Title: Royal ReplicasAuthor: Micheal Pierce
Blurb:
"Princess Amelia is dead... and one of you will replace her."
Seventeen-year-old
Victoria Sandalwood has served the Duke and Duchess all her life. Over
the years, she’s learned to make due with what she has and endure her
surrogate father’s awful punishments. She dreams of escape, but never
expected it to come in the form of a message from the Queen of Westeria.Victoria
learns that she’s the Queen’s daughter, the younger sister to Princess
Amelia, and it’s time to come home and claim her birthright. When she
arrives, she discovers she’s not the only one who received the royal
message.Victoria must compete with six other girls to earn the
affection of both the Queen and a princely suitor… and to replace the
secretly deceased Princess Amelia. If she fails to win the crown,
Victoria may just have to fight for her life…
Disclaimer: I
received a copy of this book from YA Bound Book Tours in exchange for
an honest review.
When I first read the plot I was terribly intrigued. Too bad I found myself reading what felt like a mash up between The Selection, Twilight & The Hunger Games.
Truth is, I practically have only about two positive things to say about Royal Replicas :
1. The cover is amazing
2. The pages fly by
Unfortunately I found the characters flat and dull and the book felt full of stereotypes and senseless violence. Victoria's stepfather violent actions were - most of the time - unjustified. At some point I decided that he was simply mentally unstable and that I should stop to wonder why he was behaving in this or that way. I applied the same thing to his wife. Now, tell me what kind of woman would allow him to treat her children and stepdaughter like that. If I were her I would have poisoned him long ago.
Victoria terribly bothered me or better yet her unquestioning attitude did. *Girl, seriously how can't you see that there is something wrong?? She basically accepted everything that was told her without wondering or stopping to question anything at all. Nor did she have an existential crisis after she is told she is a replica ----I mean one would expect - at the very least - some kind of reaction.
If that wasn't enough to bother me we also had her in the position of not refusing the prince because he is a prince. OH HELL NO! The author later tried to put it right but it was too late.
And let's not talk about Kale named after a vegetable (seriously?) and whose name and character is suspiciously too reminiscent of Gale from Hunger Games (The reigns names were no better:.. Westeria, Easteria, Northeria, Southeria---really? Couldn't we have come up with something more original? *face palm*). Anyway, Kale tries to save Victoria but ends up just making a mess. I don't understand why a woman must necessarily need saving, there are those who are pretty capable of saving themselves...thank you very much.
It pains my heart to say that in the end, Royal Replica was a book with potential but poorly constructed.The final verdict? Meh. Read it you feel up to it but don't expect too much out of it.
Rating:
When I first read the plot I was terribly intrigued. Too bad I found myself reading what felt like a mash up between The Selection, Twilight & The Hunger Games.
Truth is, I practically have only about two positive things to say about Royal Replicas :
1. The cover is amazing
2. The pages fly by
Unfortunately I found the characters flat and dull and the book felt full of stereotypes and senseless violence. Victoria's stepfather violent actions were - most of the time - unjustified. At some point I decided that he was simply mentally unstable and that I should stop to wonder why he was behaving in this or that way. I applied the same thing to his wife. Now, tell me what kind of woman would allow him to treat her children and stepdaughter like that. If I were her I would have poisoned him long ago.
Victoria terribly bothered me or better yet her unquestioning attitude did. *Girl, seriously how can't you see that there is something wrong?? She basically accepted everything that was told her without wondering or stopping to question anything at all. Nor did she have an existential crisis after she is told she is a replica ----I mean one would expect - at the very least - some kind of reaction.
If that wasn't enough to bother me we also had her in the position of not refusing the prince because he is a prince. OH HELL NO! The author later tried to put it right but it was too late.
And let's not talk about Kale named after a vegetable (seriously?) and whose name and character is suspiciously too reminiscent of Gale from Hunger Games (The reigns names were no better:.. Westeria, Easteria, Northeria, Southeria---really? Couldn't we have come up with something more original? *face palm*). Anyway, Kale tries to save Victoria but ends up just making a mess. I don't understand why a woman must necessarily need saving, there are those who are pretty capable of saving themselves...thank you very much.
It pains my heart to say that in the end, Royal Replica was a book with potential but poorly constructed.The final verdict? Meh. Read it you feel up to it but don't expect too much out of it.
Rating:
2 blossoms
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