Greek gods, have you abandonned us? | Legacy of Kings

Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1) by Eleanor Herman

Published: August 18th 2015 by Harlequin Teen

Genre: young adult, historical fiction, fantasy

Goodreads summary: Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to a newcomer…

Katerina must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But she doesn’t account for her first love…

Jacob will go to unthinkable lengths to win Katerina, even if it means having to compete for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince.

And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet betrothed, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the shocking details of real history, New York Times bestselling author of Sex with Kings Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known, Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

REVIEW

When I first heard about this book, I was definitely intrigued, because of the time period it was set in. In YA historical fiction, we mostly have novels set in the 19^th century, sometimes 18^th century, but let’s be real: that’s pretty much it. So of course, being this huge history nerd, every time I see a book set before those time periods, I add it to my TBR (even though they’re not always great, like Into the Dim *sobs*).

Because Legacy of Kings was written by a historian, the world was totally accurate, and I actually could grasp how people had lived during this time period. There were also so many myths the author mentioned, that intertwined with the story perfectly. Moreover, the fantasy aspect of the novel also depended upon the historical setting, because it was about the gods, the mythological creatures and so on. However, be warned that in this first book, we don’t see that much of the fantasy aspect, but it’s definitely introduced and we’ll get more of it in Empire of Dust.

This book had seven points of view, which was definitely too much. It actually took me quite some time to get through the first seventy pages or so, because each chapter introduced a point of view. I quickly adapt though, but at times some points of view felt a bit unnecessary. It didn’t help me to connect with some characters, as they were more secondary than anything. I particularly struggled with Zo, because she was so far from the action (but I’m sure it’ll be better in the next book!) and Jacob, because he was so self-centred, and the author kind of forgot his point of view at the end of the book, haha. Nevertheless, all of these points of view helped to understand the bigger picture and I liked that.

Legacy of Kings definitely felt like the first book in a series, because it was introducing so many aspects, the world, the characters, but also multiple subplots. It definitely set up to be an amazing series and it showed that so many things will happen in the latter books, but as a standalone, I didn’t feel like I had enough closure, because it was an introduction. I still liked it though, because I was invested in most of the storylines and it got me totally intrigued. But I’ve seen it bothered many readers and I can understand why.

I was really engrossed into the story during almost the whole book and am excited for the next one. However, I was a little disappointed because I had guessed the final plot twist early on… I think that plot-wise, it was heavy, because there was so much going on, for seven characters. I don’t think I would advise you to start fantasy with this one, even though I loved it. This novel was also quite dark, which I liked, because it wasn’t sugar-coating anything.

Eleanor Herman chose to have so many strong female characters, which I was so excited about, because it’s the Antiquity! I don’t mean I like all of them, but they were all so interesting. Indeed, the author wrote realistic characters, who all had their own agendas, even if it made them flawed, like Olympias, who was more on the villainous side, or Cynane, a morally grey princess. Moreover, can we talk about how Olympias has snakes everywhere and I’m scared to death of snakes?? I will never go near this woman, seriously. I would have liked to have more of Alexander’s point of view, because the book was supposed to be about him, but it was more about Kat, even though I liked her.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the dynamics between the characters, sadly. In the first chapter, the author hinted something was going on between Kat and Jacob, but I didn’t like how he treated her during the whole novel… At some point, something was also going on with Heph and I had no idea where it was coming from. So yeah, sometimes it felt a little bit forced. However, I liked the friendship between Heph and Alex, they were so loyal to each other and Cynane was definitely jealous.

The action definitely picked up during the last chapters of the novel and I was addicted. The characters will have to face so many enemies but I can’t wait to see it. Moreover, I’m curious of the paths some of them are going to take, because they will be farther away from the palace, as the war is starting.

Overall, this book was a very good introduction to a new epic series and I loved reading it. It definitely had flaws though, like the number of points of view or some dynamics between the characters, but my enjoyment of the novel was so high. It was also quite dark, which is so fitting in fantasy. If you haven’t yet, you should read this one, especially because Empire of Dust, the second book, is coming out at the end of June! 

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Are you excited for Empire of Dust? Have you read other YA novels set in Ancient Greece?