Be prepared for lots of heart-wrenching moments, because there will be plenty of those too. Every chapter gives a new twist to the story, so when you finish it you won't even know which way is up. You only know there's a Froi, a Quintana, a Lucian, a Gargarin, an Arjuro, a Lirah, and a wife Lucian sent back.

Speaking of which, the wife Lucian sent back has to be one of the bravest characters in this series; and that's saying something because all the characters are pretty brave in their own way. But Phaedra... That girl is sure something. I could go on and on about Froi's character development, Quintana's, or even Lucian's, but Phaedra was the one who truly surprised me here.

A girl who does not belong to Lumatere, and is brought from a foreign kingdom to be the wife of the Mont leader, who from the beginning, blinded by his grief and the weight of his responsability on his shoulders, treats her like she was little more than an animal. He considers her useless, and repeatedly makes her feel bad about herself. But again, and again, she shows she's more than what meets the eye. She manages to form some kind of kinship between the Lumaterans of the Monts, and the Charynites, and also succeeds at some tasks Lucian wasn't able to. She refuses to crack at the whispered words of the Lumateran women, and actually stands up for herself. I couldn't possibly make this review without pointing out how awed I was by her strenght.

Then there's Quintana, the half-mad princess who's given more to her kingdom than anyone will ever know.

I thought Finnikin of the Rock was awesome, but this book was mind-blowing. I could not put it down. The world-building, the prose, the characters, the freaking plot. EVERY SINGLE THING.

It covered everything! It had everything you wish to see in a fantasy book. In no way plain. I know Osterians are boring, Sorelians trade slaves, Lumatere is all grass and sunshine, and Charyn is all rocks and caves. I know the prose is poetic, but isn't stiff and formal. The characters are broken, real people that I admire (in most cases), and the plot is well-thought out and, and...

GO READ THIS BOOK.

KitsuneBae

Written on Jan 1, 2015

Reread

Angie

Written on Jun 23, 2013

After a slightly disappointing start to the series, Froi of the Exiles really picks up the pace! While I couldn’t care less about Finnikin and his problems, I adored Froi. I absolutely loved watching him grow and become a better man, both in the second half of Finnikin of the Rock and through the entirety of this book. It’s three years later and Froi has been continuing his education as well as physical training. Now he’s to enter Charyn, pretending to be there to meet Princess Quintana, but really he’s there to assassinate the king. Of course, nothing goes according to plan and Froi has his work cut out for him. He has his bond to his queen to keep to, but sometimes he has to make decisions for himself within the moment.

Froi of the Exiles is 200 pages longer than the previous book, but thankfully it wasn’t as slow and boring! There’s so much happening plot wise, and there’s a ton of action, so it almost always held my attention. In the beginning there is quite a bit more world building presented, mostly on how different regions differentiate between each other. We also learn a lot about Charyn since that’s where the majority of the plot takes place. New locations and groups of people are also introduced as the story movies forward, and it was interesting to see how different everyone is despite being in relatively close proximity. However, the third part of the book (those extra 200 pages!) felt like I was starting a new book. It was kind of strange, and the story did slow down a bit, so it took me a little while to get back into it.

My favorite part of Froi of the Exiles was probably Quintana. This author’s female characters certainly know how to steal the spotlight! Charyn is under a curse in which no one can reproduce. It is believed that the last born girl and boy will be the ones to successfully create new life and break the curse. Princess Quintana was the last girl born 18 years ago, and ever since she was able, men have taken their turn with her hoping to father the heir. Her life has been hell and I felt so awful for her. People in the kingdom ridicule her for being mad and refer to her as a whore. She does seem not quite sane, but is she actually mad? Or is she just committed to lifting the curse for her people? Or maybe she’s just desperate to survive by proving her usefulness? Whatever it is, I was rooting for her!

Froi of the Exiles is full of palace secrets, mistaken identities, and political turmoil. Froi’s mission to assassinate the king becomes more of a journey of redemption for him as he reflects on his past mistakes. It was at times heartbreaking to read about his troubles, as well as Quintana’s. These two broken people need each other, and that ending…dang. You’ll want to have Quintana of Charyn on hand after that.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

ladygrey

Written on Mar 21, 2012

The thing I love about this book is that it's not the sort of thing I would ever like. It's dark and hard, full of broken people and so little hope. And yet I love it.

I accept the darkness and the inhumanity and the cruelty because it's real and not salacious and not written to shock or terrorize because Melina Marchetta knows that reality can be horrible enough without having to be magnified. And I accept it because the story full of awful things isn't bereft of hope or dignity or even nobility.

I love the characters that are so rich and complex in a very tangled world. I love Froi. When he can't contain his rage and can't count and Arjuro starts counting for him I was so moved and full of compassion and that was the moment that I truly loved this character. And I love at the end when he tells her to let go. It was so strong and so heartbreaking.

The first, maybe, third of the book I was a little surprised that the story seemed to revolve around a single subject matter. But then I realized it really was the theme of the book and she kept coming back to it and coming back again because it is the essence of these characters' story and this kingdom. And she handled it in a way that almost no other author could; with straight-forward honesty but without reveling in it which would be so inappropriate and tacky.

And somewhere around page 400 I was struck by the thought that there are people in the world who live this way; who live in broken lands and are haunted by fear and anger and Charyn seemed like an echo of Darfur or Rowanda or Croatia. Which also made the inhumanity bearable (which seems like an awful thing to say) because she isn't writing about it for the sake of writing about terrible things people do to each other and she isn't writing it because it's fun (and who am I to say why she's writing it?) but because it's real and its a horrible part of being human.

But in the midst of all that - the tangled narrative and the complex, broken characters - it isn't horrible to read. Her authenticity and her unflinching strength to write these characters and this story makes it incredibly readable and engaging. They're broken but they're good and even when they aren't easy to love you don't want to look away. And sometimes they are very easy to love.

I talk about what a hard story it is, mostly because that's the sort of thing I would normally criticize a story for. So I'm really impressed that she wrote a story like this and I love it. And it is also laced with hope and unbelievable courage and heartbreaking nobility and it's the mingling of the light in the midst of the darkness that makes it truly wonderful.

And the only reason I'm still sane even though I don't have Quintana of Charyn right NOW is that I have to believe that Marchetta is an author who ultimately believes in happy endings.