Book Review: Allies & Assassins: A conspiracy of Princes by Justin Stomper

I declare myself Queen of Achenfield. Because a Queen outranks a Prince, so that's a inconsistency.

In seven days, the princedom of Archenfield will be invaded by its deadly rival. In a race against time, Prince Jared must cross the border and recruit what strategic alliances he can.

As the Prince and his team rides out, his cousin Axel Blaxland launches his own bid for the throne. Each member of the Council of Twelve falls prey to manipulation as rivalries begin to emerge and Asta Peck, newest member of the Twelve, finds herself plunged into conspiracy. She resolves to fight on Prince Jared's behalf until he is able to defend himself.In a game of power, only the strongest will survive.

Welcome back to Archenfield. Trust no-one.

I don't what it is about this series, but I can't read the books unless I have break from it. This time, it was a personal choice, not dictated by deadlines (not ones I couldn't get out of).

This book is nothing but politics. I was expecting an interesting battle of wits or violence. However, all I got was people lying to each other or petty secrets. Yes, some politics are necessary. It just goes on and with it being the whole book it was too much. In terms, of the real world, I had enough of politics at this point and was not looking for book to be so dominated by it. I'm sure there is someone out there, who would love this book because it's swords and politics but I didn't.

I started plotted possible deaths for these characters. I stopped liking the characters and just became a game of guessing how they would messed up. There was gayness. Sort of. Hinted at. I just stopped caring about the characters the more I got through the book. I was annoyed so much by the characters and their actions were clearly dumb. Obvious betrayal is obvious.

Overall, I gave this novel three out of five stars for pointless votes. I really don't see myself finishing this series. I'm still half interested in this world, but I struggled to get through both of the books in the series, so that makes me doubt that the third book would be easier/better read for me.

Book Review: Allies & Assassins by Justin Stomper

The following summary has a error in that its a Princedom, not a Kingdom.


Prince is Dead. 
Long Live the Prince.

As the second-in-line to the throne of Archenfield, Jared never expected to rule. But behind the walls of the castle is a dark and dangerous court where murder and intrigue are never far below the surface. 

Now his older brother is dead. the Kingdom is his. And the target is on his back. Can he find the assassin before the assassin?

This might be awkward review as I took four month break between one half of the book and the other.

The Princedom is interesting as it has a council of Twelve people, though I've got to say some them are kinda random like the head Beekeeper gets a say and there's the Prince's bodyguard as well as the head of the Guards. The Twelve are basically the times of the day and the council remembers seem to have been stretched to fit that idea. Also the heir is picked by the ruling prince. The world building was mostly small, I mean there nothing overly unique about it. I think it meant to be based on Wales but I have no real knowledge of Medieval Wales but this book is weird whilst not a fantasy, it seems a tad off to call it a Historical book. Also women have roles of leadships which I'm sure was not a thing in Europe during the sort of time it takes place.

The mystery of who did it was well built but the misleads seem a bit obvious there were not real leads to the Assassin. This book does end with a cliff-hanger but the actual plot of the book is wrapped up nicely.

The characters were alright except sometimes they seem intentionally dumb. Also certain characters seem to slightly switch personality at times in order to fit the plot.  I liked Asta. The relationships were okays, they are some that I would like to see how they develop.

Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars for bells. I would definitely read the next book if the library got it in or I found it really cheap. I am interesting in what happens with these characters and this Princedom especially with the cliff-hanger we left with at the end.