THE HARP OF KINGS - Juliet Marillier


 

Liobhan is an eighteen-year-old singer and whistle player.  She is highly skilled and such skill runs in the family as her brother, Brocc, has a meltingly beautiful singing voice and unusually adept skills on the harp. But Liobhan wants more than the life of a performing artist. She wants to be a warrior. She and Brocc train on Swan Island with an elite band of warriors and there they receive a special assignment that is suited specifically to their talents.  

A rare harp has gone missing.  It is a symbol of ancient kingship and if it is not played during the coronation ceremony for the new king, the people will not accept his rule as legitimate.

Liobhan and Brocc will go undercover as musicians to perform at the ceremony while they try to find what happened to the harp.  They will find more than they bargained for and Liobhan will find that 'good' and 'bad' aren't as cut and dry as she thought and she will have to make some hard decisions in order to follow through on her mission.

I knew nothing about author Juliet Marillier prior to this, but the basic story appealed to me. I'm always a sucker for incorporating music and musicians into a book so this really looked like something I'd enjoy.

The music and spy aspects of the story blended together better than I expected they would. We get both stories (talented music/clever spies) and Liobhan and Brocc navigate back and forth easily. Music is a deep part of who they are as people, and the spying is their profession. Marillier keeps the reader well mindful of what is happening and what our protagonists are thinking and planning.

Though there is a solid story here, this definitely seems to be more of a character-driven book rather than story-driven ... which I like. Connecting with these characters (specifically Liobhan) brought me deeper into the story.

There was some cleverness to the mystery and wonder behind the missing harp, but for the most part this plot point just felt - "eh." It's a good thing we care about the characters!

The book seems to be written for young adults.  There's nothing wrong with that, other than it doesn't get too deep into anything and there has to be some sort of romance that comes front and center at some point.

I enjoyed this and I'd read more.

Looking for a good book? The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier is a YA fantasy blending music and spy/thriller themes for a fast-paced story.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

* * * * * *

The Harp of Kings

author: Juliet Marilllier

series: Warrior Bards #1

publisher: Ace Books

ISBN: 0451492781

paperback, 448 pages


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more