Published by: Katherine Tegen Books Genre: Fantasy, YA Pages: 391
Wilhelmina has a hundred identities.
She is a princess. When the Indigo Kingdom conquered her homeland, Wilhelmina and other orphaned children of nobility were taken to Skyvale, the Indigo Kingdom’s capital. Ten years later, they are the Ospreys, experts at stealth and theft. With them, Wilhelmina means to take back her throne.
She is a spy. Wil and her best friend, Melanie, infiltrate Skyvale Palace to study their foes. They assume the identities of nobles from a wraith-fallen kingdom, but enemies fill the palace, and Melanie’s behavior grows suspicious. With Osprey missions becoming increasingly dangerous and their leader more unstable, Wil can’t trust anyone.
She is a threat. Wraith is the toxic by-product of magic, and for a century using magic has been forbidden. Still the wraith pours across the continent, reshaping the land and animals into fresh horrors. Soon it will reach the Indigo Kingdom. Wilhelmina’s magic might be the key to stopping the wraith, but if the vigilante Black Knife discovers Wil’s magic, she will vanish like all the others
I started to read this book because after months of being in a reading slump, I was going through the books on my Kindle looking for something that motivated me to read, and this caught my eye. I didn't read it, but after a few days I was still thinking about it, so I decided to give it a try. And I was pleasantly surprised because this finally got me out of my reading slump, with incredible writing, amazing world building, great characters, and good pacing.
My favorite part of the book was the world in which it took place, to be more specific, I love how we found out through the book about the history of the Kingdoms, the magic and the wraith. It was interesting to see how the power relationships had developed through time and how each ruling family took the decisions that they considered best for their Kingdoms.
It was also interesting to see how the court relationships worked and all the manipulation that took place. There's a point where they talked about the place of women in court, and that was fascinating, because it showed that fantasy books can reflect reality as easily as other books. Nonetheless, I felt like spying the people that lived in the castle was too easy for Mel and Wil, and even if they were trained it should have taken a little more effort.
Something else I really enjoyed was the relationship between Wil and Black Knife. Even if it was really obvious which character was behind the mask. I just think their interactions were so witty and fun to read. There's one scene in a bridge that was just incredible. On the other hand, I think the character development in this book was good, but I wish there was more of it. I think it was interesting to see the way Wil and Black Knife faced the grey areas that they encounter along the way and how that changed them and the way they saw things. But I feel like they changed their opinions about things they had believed their whole lives really easily, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I love books with a lot of character development, and I feel like maybe I didn't connect with the characters as much, because I felt like there wasn't enough character development.
At the end, something really surprising happened with the wraith situation that I didn't see coming at all. And then the ending was so good and made me need to read the next book immediately. I would totally recommend this book to anyone who really enjoys fantasy and who likes books with great world building.
Rating: 5 stars
It was more a 4,5, but it got me out of the reading slump, so it deserves a 5
Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments!
