The Broken Daughter (The Cursed Kingdom, #1) by Samantha Shaye Secrets, betrayals, and deceptions will rear their heads as the Princess of Treoles will stop at nothing to uncover the person responsible for her mother's murder.
Long ago, there was a continent known as Veralun where magickal creatures thrived and lived in harmony until one sorceress delved deep into dark magick and tainted all the creatures of the land. In their final attempt to save the inhabitants of Veralun, Sentinel Queen Yuria of Treoles absorbed all the magick and separated the infected land from the rest of the world. She called the new land Dramolux and forbade all magick. For generations, her family kept the magick locked away.
Until now.
With Queen Ismana Maudlin of Treoles murdered, the magick unleashes and tears through the land to its rightful owners. Only one person can control the dark magick festering and waiting for its victims, Queen Ismana's only daughter whose memory has been tainted.
The odds are against Princess Aymeri Maudlin as she navigates her grief, ruling Treoles, and unraveling all of her mother's secrets.
With the help of her mother's allies, and close friends she never knew she had, she is ready for anything. Even the impending war, soon to be at her kingdom's doorstep.
The Broken Daughter is the first book in the Cursed Kingdom series by author Samantha Shaye. This is marked as a new adult fantasy because of the age of our main character (who is 23) but I think it would also really work well for young adult fantasy readers because there is no spice in the story.
“One tragic death. Two broken kingdoms. Three powerful women bound together by secrets, lies, and betrayal.”
In The Broken Daughter, we meet our main character Aymeri, who is thrust into a world of political intrigue and secrets as she is trying to uncover the mystery of who killed her mother- the queen, all while dealing with huge gaping holes in her memory. Aymeri seemed very young for her age, but I did try to cut her some slack since she was dealing with some serious grieving and the memory issues would be pretty scary to face as well, so I get it. I will be interested to see how her character grows in the next book.
This book was a fast paced and easy read. It set the stage nicely for the rest of the series. There was not much romance in the story, so I think this will appeal to reader who like magic based fantasy novels and love to see strong themes of good v. evil along with some interesting political intrigue and secrets. I was able to guess a few of the twists, but overall this was a fun read. I am interested to see what happens next in the series.
Great for readers looking for:
found family
LGBTQ+ Rep
elemental magic
political intrigue
dark vs light magic
forbidden magic
hidden magic
light romance/no spice
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