K.J. Taylor

The Shadow’s Heir

Laela’s father has just died. When she is facing being thrown out of her village, she decides to make the move herself and abandon the life she has known so far. Little does she know that the wild city is waiting – and that the person she meets might not be the kind of person she assumed him to be.

Laela is a plucky, if somewhat oblivious sometimes, hero. I loved reading about her, and getting inside her mind (even if it seemed like she was freaking out over nothing sometimes). What did I like about her? Her determination to keep going, and please her rescuer, and then her determination to try and fix things when they went wrong.

It felt to me like the story had several parts. The beginning, and Laela’s inductions into the household was sort of part 1, followed by the trip overseas which was part 2, followed by a very short part 3. The ending seemed a little far fetched to me, that the retainers would be so supportive of some of the ideas. I didn’t really feel much suspense at the end, but it was satisfying.

What more can I say about it? Well, it seemed to me like something that had been revealed to Laela in the beginning was completely forgotten either by her, or the author. I could have sworn she knew what her real father’s name was – in which case all the worrying she does about it is unfounded.

The dialect drove me a little nuts. I don’t think it was necessary to set the tone of the novel (not like in a historical fiction book). Also there were a couple of descriptions of things that didn’t do much for me. I think those were about my only complaints with this novel.

After I had bought this book to read (blindly choosing one in *gasp* a brick-and-mortar bookshop) and had started reading it, I realised that it follows another trilogy that I haven’t read. I’d already gotten into the story by that point though, so I wasn’t going to stop reading it just for that. Also, I think I was stuck on a 14 hour plane flight at the time with limited other reading choices.

My gamble paid off – and I hope to get my hands on the others in this series soon. My birthday is soon, so there’s a chance I’ll get off guilt free in buying them!