Prince Lyle is on a quest along with the legendary high elf, Deedlit, hoping that she can stop a war from starting among the island nations. The ruler of each nation is magically bound to a covenant of peace when they are crowned with a special magic crown. However, their lords and nobles are not bound by any promise of peace, nor are their royal descendants who refuse the crown. War is looming on the island, and armies are mobilizing. Prince Lyle will do anything to stop the bloodshed, and his siblings have some plans of their own.

In this second volume, Lyle has teamed up with Deedlit to inspire the people to fight for the side of peace and restore the balance between the island nations. The only way to restore balance is to restore the throne of the king of Kanon. The king has been jailed in the tower by his nobles, who have seized power. But Lyle thinks that the people of Kanon would rally around him, if they thought he was the Knight of Lodoss. Lyle and his friends concoct a wild plan to free the king and restore the kingdom of Kanon.

I was interested in the magical worldbuilding of this book, but the plot drags too slow. There is a lot of exposition that goes on for pages and pages about political history and this duke and that king and their allies, and their enemies who rebelled against that other ruler years ago, but now that other guy from the desert has control over the tribes and that other prince who claimed the throne is now amassing an army against that other guy from the small nation who used to have access to that city but now that city is flourishing because of the climate change where the desert receded allowing that other duke to take over this border, etc... etc... etc... until I want to die of boredom.
The expositional dialogue was just too much!

And then when the plot finally moves forward, it sets you up for a big action scene and disappoints nearly every time. There are a few good scenes with Lyle and his friends, and Lyle's siblings are spying and fighting in their own battles, but I found most of the plot to be disappointing. Not nearly enough adventure, and too much talking. It seems like the obstacles are too easily overcome, so the scenes fall flat. They have a whole tower full of bad guys to defeat, and it's like in Star Wars when stormtroopers fall over when a rock hits them. Too easy for the good guys to win, so there's no weight to the story.

The only character that I cared about was Prince Lyle, so I was bored with the long scenes of his siblings talking to politicians and trying to worm their way into the good graces of their allies or enemies.

I liked the beautiful artwork though! Really pretty pages of gorgeous design!

Prince Lyle is a very inspiring character. I love that he has such a positive outlook. He's a dreamer and he truly believes that he can save his country with high ideals and courage. He has some friends who are really sweet and funny and they make a good team. I liked their scenes together!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.