Title: Thorn
Author: Intisar Khanani
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Source: NetGalley
For Princess Alyrra, choice is a luxury she’s never had … until she’s betrayed.
Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family’s cruelty and the court’s contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.
But powerful men have powerful enemies—and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman’s, giving Alyrra the first choice she’s ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she’s never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometimes the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.
Princess Alyrra has never enjoyed the security or power of her rank. Between her family’s cruelty and the court’s contempt, she has spent her life in the shadows. Forced to marry a powerful foreign prince, Alyrra embarks on a journey to meet her betrothed with little hope for a better future.
But powerful men have powerful enemies—and now, so does Alyrra. Betrayed during a magical attack, her identity is switched with another woman’s, giving Alyrra the first choice she’s ever had: to start a new life for herself or fight for a prince she’s never met. But Alyrra soon finds that Prince Kestrin is not at all what she expected. While walking away will cost Kestrin his life, returning to the court may cost Alyrra her own. As Alyrra is coming to realize, sometimes the hardest choice means learning to trust herself.
This was a fun, unique story. It caught me with it's interesting premise. As you know, I love fairytale retelling. This one was based of The Goose Girl, which I knew a little about, but not a lot, but I thought this story was pretty well done.
Alyrra is a princess, although she's pretty much a prisoner to her mother and brother. She is betrothed to a prince in a neighboring kingdom, and sent away. But on her way there, her identity gets swapped with her maid. Alyrra soon realizes this for a positive thing, as she now has a choice in her life, she can live however she wants to, and she doesn't have to marry someone she has never met.
Like I said, this was executed pretty well. Alyrra starts off passive, almost weak-willed, but she grows so much throughout the course of the story. She becomes a strong, independent person who knows what she wants, and what she needs to do. It can't be easy, going from palace life to living in poverty watching geese, but she did it without complaining.
There isn't a romance, necessarily in this story. She does have some encounters with the prince, but it wasn't a romance story. This was Alyrra's story. I will say, the magic part of things confused me. It wasn't explained very well, I felt. There were some parts that confused me when it came to that side of things.
All in all, this was a fast read. It was a good quick story that kept my attention and kept it interesting. I enjoyed this one, and I would read more from this author. I'm actually not sure if this is a series, or if there's just a companion series coming soon, but either was I would read it.
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