Author: L. Penelope
Series: The Bliss Wars #1
Genre: Sci-F-/Fantasy/Romance
Publisher: Heartspell Media
Publication Date: March 31st, 2021
Edition: Kindle Edition, 281 pages
Source: NetGalley
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | BAM | Book Depository | Bookshop | Powell's | Thriftbooks
Synopsis:
For Talia, death is only the beginning of survival...
When a tragic accident cuts my lonely life short, instead of heaven or hell, I’m stolen away to a terrifying city of warring shifter clans—the Nimali and the Fai. The Nimali mistake me for their missing princess. Her father, the dragon king, is identical to my own. But in this world, he dotes on me with the love and affection I always craved. And in a land with no tolerance for outsiders, feigning amnesia and impersonating shifter royalty may be the only way to survive.
For Ryin, falling in love is the worst kind of betrayal...
As a Fai warrior in captivity, I'm forced to serve my enemy even as I plot their destruction. The lost princess returned much changed, now the heat between us crackles irresistibly. While helping her heal using my magical talents, I begin to question what I thought I knew about the Nimali. She remains as forbidden as ever, but she also might be the key to freedom for me and my people.
Caught between two enemy factions balancing on the knife-blade of annihilation, our lies are the only thing keeping us alive, but they just might be our undoing.
When a tragic accident cuts my lonely life short, instead of heaven or hell, I’m stolen away to a terrifying city of warring shifter clans—the Nimali and the Fai. The Nimali mistake me for their missing princess. Her father, the dragon king, is identical to my own. But in this world, he dotes on me with the love and affection I always craved. And in a land with no tolerance for outsiders, feigning amnesia and impersonating shifter royalty may be the only way to survive.
For Ryin, falling in love is the worst kind of betrayal...
As a Fai warrior in captivity, I'm forced to serve my enemy even as I plot their destruction. The lost princess returned much changed, now the heat between us crackles irresistibly. While helping her heal using my magical talents, I begin to question what I thought I knew about the Nimali. She remains as forbidden as ever, but she also might be the key to freedom for me and my people.
Caught between two enemy factions balancing on the knife-blade of annihilation, our lies are the only thing keeping us alive, but they just might be our undoing.
**********
I've been a long-time fan of this author's writing. I absolutely love her Earthsinger series, and was excited to see what she wrote next. Although, I have yet to read some of her earlier work, she has become an auto-read author for me.
This book is very different from her other series. This is a portal fantasy, and it uses the Multiverse. That concept doesn't always work for me, in this I felt that it worked quite well.
While I do like Talia as a character, I did feel at times, that she was a bit underdeveloped in some aspects. Finding out her background more than halfway into the book, at times made somethings about her character come across as an afterthought. I typically enjoy being thrown into the story, I would have liked to see her in her day-to-day before she was forced into the other world. As would seeing what her doppelgänger princess, Celena, was like rather than hearing about it from other people.
The other characters, Ryin, Shad, and Lyall the tyrannical king, in someways, felt more developed than Talia at times. She is still a good character it just didn't really feel like her backstory was fleshed out as much as everybody else's. Perhaps in future books more of who she is will get fleshed out.
I really liked the plot of this book, the idea of an alternate universe where people possess spirits of animals and magical creatures, who can either shift into that creature or just manifest the powers/abilities of that creature is really interesting. This was a solid start to a new series, and I am very interested in where things are headed. Especially with how this book ends.
This book is very different from her other series. This is a portal fantasy, and it uses the Multiverse. That concept doesn't always work for me, in this I felt that it worked quite well.
While I do like Talia as a character, I did feel at times, that she was a bit underdeveloped in some aspects. Finding out her background more than halfway into the book, at times made somethings about her character come across as an afterthought. I typically enjoy being thrown into the story, I would have liked to see her in her day-to-day before she was forced into the other world. As would seeing what her doppelgänger princess, Celena, was like rather than hearing about it from other people.
The other characters, Ryin, Shad, and Lyall the tyrannical king, in someways, felt more developed than Talia at times. She is still a good character it just didn't really feel like her backstory was fleshed out as much as everybody else's. Perhaps in future books more of who she is will get fleshed out.
I really liked the plot of this book, the idea of an alternate universe where people possess spirits of animals and magical creatures, who can either shift into that creature or just manifest the powers/abilities of that creature is really interesting. This was a solid start to a new series, and I am very interested in where things are headed. Especially with how this book ends.
Ooh, this sounds like an interesting read! I love the idea of people possessing animal spirits. And I love magical creatures.
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