Book Review: Allegiance by Cayla Kluver

Allegiance by Cayla Kluver
Series: #2 in the Legacy series
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Publisher: HarlequinTeen
Pages: 512
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Yes, this is a sequel. I tried to avoid major spoilers and hide anything that might be spoilery, but you WILL get some spoilers for the first book. 

Want to read my review of Legacy instead?

Summary

From Goodreads:

Only I saw Narian for who he truly was: a young man with courage and an independent mind, and made to pay for what was outside his control. He couldn't help his past any more than he could help the way those intense, deep-blue eyes pierced me and held me captive.

An eighteen-year-old queen in love with the enemy as their countries pass the point of no return...

Bound to a man she cannot love, Queen Alera of Hytanica must forget Narian, the young man who holds her heart. For Narian is destined to conquer Hytanica at the behest of his master, the powerful magic-user known as the Overlord. Alera doesn't truly believe Narian will fight against Hytanica-until Cokyrian troops attack with Narian commanding the charge.

Faced with the greatest betrayal a heart can know, Alera must set aside personal feelings and lead her kingdom through its darkest time. And when all hope, will and courage seem lost, she must find strength and remember that even the blackest night must have a dawn....

Review

Did the writing improve?

Um, no.

The writing is pretty much exactly the same as the first book. Lots of useless information and sentences that say in twenty words what could easily have been said in ten. This frustrates me and I sigh about it an awful lot, but it's clearly not a dealbreaker for me since I keep reading these books. If you managed the writing in the first book, then you'll manage the writing in Allegiance.

Will I get to see a lot of Steldor?

YES! Sorry ladies, but if you're Team Narian, be prepared for a distinct LACK of Narian. He doesn't even appear in any significant role until the final showdown. But don't lose hope, your boy wins in the end. *grumble* (Read that spoiler if you want to know which guy wins the love triangle).

I loved it! (You may remember my hatred with the power of 1000 suns for Narian? Yeah, I didn't miss him very much). I am 100% Team Steldor and my appreciation for him only grew after Allegiance with everything he went through. He showed real maturity, putting his duty ahead of his personal wants and emotions. And oh my lord does that man have patience. I can't even count how many times I wanted to reach into the book and hug him and offer to be his queen instead of Alera.

Does London pull a disappearing act again?

London is always off doing something covert (and, really, don't his stealthy secret missions account for at least a quarter of his hotness?), but don't worry, he still gets a ton of page time.

When reading Legacy, I was really curious about London's mysterious past. Thankfully Cayla Kluver finally dished in Allegiance and I got all the dirty details. Rarely do Big Reveals like that meet my expectations, but I have to say this one satisfied me.

Do I have to suffer through long stretches of boredom?

Allegiance can be roughly divided into two parts. The first part is very similar in tone, style, and pacing to that of Legacy. The pacing was pretty slow and not much happened in terms of action. Mostly Alera pined for Narian, cursed Steldor, and tried to exercise her new role as queen with petulant attempts at independence. Blah, blah, blah, basically.

The funny thing is that I actually wasn't bored and I never considered DNF-ing. I would even go so far as saying I zipped through it. While it's true that not much actually happens and Alera continues to annoy me, the side characters are all wonderful.

Of course I also liked all the focus on Steldor. Not only that, but Cannan (Steldor's father) becomes a much more involved character and yet another contender for my heart.

The second part is where the action really picks up. I'm talking WAR. Yes!! I was positively giddy with this turn of events (even though it was all stupid Alera's stupid fault). Cayla Kluver did a fantastic job really driving home the bleakness and utter devastation of the war. She made me cry and rage and wail in despair that NO THAT CANNOT HAPPEN PLEASE NO!

She also took things in a direction I never expected and don't think I've ever seen an author take. That scored her major originality points. Seriously, I loved it.

The only thing that brought down all of this awesome was the fact that Alera was narrating. Now, this isn't ALL because I dislike Alera. The fact is, in her world women don't really do anything. At all.

