Silent Kingdom (Silent Kingdom, #1) by Rachel L. Schade

My rating: three stars

Genre: YA, fantasy

Edition: Kindle

Goodreads summary: Chosen by truth. Marked for death. Halia must choose to save her kingdom, or let it fall.

Misroth’s king has died, and the entire kingdom is in mourning—or so it seems. After her father is crowned regent in his brother’s stead, Princess Halia discovers a terrible truth that could end her life. But when she flees to live in hiding, she discovers that the Royal Guard are not all she has to fear. Dark creatures stalk her, reports of oppression and war reach her ears, and her burden to protect her kingdom—at any cost—will not be silenced.

I am the type of reader that likes to read several stories at once and who likes to read all the time. So that means that I usually have a physical book (or several), an audiobook, and an eBook going on. I honestly picked this book because it was free on Kindle and sounded interesting.

Likes: The storyline itself was pretty cool, the idea of only being able to speak the truth was something I don’t often see in fae-less books. The friends that she meets on her journey are fun and I really enjoyed their interactions. To be completely honest, this book had so much potential, I think the writing itself just wasn’t that great.

Dislikes: The writing. Throughout the book there were so many repetitions. She almost fell or did fall down like a million times in one chapter. This is the main one that I noticed, but there were so many other instances of repetitions – like her choking on her words. Along with that, the pacing was slow in the middle of the book which made it difficult to read. It seemed like the very beginning and the very end of the book was fast paced but this whole big chunk in the middle was slow. Overall, I thought this book had so much promise. The story line seemed interesting and I did enjoy the characters. However, the overly repetitive writing alongside the slow pace just didn’t do it for me. I ended up giving it three stars, though I am interested in what the rest of the books are like and if the writing gets any better.