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.