So while all of the male characters (and my gosh, there was practically a harem of hot male characters getting all sexy and gorgeous with this whole war-torn-brothers-in-arms thing), I was stuck in Alera's useless head ineptly heating up porridge and feeling empowered because she hacked off her hair. She also sleeps a lot.

Whoop-de-do. I could have been in a battle! *STOMPS FOOT* I was SERIOUSLY gypped.

So what's up with the lower star rating?

Ugh, Alera.

Everything else I could give a pass, but Alera makes my stars shrivel up and die. I want to offer her a sleepover party invitation just so I can then snatch it back and dance around like a tiny little meanie gleefully crowing "SIKE! None for you! Hehe! None for you!"

She's just...she's dumber than a box of rocks, to put it mildly. And so totally childish. If she were the queen of my kingdom, I think I'd puke with fear. Every single bad thing that happens to her kingdom is the direct result of some utter piece of stupidity brought to them courtesy of Alera. And, of course, she doesn't see it AT ALL. She gets haughty and blames everyone else.

And did I mention she's selfish? Oh my word. While Steldor shoves aside almost every personal desire he harbors that may in some way conflict with his ability to properly run his kingdom, Alera does the complete opposite. All she ever thinks about is what SHE wants and how everyone should worship and obey HER and how she'd better get HER way or she'll do something even dumber than before.

Plus, the girl's priorities are all kinds of messed up. We're in the middle of WAR, tons of her countrymen dead, more dying, lots of very bad things happening, and what does she focus on? Whether or not Narian still loves her. Dude, REALLY??

Bottom line

If it weren't for Alera, I would Special Shelf this book. Cayla Kluver may take a while to tell her story, but what a story it is! That surprise twist in the latter half was fantastic. And the men. Oh my oh my, I can't even count how many attractive men there are in this book. That alone makes me want to read the final book.

About that third book. When I finished Allegiance I wasn't sure I wanted to continue on with the series. It ended really well and I couldn't imagine what would happen in the third book except a super annoying romance between Alera and Narian. *barf*

But then Cindy told me there was a prologue for book 3 included at the end of Allegiance and, after reading that prologue, I can't wait for book three! I'm even holding out a teeny tiny bit of hope that some of the guys will get a shot at narrating! (*please please please*)

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Allegiance that I haven't addressed? 

Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Have you read this book? What do you think about the characters? Who is your most hated book character ever?

If you've read Legacy, what do you hope happens in Allegiance?

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Book Review: Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Release Date: June 21, 2011 (first published 2008)
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 496
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Goodreads Page

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.

Review

Wait, didn't I DNF this?

Yup, I did (and I wrote a DNF review, too). So what happened? I kept thinking about the book is what happened. My rule for DNF-ing is that if I don't care at all about what happens next and I'm just not enjoying the book then I'm dropping it. And that's what I thought I felt about Legacy...until I kept thinking about it, and thinking about it. Maybe I did care after all.

Do I still stand by what I said in my DNF review?

Yes, yes I do. The descriptions are too much and make the writing seem amateurish. I love it when an author can really paint a picture for me, but I don't need a picture of every single tiny detail for things that just aren't relevant. General descriptions about a room are good. Minute details about the distance of each piece of furniture in relation to one another is overkill. Descriptions of what the main characters look like are good. Detailed descriptions of characters who walk into a room, draw the bath, and then are never seen again are unnecessary. See what I'm saying?

Those descriptions kept ripping me out of the story and kept me from becoming fully immersed in what was going on. But...there weren't pages and pages of description that bogged down the story. It was more like I'd cut a paragraph here, five words there, rearrange a sentence to be five words instead of twenty. That sort of thing. So while the descriptions were clunky, they didn't make the story feel boring. 

And the people?

I also mentioned how much I loathed Alera, and that hasn't changed either. She just came across to me as a petulant child who was largely incapable of making a good decision. She was selfish, bratty, and repeatedly put her kingdom in danger by doing the most unimaginably stupid things. She also goes around acting bratty and mean to people who, I think, didn't really deserve her ire. I can sympathize with her position (it really does suck for her), but because I disliked her personally so very much I had a hard time mustering up sympathy for her.

