BEHIND THE MASK OF DUTY AND POWER, NO ONE IS WHO THEY SEEM…
I was granted complimentary access to House of Bastiion by K.L. Kolarich via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
House of Bastiion
The Haidren Legacy Book One
by K. L. Kolarich
Published 19 January 2021
by Rogue Kite Publishing
Genre: YA High Fantasy, Adventure
Page Count: 450
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
BEHIND THE MASK OF DUTY AND POWER, NO ONE IS WHO THEY SEEM…
Centuries after the Forgotten Wars ravaged the world and turned it to ash, the Houses of Pilar, Darakai, Boreal, and Bastiion forged an accord with the royal line of Thoarne, founding a Quadren of advisory to the throne of Orynthia. Every generation, a single Haidren from each of the four Houses is appointed to this coveted chair.
Upon her Ascension to adulthood, Luscia Tiergan takes her seat at court as al’Haidren to the House of Boreal and is quickly drawn into a maze of political traps and dark secrets. As she adjusts to her new life, Luscia uncovers a pattern of forgotten children, slain in the streets of Bastiion.
Raised on superstitious rumors about Boreal’s penchant for sorcery, Zaethan Kasim, al’Haidren to the House of Darakai, inevitably clashes with Lusica when she arrives in Bastiion. But when his position is threatened by an old rival, Zaethan is forced to set aside his hatred and form an uneasy alliance with the Boreali al’Haidren to secure his claim.
Following a disturbing stream of innocent bloodshed across Orynthia, Luscia and Zaethan discover their ideals are far more aligned than they might have imagined. But in a land of war and deceit, the path to peace should never be trusted.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads
I was granted complimentary access to House of Bastiion by K.L. Kolarich via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
I first became aware of House of Bastiion during a trailer reveal event with YA Bound Book Tours back in 2020 and I’ve been longing to read whatever text is wrapped in this beautiful cover ever since, but tour dates with review opportunities never really jived with my schedule. So naturally, when I found House of Bastiion available on NetGalley, I absolutely had to hit request!
I typically don’t make formatting comments in my reviews because I’m usually reviewing ARCs or the author’s PDF copy, but in this case this is a book that has now already been published and out there in the world for a while, and I was sent an ePub. This should be reflective of what’s available for purchase. No matter how I converted this to Mobi (by emailing it to my account with “convert” in the subject line, by running it through conversion software, etc.) I could not get a file that permitted screenreading in Kindle. Not only was this inconvenient for me, as someone who prefers to listen to books while doing idle chores and such, but it’s an accessibility issue for readers with vision or learning disabilities.
Now, on with the review!
The world, characters, and lore in this book are just as beautifully detailed and mysterious as the cover art promised! I’m pleased to say that I really did enjoy this book from cover to cover. I highly recommend it to other fans of YA Fantasy, especially if you love books full of political intrigue and powerful feuding families.
We do get into multiple characters’ heads during this book, and I must applaud the author for how well-executed all of this was. Each character has a distinct voice and I had no trouble at all keeping track of whose head I was in.
I’m really excited to hear that this is only the first book in The Haidren Legacy series, as there’s clearly so much more story to be told, and this book was so well done.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Ooh this sounds like a book I’d read and one I will be adding to my TBR. I’m glad to hear the different POVs are distinguishable – not getting that right can ruin a book for me! Thanks for the review and recommendation:)