Royal Bastards (Royal Bastards, #1)

by Andrew Shvarts

[Leah]

Royal Bastards is an incredible read. It’s the first in a trilogy (OH HECK YES I AM HERE FOR THAT) but it does stand-alone pretty well, in that there’s no cliff-hanger ending, or clamouring for the next book, which I’m on board with. I’ll read the sequel, but I don’t need it NOW, which is good since this book isn’t even out yet until June and I’m writing this in March. Phew. I just loved the whole concept of the book - that all the bastards band together to save the world. Okay, not the world, the kingdom, shall I say? That works. For some bizarre reason, at the beginning, I thought Tilla was a boy. I haven’t the foggiest clue where I got that idea, but I eventually cottoned on.

I loved how the plot progressed - Royal Bastards starts off sedate, with the only thing Tilla has to worry about is being legitimized by her dad, Lord Kent. Then one night, at a feast for Princess Lyriana, it all goes to pot. Suddenly Tilla, Lyriana, Zell, Jax and Miles are on the run, with a bounty of their heads, and a war brewing. It just completely blew up, with action afoot, as they all try to get Lyriana to safety, without being captured and killed. Andrew Shvarts has written SUCH a good book, my heart was pulsing, dropping to my stomach many times and seeing Tilla transform from a girl into a woman was out of this world amazing. She really does mature and grow before your eyes, transforming into a badass heroine, to give my girl Celaena a run for her money (I know she isn’t Celaena any more, but I haven’t read that far, OK?!). I also liked the supporting characters - sometimes it feels like the supporting characters are just there to prop up the heroine, but they so weren’t in this case. I was connected to Princess Lyriana, to Jax, to Zell. The only one I didn’t like was Miles. He just creeped me out.

With my knowledge that this is now a trilogy, I’m kinda peeved at Andrew Shvarts for what he did there at the end. I mean WAS THERE ANY NEED FOR THAT? I saw it coming, I just hadn’t guessed all of it, but damn, talk about cold-hearted. Honestly this was Harry Potter and Hedwig or Dobby level of cold-hearted. Other than that, I genuinely loved every page - the friendship, the action, the laughs, the way you felt like you didn’t know the characters at the beginning, but by the end they were family. (MOSTLY.)

I will be clamouring to read the next book as soon as I hear a peep about it. Royal Bastards had a brilliant ending, yes, but I am super, super intrigued to see where the series goes. There’s a lot more to be told - retribution is needed for some things, and I’m so intrigued to see Lightspire, we heard so much about it but didn’t see any of it, in this first book. I loved Royal Bastards, I couldn’t recommend it enough. The world building was incredible, the characters were brilliant, ones you really rooted for, and Andrew Shvarts gave Tilla a fantastic voice, I just loved it. It made me cry, it made me smile, it made me laugh, I just got the whole gamut of feelings whilst reading this book and it was just incredible.