Review: Legacy of Kings by Eleanor Herman

Title: Legacy of Kings (Blood of Gods and Royals #1)
Author: Eleanor Herman
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: August 25th 2015
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 4/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Imagine a time when the gods turn a blind eye to the agony of men, when the last of the hellions roam the plains and evil stirs beyond the edges of the map. A time when cities burn, and in their ashes, empires rise.

Alexander, Macedonia’s sixteen-year-old heir, is on the brink of discovering his fated role in conquering the known world but finds himself drawn to newcomer Katerina, who must navigate the dark secrets of court life while hiding her own mission: kill the Queen. But Kat’s first love, Jacob, will go to unthinkable lengths to win her, even if it means competing for her heart with Hephaestion, a murderer sheltered by the prince. And far across the sea, Zofia, a Persian princess and Alexander’s unmet fiancée, wants to alter her destiny by seeking the famed and deadly Spirit Eaters.

Weaving fantasy with the salacious and fascinating details of real history, New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Herman reimagines the greatest emperor the world has ever known: Alexander the Great, in the first book of the Blood of Gods and Royals series.

The first thing that draw me to this book was to be one of the main characters is Alexander the Great, but what I did not know was that besides being a book of historical fiction, it also has elements of fantasy.

Legacy of Kings is a book with 7 different point of views, which are: Alexander - Prince of Macedonia, Hephaestion - best friend of Alexander, Queen Olimpia - mother of Alexander, Cynane - half-sister of Alexander, Zofia - Princess of Persia and Alexander´s fiancee, Katerina - an orphan that travels to Pella for revenge and Jacob - Katerina´s best friend; with so many different perspectives it took me a while to get used to the jumps between them, but once I got used to them, I really enjoyed it a lot.

In the author´s note it says that she tried to make it as historically accurate as it could be, and many of the references of that era are represented as close as possible to how it was at that time, but Katerina, Jacob and Zofia are fictional characters, plus the author add magical elements, prophecies and other mythical characters, which made it even more interesting. The story takes place in 340 BC.

Alexander is a 16 year old young man, he´s the prince of Macedonia, he just return from his studies with Aristotle and was appointed Regent of Macedonia while his father, along with most of his army travel to another city, meanwhile Alexander attempts during his regency to demonstrate to his father, King Philip that he´s worthy and can rule their country in the future.

Meanwhile Katerina also has 16 years old, she travels to the capital to seek revenge, but there she meets Alexander, he helps her and the two forge a bond of strong friendship that make Jacob (Katerina´s best friend and he´s in love with her) and Hephaestion (best friend Alexander) jealous and as Alexander begins to spend time with her, it cause trouble with their respective friends (is not romantic jealousy from one of them), coupled with the manipulation by Cynane (half-sister of Alexander ) she wants to cause problems on the friendship between Alexander and Hephaestion. Perhaps as it may sound a very tangled tale, but for this very reason I think there are so many different POV´s to make sense to this complex plot.

Of all the characters my least favorite was Zofia (Alexander´s fiance), mainly because all her story takes place in Persia and she doesn´t interact with any of the other main characters.

Legacy of Kings is a very good first book in a series, especially since Alexander's character is very interesting, as it was true that at the age of 16 years old he had his first battle and I also like how his friendship with Hephaestion was represented, because even though they have their differences, they´re still loyal to each other. The story is captivating and fascinating, with fantastic and mythical elements that make this historical-fantasy novel different from other books I've read lately. I can not wait to read its sequel - Empire of Dust.

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