The Bridge Kingdom is the first book from the series with the same name. The main ingredients are one greedy, lying king, one brave, good king, and one beautiful, spy princess between them.
King Silas of Maridrina, obsessed with power and money, has one goal: to take over Ithacana, the kingdom controlling the bridge, and the free market serving the rest of the island kingdoms. Where the armies won`t succeed, here comes the politics, and so Maridrina and Ithacana strike out an alliance that now is already 15 years old. One of the terms of their agreement is the promise that King Aren of Ithacana will marry one of the 20 princesses of Maridrina. ( yeah, 20, Silas has a harem ).
Lara – princess of Maridrina raised in isolation and trained for 15 years – is King Silas`s perfect weapon and becomes the wife of the new king of Ithacana, Aren. Lara has only one purpose in all this scheme, to find the right strategy for conquering Ithacana, which will save her people from poverty and famine and will defeat Aren, the ruthless ruler of the kingdom of Ithacana.
Aren – king of Ithacana, is the very example of a man who succeeds in life through truth, bravery, and self-sacrifice. He is a responsible king that leads by example, trying to offer his subjects a better life, a future with no wars and opened for education, civilization, and evolution.
In all this tapestry of interests, loyalties are changing, feelings are born, and truths are coming out, so in front of the reader unfolds endless possibilities and complex characters full of wits, ambitions, and insecurities, that are growing and changing from one page to another.
The book finale leaves us full of questions in front of a desperate situation with Aren, the prisoner king, and Lara, the banished queen, starting a road of blood and vengeance.
What I liked: it is coherent writing with no cringey moments, and the world presented is gradually developed by constantly adding details. The characters first appear in front of the reader in situations that define their place in the story with no lacks or uncertainties. As the first part of a series, The Bridge Kingdom is a solid start that convinces me that the Ithacana`s story will conquer and stay in the reader`s heart.
What I didn’t like: Aren, viewed as a king that respects his council of generals, a ruler who pays attention to all opinions and suggestions, often seems to lack authority in front of the same generals, being treated as if he is a little inexperienced boy. He becomes an authority figure only once, by admonishing his twin sister Ahnna who almost kills Lara with one of her unpredictable gestures. That is too little from my point of view.
I did not like the grandmother – it is a totally subjective opinion.
All in all, I forsee a series full of adventures and changes perfectly integrated into the world of sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, enemy-to-lover romance.
