Summary from GoodReads:

The first boy disappeared on the day of his birth, on a night when the pale yellow moon of the nighttime sky turned red and bathed the heavens in the ghastly color of blood, on the same night the Kingdom of Cokyri abruptly ceased its merciless attack.Across the land of Hytanica, under the shadow of the crimson moon, infant boys continued to vanish. Not until the blood had faded from the sky did the disappearances stop and the bodies of the murdered infants were found outside the gates of the city, a final word from the greatest enemy Hytanica had ever known. For the next sixteen years, peace reigned, but one mystery remained unsolved. The Cokyrians had abducted forty-nine newborns, but returned only forty-eight bodies.

Now, as seventeen-year-old Princess Alera of Hytanica is besieged from all sides by suitors vying for the Throne, a teenage Cokyrian boy, Narian, is encountered within the walls of her Kingdom, a boy who will show Alera a world where women serve a purpose and not just a husband. As Narian helps Alera find her voice, she struggles against an arranged marriage that will shatter the life she has scarcely begun to live. And when Narian’s shocking past is uncovered, and war with Cokyri looms once more, he must fight to defy a fate ordained at his birth.

My Review:

I have one major issue with this book – and that’s that every single review mentions information about the author.  I’m not going to mention that information here, because it clouded my initial impression of the story (in not a positive way).  If you want to find the information I’m referring to, you can find it quite easily, but I’d encourage you to wait until you’ve finished reading Legacy.

Because Legacy, this book, was a good, solid fantasy read.  While elements were YA (very clean language, good values), others were quite adult (world building, adult decisions).  I was blown away by how easily I got into the story and, quite honestly, I read this in two solid sittings because I needed to know what was going to happen.  I had no intention to read it in a day – but everything else took second place to this story.

Every teenage girl can find something to relate to in Alera.  She’s headstrong, but still dutiful, she wants to fall in love and get married to that love, but she understands putting herself behind her duty as a Princess and future Queen.  She struggles with being “lessor” to the males in her kingdom and longs for something different when told how the other side (Cokyri) live.  I loved the ups and downs of her struggles, admired her spine when it was needed, wished I had the presence of mind to make the decisions she had to make and just.. thoroughly enjoyed the character.

If you are a regular reader of my reviews you know I like strong female characters.  Add Alera of Legacy to that list and I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

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In which Ems reviews books