Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing this book as a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.
One-Sentence Summary:
Sisters Daphne, Sophronia, and Beatriz must find ways to unseat their new husbands, the leaders of rival kingdoms, in order to give power to their empress mother.
My Review:
I've only read one other Laura Sebastian book (Ash Princess) and hadn't even heard about this one until a couple weeks ago, but I'm so glad I requested. This book is about three sisters engaged to two princes and a king so that they can aid their mother in conquering the kingdoms of these men and adding them to her empire. Sophronia, the one talented in coding and intellectual pursuits, is engaged to Leopold, the new and somehow different king of Friv. Beatriz, the flirtatious and bold sister, is engaged to Pasquale, the prince of the extremely conservative and dangerous Cellaria. Lastly, Daphne, the deadliest one of all, is engaged to the newly legitimate prince of Temarin who wants nothing to do with her or his title after the death of his half brother. One thing Laura Sebastian does incredibly well here is the multiple POVs. It's surprisingly easy to keep track of, which is really impressive for a detailed fantasy novel with magic and political focuses. It was a bit hard to remember which sister was in which kingdom and what the beliefs and politics of each one were. However, I got ahold of it within about 20% of the book. The world-building itself worked pretty well, but the limits of stardust specifically were a little unclear to me, especially the way Friv used it. Plot-wise, I thought everything unfurled really well, but I will touch on that a bit more in a minute. As much as I liked the characters, I didn't think they were very dynamic. I thought Leopold at the very least would be a bit more because Sophronia said his recent actions didn't match up with his personality in their letters, but it wasn't really anything about his character. I really wanted to see more from the characters, but all we ever heard was how predictable they were because they DIDN'T change enough. I wasn't expecting the sisters or the princes to become completely different people, but the biggest decisions they made were predicted by everyone. The plot twists were honestly pretty clear to me based on basic character traits of those doing betraying or other things. It didn't really affect my speed or enjoyment, but it was kind of noticeable. Beatriz was probably my favorite POV character, but I did like them all. Overall, I did really like this book. It wasn't perfect, but I'm really glad to have requested this. It would probably be a borrow for me, not a buy, but I'd definitely read more from the author. This is great for people who love magic and political intrigue with high stakes, intricate plots. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
The Fiction Feature 