Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia has led a privileged life at court. But everything changes when she learns, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection. Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city, her best friend Kiernan, and the only life she's ever known.
Sent to live with her only surviving relative, Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks. Then she discovers that long-suppressed, dangerous magic runs through her veins, and she realizes that she will never learn to be just a simple village girl. Sinda returns to the city to seek answers. Instead, she rediscovers the boy who refused to forsake her, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history forever.
I apologize y'all. I have been sitting on this book (not literally) for a couple of weeks, because it's been so difficult to find time to write out a review. It's a madhouse! A MADHOUSE! Good, the insanity didn't take long. Regardless and irregardless, contrariwise, the fact remains that time has passed, and I'd already forgotten the heroine's name. It happens every time! Names are generally the first thing I will forget about a less-than-memorable book (unless they put it right in the title, Princess Ben), and even in books I like, occasionally. Sometimes I'll get ahead of the curve and skip the step of learning them in the first place.
I have not, however, forgotten the plot of the book yet, so let's get this show on the road before I finish my slow descent into senility. Nalia-now-Sinda gets called before the King and Queen and the two senior magicians, who inform her that she's not the princess, but actually the most elaborate body double ever, and she is being sent back off to live with whatever remains of her family. She gets shuffled off to her aunt's place, and tries to fit in, feeling sorry and sorrier for herself, until she almost burns the house down and realizes she's magical. Since, apparently, uncontrolled magic is a danger to everyone around her, you'd think that the kingdom would be prepared to handle novice magicians, but instead of accepting her into their special magic school, or something else constructive, like uh, imprisoning her or sending her away from the crowds of people in the capital, they let her cry about her rejection until this old woman magician, Philantha, shows up randomly and decides to train her.
Good thing Philantha showed up! Because otherwise, she would have had to do what all those other poor, magic-filled kids did . . . . which I assume, based on Sinda's fears, involved blowing themselves and everyone around them up. This obviously doesn't concern the king and queen at all, since they've allowed this state of affairs to continue, but it seems kinda reckless. Say, as reckless as allowing someone to take your child away and pretend she's a novice nun and steal part of her soul while you slot in a peasant baby in her place. Because THAT plan was a guaranteed winner, amirite? What could possibly go wrong there?
So anyhow, Sinda hooks up with Kiernan, and they. . . something something, I can't remember how it ends, but your mother's a whore. No, just kidding, they discover that Nalia 2.0, electric boogaloo, is also not the real princess, so they go haring off to find the third to complete the set.
I didn't mind the book, it is, as they say, mostly harmless, and it's an interesting concept. My issues are that the plot hinges way too much on deus ex machinas and leaps of logic that aren't earned by the characters. For instance, the key to the identity of the dirty double crosser relies on a chance statement that this oracle wished her family could have seen her be invested, or whatever it is they do to oracles down there. How Sinda and Kiernan get from that to the fact that it was a relative who asked her to give a false prophecy, I have no idea. It's not like the oracle was like, "OH, how I wish that MY FAMILY was here. I would do anything for them! They are the only people I trust in the WHOLE WORLD."
And plus, if Nalia 2.0 has to undergo constant upkeep on the spell to keep her and everyone else thinking she's the princess, then didn't Sinda have to do the same thing? Were they wiping her memory like that every week? Because that is never addressed, and I gotta tell you, it would be my first concern. Like, sure, not in the initial overload of information, but somewhere down the line, as she's picking flowers for her auntie, you'd think the wheels would be turning, and she'd go, "WAIT A SECOND. Those fuckers hypnotized me into forgetting I was wandering around getting magical maintenance done!" And then check to see if she was missing a kidney. And what exactly does this spell do, besides giving the double a birthmark? Because, honestly, I feel a tattoo would be simpler. I get that parts of the real princess's soul were transferred, but I'm missing the reason for it - I mean, was it just for the benefit of wandering magicians who felt the urge to check out the princess's aura? Because it didn't give Sinda any royal abilities, which you'd think would be kinda the point of going through this exercise to begin with.
So, obviously, I have issues. But it's not a terrible book, even if you do get a little tired of Sinda's does-he-doesn't-he attitude toward Kiernan, like, he does. Trust me, he does. It's just that I feel like the author was trying to accomplish more than just a inoffensive teen fantasy. There's stirrings of social reform in there, but it's all a little dulled. I think it could benefit from a tightening up. All in all, it doesn't quite stand-out from any of the other teen fantasy books out there, it's not wretched, it's not great.
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