of Lynn Kurland’s Nine Kingdoms novels, Star of the Morning, I found myself swept away in the romantical, fantastical land in which our luxuriant story is set. With its more-powerful-than-she-thinks-she-is heroine and her more-powerful-than-she-thinks-he-is swain, their road trip that ended in betrayal and… yet another road trip was pretty fun throughout.
This time, and maybe it’s just the sophomore slump thing, the story just did not grab me. Part of it was the spoileriness of the title, I think — if merc Morgan’s parentage is going to remain such a mystery for much of the book, why reveal all before we even start reading it? — but the other part was just that Morgan wasn’t super badass here, since she is recovering from wounds received in the previous novel, and she let her grandfather push her around WAY too much, especially since she just met the dude and had previously been unaware of his existence.
And then there’s Miach, her erstwhile suitor and prince of the realm who has been lying to her from the get go, and his successful pursuit of her in this book (in more ways than one). What the hell, Morgan? You got over all that in less than the space of a book? Who even are you? Do I even like you anymore?
Despite all this — oh, and EVERY GUY is in love with Morgan! Gaah! Stop it! — I still enjoyed this one for the most part, and I will doubtless carry on with the series, eventually, because I am curious enough about it all to see what happens next. It’s still a perfect storm of me-ness, all magic and romance and quests and Rightful Heirs. But Book 3 is going to have to offer up something a little different from this one if it is going to recapture the, well, magic of the first novel in the series.
Sequels are hard. Series are harder.
And I have officially thought about this book way too much.
SCORECARD
TBR DAY 103: The Mage’s Daughter (Nine Kingdoms #2) by Lynn Kurland
GENRE: Romantic Fantasy
PUBLISHED: 2008
TIME ON THE TBR: 2 years.
PURCHASED FROM: Op shop.
KEEP: Sure.
My friend Kate loves Lynn Kurland. Loves her! I have long meant to follow this most enthusiastic recommendation of this author — romance, fantasy, and romantic fantasy being Kurland’s strong suits, and all favourites of mine — so when I saw five of her books for $2 each on an op shop shelf, two of which kicked off her Nine Kingdoms series, I jumped at them.