Knight's Ransom by Jeff Wheeler

 

 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. A brutal war of succession has plunged the court of Kingfountain into a power struggle between a charitable king who took the crown unlawfully and his ambitious rival, Devon Argentine. The balance of power between the two men hinges on the fate of a young boy ensnared in this courtly intrigue. A boy befittingly nicknamed Ransom.

When the Argentine family finally rules, Ransom must make his own way in the world. Opportunities open and shut before him as he journeys along the path to knighthood, blind to a shadowy conspiracy of jealousy and revenge. Securing his place will not be easy, nor will winning the affection of Lady Claire de Murrow, a fiery young heiress from an unpredictably mad kingdom.

Ransom interrupts an abduction plot targeting the Queen of Ceredigion and earns a position in service to her son, the firstborn of the new Argentine dynasty. But conflict and treachery threaten the family, and Ransom must also come to understand and hone his burgeoning powers—abilities that involve more than his mastery with a blade and that make him as much a target as his lord.



I was super excited to get to read another book set in the world of Kingfountain. This book is a good addition to the world, and I enjoyed it quite a bit, though not as much as the books in the Kingfountain series, and here's why:

This book repeats the same type of plot pattern as Kingfountain, only it felt more rushed story-wise. Just like in The Queen's Poisoner, this book starts out with a young boy who is being held hostage by the current king. Several things happen that parallel the Kingfountain books, but I don't want to add any spoilers to my review so I won't mention what they are, but the downside of this book is that we don't get to spend any significant time in one place before the story moves on to another. This results in a lack of development for certain characters that I feel we should have spent more time with in the beginning in order to build a foundation for why these characters feel they way they do about each other. This is definitely a problem with the romantic aspect of the story, and causes the romance to feel a bit forced. Needless to say, I did not feel the same connection between Ransom and his love interest that I felt between Owen and Evie in The Queen's Poisoner.

All that being said, I do like other aspects of the book. Ranson is likable, and easy to root for. While I would have liked more time spent on building up the story, the characters are multilayered personality-wise in that they are never black and white and are personally conflicted about the dilemmas they face, and have both good and bad traits. There is still a bit too much telling and not enough showing in this book, just like his others, and I feel like this one was worse in that aspect, but and I am still looking forward to reading the rest of the series as it's published so I can find out what happens next.

Thanks to NetGalley and 47North for providing me with an ARC of this book.