Prince Lyle is on a quest to find 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.

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. Here we go into the big scary magical forest of no return where everyone gets lost, except we have elves to guide us, so never mind. It's not scary or dangerous after all.
Here we go into the big scary magical creature menagerie with the man-eating fire-breathing scary monsters where we will probably be killed, except we are best friends with the people who care for the monsters and the monsters are all asleep in cages, so never mind. It's not scary or dangerous after all. The plot was disappointing.

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.