4.5 stars
In this second book in the The Chronicles of Dasnaria series by Jeffe Kennedy, we continue on the journey of Princess Jenna who is hiding from her abusive husband, which takes her out of the only land she’s ever know, Dasnaria.
This book picks up right where the first book, Prisoner of the Crown, ends. Jenna is aboard Valeria. This is the first time she’s really alone. So far, on her trip, she’s at least had her brother, Harlan. But he stayed back to buy her time to get away. All she knows, is that she needs to get out of Dasnaria before she is found and returned to her husband.
While on the Valeria, Jenna meets up with Kaja. Kaja is a priestess of Danu, one of the three goddesses that are worshipped in the Twelve Kingdoms (again there are a few Easter Eggs hidden for readers of the Twelve Kingdoms series). Kaja helps Jenna hide and starts to teach her. Jenna quickly learns that she really doesn’t know much of anything. She can’t read or write. She can only speak Dasnarian.
Kaja also helps to teach Jenna to fight. Kaja takes the dance that Jenna spent most of her life learning, mostly so she could impress her betrothed, and turns it into a forms with weapons.
All those years I practiced the traditional dances, particularly the ducerse, which required utmost skill to keep the many bells from making sound until the precisely timed moment. I’d thought I was preparing to dazzle my husband and make my emperor proud. Not teaching myself stealth.
But stealth had turned out to be far more useful.
The plan becomes that Jenna will become a priestess of Danu, too. She will take a vow of silence, so as not to giveaway how little she knows of the area, and a vow of chastity, which she does because the idea of being with a man after the abuse of her husband scares her. She also changes her name. She eventually chooses, Ivariel, which is an anagram for Valeria, which changed her life.
When she boards her next ship, Robin, she meets Ochieng. He is a very nice and talkative person. He isn’t at all cowed by the fact that Priestess Ivariel is silent. He talks to her all the time anyway and is very good at reading her face to get responses. Once they land in his homeland, Chiyajua, Ochieng invites Priestess Ivariel to accompany him back to his family’s place.
A lot happens to Priestess Ivariel in this book. She learns quite a bit (she has a lot to learn, still). I don’t want to go into any more detail, so as to avoid spoilers. I will say, it was great to see more of the Twelve Kingdoms. I also liked seeing the world through both Princess Jenna’s and Priestess Ivariel’s eyes. They are two different people, as Princess Jenna was a sheltered girl and Priestess Ivariel is a much less sheltered, but still learning woman and warrior.
I feel like this quote here, sums up this story really well. I can’t wait to see where Priestess Ivariel goes from here.
“I’d like to tell you about a young girl who grew up in paradise,” I said. “She had everything she wanted and nothing demanded of her—until everything was taken.”
**Book was provided to me by the author. This review is my opinion and was not requested or provoked in anyway by the author.