ARC Review: Legacy

Legacy by Cayla Kluver
Release Date: June 21, 2011
Published By: Harlequin Teen
Pages: 496 Pages, Hardcover
Young Adult
Source: NetGalley + Publisher, in exchange for an honest review
Overall: Flippin Fabulous! 
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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 Thoughts:

I couldn't imagine being born into blood which mapped out my destiny for me, being forced to marry for status and wealth turning away from love.  Come to think of it, I couldn't imagine being born into royalty, being bred to take a throne or being part of world that was colored just like a page out of a fairy tale book complete with ill fated love, tragedies and all.

Our main character Alera couldn't have been a better fit for our female lead.  Alera was beautiful but not only in her appearance.  So much of her beauty came from the fact that she had her own mind and wasn't afraid to think outside the confines of what the woman's mind and body was supposed to inhibit in the land of Hytanica.  Beauty wasn't Alera's only characteristic which made her so appealing.  She was quirky, playful and knew how to use her mind. To say Alera is a push over where her father, The King, is concerned would be accurate but not in the capacity where I found myself rolling my eyes at Alera.  Despite the situation Alera was strong willed and spoke her mind to those who she could trust.  Though faced with an impossible situation Alera proved her strength and loyalty, in all facets of the word even if only in her hopeful thoughts.  

There wasn't a shortage of characters who helped make Legacy what it is.  From Alera's parents, The King and Queen, her sister and all of the guards which came into contact with Alera, there was never a lack of surrounding action and personality.  Nor was there a lack of prospects for Alera, including one in which The Kings standards for a suitor were constructed around, Steldor, and another being the infant boy who returned sixteen years later and is everything what the King of Hytanica could never be.

Don't let Legacy's intimidating length fool you, at no time did I find myself skipping lines or skimming text.  Every word was delectably devoured and appreciated. While I wish I could say I wishing for more, Legacy left off in a wonderful place making the wait for book number two bearable with just the right amount of itch.  Nothing is worse than a cliff hanger ending which almost makes you angry you have to wait for the next installment after you just spent so many pages vesting yourself into a cast of characters.     

Beautifully depicted and written, a mixture of fairy tale and fantasy, with a a splash or two of deception, mystery, loyalty and love, Legacy is a book which my reluctance to read was not at all justified.  Our surroundings, the emotion and the situations were layered delicately yet exquisitely.  Legacy has easily come to sit in the top of my favorite books list.  I absolutely can not wait for book number two of this trilogy, Allegiance.