This second book in ‘The Chronicles of Castellane’ series is filled with mystery and political intrigue.
Prince Connor, the easygoing Prince of Castellane, has suffered a devastating loss and must choose a new wife to strengthen political ties. Meanwhile, the rival kingdom of Malagasi is sending threats and magical assassins after Connor. His body double, Kel, is determined to protect the prince at any cost, so Kel secretly starts working with Prosper Beck, the leader of the underground crime movement and the notorious Ragpicker King to hunt for traitors. But it’s only a matter of time before Connor finds out Kel’s lying to him.
Meanwhile, the story follows two secondary protagonists, Antonetta and Lin. Antonetta is Kel and Connor’s childhood best friend, and she is engaged against her will to a violent noblemen who will stop at nothing to weed out Prosper Beck. Lin Caster, the talented physician, has discovered a patient carrying an ancient power beneath their skin. With magical trials on her horizon, Lin attempts to harness this power for her own ambitions.
Prince Connor is a standout character; he is charming, funny and has some devastating emotional moments that were my favourite parts of the book. I was also invested in Antonetta’s storyline, which portrays tense themes of marital and emotional abuse. In this sense, Kel feels a little left behind in his own story, but Clare still devotes time to building his complicated relationship with Connor.
The series keeps up the imaginative world-building and Castellane is such a fantastical, decadent setting. The Ragpicker King was full of twists and turns and ended on a great cliffhanger, which absolutely left me wanting more.
Reviewed by Rachel Denham-White
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cassandra Clare was born to American parents in Teheran, Iran and spent much of her childhood travelling the world with her family, including one trek through the Himalayas as a toddler where she spent a month living in her father’s backpack. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was ten years old.
Cassie’s first professional writing sale was a short story called “The Girl’s Guide to Defeating the Dark Lord” in a Baen anthology of humor fantasy. Cassie hates working at home alone because she always gets distracted by reality TV shows and the antics of her cats, so she usually sets out to write in local coffee shops and restaurants. She likes to work in the company of her friends, who see that she sticks to her deadlines.
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