Review – Maledicte by Lane Robins (5/5 stars)

I bought this book because I loved the cover and when I read the premise I was intrigued. I love these kinds of stories and this one was especially heart-rending yet hopeful.

Miranda’s childhood sweetheart is stolen from her in the slums that they are raised in. She vows to get back her love, Janus, at any cost. Disguising herself as a young lord named Maledicte she wins over the elderly lord of a house; he decides to foster Maledicte as an heir; for a price. When the lord finds out Maledicte’s secret the stakes are even greater.

Miranda adopts Maledicte’s persona completely and works to become a ferocious fighter and deadly courtier. This book is full of lush description, great fight scenes, and intrigue galore. There is much contemplation on the topics of love versus power and the values of each.

This book was well-written, impossible for me to put down, and a classic type of story with a twist. It is kind of your classic rage to riches story, but your young man is actually a girl pretending to be a man, and the young man’s true love is not exactly what he seems.

The style of writing and court intrigue reminded me of Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Dart series; although the scope of this book is smaller (it is a stand alone novel) and the sex scenes are not explicit (just very sweet and tasteful).

This was a beautiful book and I was sad when it ended. The ending seemed slightly rushed. I was still very impressed and it was awesome to find such a good stand alone novel. It seems like now-a-days everything is part of a series. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this author in the future!