And that love interest Narian? HATE him. With the passion of 1,000 fiery suns. Possibly more than I hate Alera. In fact, I think part of the reason I hate Alera is because she likes Narian.

Ok, look, I actually prefer cocky, arrogant love interests, but Narian takes all the charm out of the cocky, arrogant guy and is just a straight up jerk. He's unnecessarily rude to everyone around him, and they've been nothing but nice to him. He steals, lies, and acts like everyone is beneath him (including Alera, who he doesn't seem to respect all that much. Not that I blame him, but, you know, it shouldn't be like that). Plus, I don't trust him. AT ALL. 

But...ok, I'll grudgingly admit...

I'm hooked. I want to read the sequel. I'm actually counting down the days until the sequel releases. I know, doesn't make sense, right? The thing is, even though I obviously harbor strong negative feelings for the two love birds, there's actually a lot here I do like.

Like London. Oh. My. Gosh. London is one of the best characters I've ever read. Now HE does sarcastic and arrogant right. And he's so manly. Can I get a fainting couch and a hand fan in here, please? Strong, intelligent, and a badass fighter, he's totally independent but also unwaveringly loyal. As long as he's in this series, I'm so reading it.

There was this one scene where Alera was being an idiot again and said something petulant along the lines of, "I'm old enough to make my own judgments!" *foot stomp* And London just calmly replied, "Your own judgments, yes. Wise judgments, hardly." And I practically spit out my drink. That right there says everything about those two characters. 

Then there's Steldor, the other love interest and the guy Alera hates but her father wants her to marry. Honestly I'm not sure what to think of him yet. On one hand, he's totally jerky. One scene that sticks out in my mind is when Alera sees him and his friends ganging up on a younger kid and teasing him. That's just so not cool. And yet, Cayla keeps giving us flashes of a softer side. Like his outward jerkiness is just for show and really he's a respectable man. Maybe it's just because I hate Narian so much or maybe it's because I'm a sucker for a good hate-turned-love romance, but I'm rooting for Steldor in this love triangle. He has much better chemistry with Alera, too.

And there's major war looming on the horizon and the promise of even more political intrigue, spies, and battle. I can't say no to that!

 

Bottom line

Some debuts don't feel like debuts, but this one really does. It also has potential pouring off of every page and I like what I see there. A lot. Cayla is particularly good at writing dialog that flows effortlessly. Plus I can't deny how attached I am to finding out what happens next.

There was a lull where I DNF-ed at around page 250-300 where Alera and Narian spend some time together and I fought back dry heaves. If you like their relationship then you probably won't be bored by this part like I was. London also exits soon after the 100 page mark (I think) and doesn't return until a bit after the 300 page mark.

Just a heads up, when I hear "fantasy" I usually think of quests and stuff, but that isn't this book at all. This is much more the courtly intrigue type of book, so think balls and carriage rides not swords and elves.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about Legacy that I haven't addressed? 
Feel free to ask in the comments!

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Recap 6/11 to 6/17

In case you missed anything, here's a recap of what was posted Saturday, June 11th through Friday, June 17th.

+ DNF Review of Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Feedback please!

I've temporarily switched my commenting system over to a pop up window instead of the imbedded form. Some of you said you were having trouble commenting with the embedded form. Hopefully this problem gets resolved soon, but for now I've switched to make things easier for you. 

How does everyone like this method of commenting? I personally dislike it, so I'm not sure how long I'll keep it. I'll consider keeping it permanently if most of you prefer it to the embedded form.

Reviews

Cleopatra Confesses by Carolyn Meyer
Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls #3) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams 
Artemis the Brave (Goddess Girls #4) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams 
Cover review: Blood Red Road

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A meme created by Zakiya from Butterfly Feet Walking on Life where we recap our reading week. Feel free to visit her site and link up your own What's Your Status Posts. Here's how my week went:

Finished

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5) by Rick Riordan
Rapunzel: The One with All the Hair by Wendy Mass

(Click on the link to go to Goodreads)

Reviews to come on all of these! I liked them both a lot.

