
Series: The Exiled Crown
on February 15th, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Short Story
Pages: 12
Goodreads
iBooks, Barnes&Noble
When a village is attacked by brigands, a vagrant princess takes it upon herself to see that justice is done at the point of a bloody sword. Forsaken is the first tale of The Exiled Crown, an ongoing short story series.
So this was another short story I devoured in what felt like 5 minutes. It’s only 12 pages, so that might’ve been the case.
It’s basically about Ayla—a Princess but not the Disney kind—rescuing a group of children from slavers. It’s a quick introduction to her character, and a hello from a secondary character that I imagine will have a bigger role in upcoming books.
With this being so singularly focused and short, I think I’d be hard pressed not to like it. We’ve got a kickass female character. She doesn’t stand for children being taken as slaves. And she’s willing to tackle impossible situations she deems worthy. Unfortunately, the world is hardly explored at all. She’s exiled, there’s a king that’s not hers, but an ally, but not. Honestly, the king part lent more confusion than answers, but it’s a setup for the next story, I’m guessing. Just a small bite of information. Without much more explored, it’s hard to talk about anything else.
The writing is smooth, the pacing great. Obviously so since I read it so quickly. My only negative is that it’s so short when it could have been drawn out just a tad bit more to make room for some more character/world building.
Overall, it’s a great introduction to an upcoming author and short story series. If you need something to read while dinner is cooking, give it a go.