Briarheart
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4.3 • 10 Ratings
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
From beloved fantasy author Mercedes Lackey comes a fresh and feminist reinterpretation of Sleeping Beauty.
Miriam may be the daughter of Queen Alethia of Tirendell, but she's not a princess. She's the child of Alethia and her previous husband, the King's Champion, who died fighting for the king, and she has no desire to rule. When her new baby sister Aurora, heir to the throne, is born, she's ecstatic. She adores the child, who seems perfect in every way. But on the day of Aurora's christening, an uninvited Dark Fae arrives, prepared to curse her, and Miriam discovers she possesses impossible power.
Soon, Miriam is charged with being trained in both magic and combat to act as chief protector to her sister. But shadowy threats are moving closer and closer to their kingdom, and Miriam's dark power may not be enough to save everyone she loves, let alone herself.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When one of the Dark Fae crashes her baby half sister Aurora's christening, 15-year-old Princess Miriam of Tirendell instinctively moves to block the curse, in the process discovering her own innate magical talents in this leisurely paced "Sleeping Beauty" reimagining. Finding that she's Fae-blooded by way of her deceased birth father, Miriam vows to use her powers to protect Aurora from future attacks, and, along with five other teens collectively known as Aurora's Companions, hones her martial and magical skills. The newly minted, default white squires immerse themselves in intensive training, seeking to discover whether Miriam's power stems from the Light Fae or the Dark, and to thwart other attempts on the infant princess's life, but their real trial arrives sooner than expected. Lackey (the Valdemar series) immerses her epic fantasy in medieval verisimilitude, balancing fantastical elements such as talking animals and feuding fairies with the everyday details of baking and architecture. At times the attention to minutiae bogs down the plot, but it also adds depth to this imaginative exploration of, and deviation from, a classic tale. Ages 12–up.