Currently Reading

  
Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
Love Story by Jennifer Echols 
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Did Not Finish

Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Received: Publisher/NetGalley

Page 272 of 488

Due to an inaccurate page count listing of 304 pages on Goodreads (that seems to have been corrected now), I was under the impression that Harlequin Teen had done a good bit of trimming from the original independently published version. That doesn't seem to be the case, though it really should have been. 

Three hundred and four pages would have been a lot more appropriate given how much useless description could have been hacked out (no, I don't think it's an overestimate to say that 184 pages of description could have been slashed without affecting the plot in any way). Almost every time the main character entered a room I was ripped out of the plot to endure a few paragraphs of superfluous description about how the room was set up. What furniture was there, what fabric was used on the drapes, how the positioning of the shelves related to the positioning of the doorways. Enough! That isn't necessary and only served to distract me from the story and keep me from getting immersed.

And don't even get me started on the freaking gardens. 

I also don't need descriptions of the eye color, skin tone, face shape, and hair color of characters who, at most, enter a room once and never say anything.

The characters were stock caricatures that did not distinguish themselves in any way for me (except to make me facepalm about a hundred times. Particularly Alera, the Too Stupid To Live MC). The only character that I actually liked was London, but he disappears within the first 100 or so pages and doesn't appear again until page 300 something (or so I hear). This is a real shame because he was stunning. He was interesting and sexy. He had depth, personality, and an intriguing past. I loved him. If only the other characters were as nuanced and alive as him. I zipped through the whole beginning, but it wasn't until London exited that I realized how much he had been carrying the book for me. 

The world building also needed work. There were a few glaring inconsistencies that seriously interrupted my ability to enjoy the story. Most notable is the structure of the guard and the assignments they were given. London, who is repeatedly said to be among the highest ranked officers there, shares the same position with a very inexperienced guard. This doesn't make any sense, but none of the characters seem to question it so I can only assume this inconsistency is not supposed to be an inconsistency. That, or this is actually strange and will play a KEY ROLE later on but the characters are all too stupid to notice now. Either way, that needs to be worked on. 

There is another aspect that doesn't make any sense, but I can't describe it without spoiling things:

Narian comes back--out of the blue--after being raised by their enemy for 16 years. He's accepted into society no questions asked. Seriously, no one seems to wonder if this is perhaps a trap or infiltration attempt of some kind? Though some characters do view him with suspicion, these characters are all disliked by Alera, so should I assume the reader is supposed to agree with Alera? Alera not only trusts Narian completely (for NO reason), but she also begins to fall for him. 

Alera--the CROWN PRINCESS AND ROYAL HEIR--is also allowed to spend hours of unsupervised (or mostly unsupervised--her inept "guard" watches her sometimes) time with Narian. This makes no sense. What kingdom would allow their HEIR to cavort around unsupervised with a person who has spent their entire lifetime raised by the enemy only to mysteriously appear all of a sudden. Not only is Alera TSTL, but apparently so is her entire kingdom.

All that said though, this isn't a complete wash. Instead of scrapping the book entirely, a good editing would do the trick. It should be noted that the author is, as far as I can tell, only about 17 years old now (which means she must have written the book when she was around 13 or 14). The book shows a lot of promise. Her dialogue, writing, and basic plot were a great foundation that can easily be improved upon. And, of course I can't forget London, who was fantastic. With a little more practice and a better editor, I could see Cayla becoming an author I would very much enjoy.

Extras

This week I participated in The Slowest Bookworm's new Book Blogger Bingo! Click on the button to learn how you can join in and win books!

Check this out! Here are two new buttons from Lisa T. Bergren (the author of the FABULOUS River of Time series!) that you can grab to put on your blog and help spread the word. Do you see the big button? Did you happen to catch MY QUOTE?!?! Yep, that totally made my day!

Cialina from Muggle-Born.net is also hosting an entire month dedicated to all things Simon & Schuster! I've participated with a few reviews and cover reviews. Click the button below to see what she's put together and how you can join in!

Miss anything last week? Click here to read a Recap. 

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