Review: The Kiss of Deception (#1, Remnant Chronicles) by Mary E. Pearson

My Thoughts

Wonderfully addictive and thrilling
with a fierce heroine and epic romance. Fantasy readers will
gladly get lost in this richly imagined world full of myth and magic.

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Synopsis

A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

My Review

I’ve met my new favorite series! Mary E. Pearson pens an utterly addictive fantasy with great characters and a gripping, well-developed plot. Set in a world shaped by feuding kingdoms, myth and magic, tradition and responsibility, the story sizzles from the very beginning. We meet Princess Lia on her wedding day, the First Daughter of the House of Morrighan, as she is forced to marry a man she’s not met… a prince from the Kingdom of Dalbreck. The marriage was a political union and Lia’s fate as First Daughter. As we quickly learn, however, Lia is not the kind of girl to be tied down, and she runs. Flees to a new place carrying ancient documents she stole, searching for the freedom she’s always yearned.

“All my life I dreamed about someone loving me for me. For who I was. Not the king’s daughter. Not First Daughter. Just me. And certainly not because a piece of paper commanded it.”

We then meet the jilted prince. He too, had wanted to run… but didn’t. Now, this girl, this princess, had done what he’d not had the courage to do.  And so he sets off in search of this rebellious royal to quell a burning curiosity inside.

“Who was this girl who thumbed  her nose at two kingdoms and did as she pleased? I want to know.”

And then, we meet our third protagonist. An assassin. A man who was tasked with finding the princess and killing her. He too takes off, blade ready, to get the job done.

Lia makes herself at home in a distant village, serving drinks in plain clothes, working at a tavern … and she’s never been happier. Free and unencumbered from the confines and pressures of royal life, she plans to build a life in Terravin. Forever. But then, two strangers make their way into her life, alluring and mysterious, gaze locked furtively on Lia. Each man calls to her in a different way. Kaden seems always in control. Observant, curious, but also helpful and thoughtful. Rafe is a bit churlish, hot and cold, but undeniably captivating.

As a reader, we know one of these men is the prince, one the assassin, but Pearson keeps us in suspense, guessing at who is whom as the story develops. The more time passes, Lia inevitably begins to fall for one of the men, even as they both deceive her with false identities.

“There was a bond between us I couldn’t name. A sadness, a regret, a falling short, a past. I saw the yearning in his eyes, not just for me, but for something more, a peace, a wholeness, and I wanted to give it to him.”

In addition, Lia is supposed to have the gift of sight as First Daughter, but the gift seems to not be present in her. Nonetheless, winds carry words and magic swirls around her as secrets are gradually revealed.

I loved the mystery in the story, loved the slowly building romance, the intrigue. There is a sort of love triangle, but I think Lia almost immediately lets us know she prefers one man over the other, so I was able to connect with their romance. The story ends in a way that makes you want the next book now to see what happens next and I anxiously await what twists will come. I can already sense there is so much more to the story and I’m so excited to read more, more, more. This is a wonderful start to a series rife with magic, mystery, romance and redemption, one that fantasy and dystopia readers will certainly enjoy.

“We’re all part of a greater story too … one that transcends wind, time … even our own tears. Greater stories will have their way.”

Reading Order

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