Review: Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

Blood sings to blood, Froi . . . 

Those born last will make the first . . . 

For Charyn will be barren no more. 

Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home... Or so he believes...

Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been trained roughly and lovingly by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds. Here he encounters a damaged people who are not who they seem, and must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad Princess.

And in this barren and mysterious place, he will discover that there is a song sleeping in his blood, and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen.

Gripping and intense, complex and richly imagined, Froi of the Exiles is a dazzling sequel to Finnikin of the Rock, from the internationally best-selling and multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca, On the Jellicoe Road and The Piper's Son.

Froi of the Exiles is the second of the Lumatere Chronicles. You can read my review for the first book, Finnikin of the Rock, here. Froi of the Exiles was a good follow up book, but didn’t quite live up to the first book for me.

Finnikin of the Rock was mainly told from Finnikin’s perspective however in Froi of the Exiles, as the title may suggest, the story was mainly told from Froi’s perspective. This made me a little nervous to start this book because Froi certainly wasn’t my favourite character in the first book and I was a little unsure I would connect with him. However all my worries were for nothing, I could connect to Froi and I loved learning a little bit more about how he thinks and feels. In saying that, my favourite chapters were those that weren’t from Froi’s perspective, but that is more because it involved my favourite characters.

Talking of characters, the new characters that were introduced in Froi of the Exiles were great. I loved Quintana’s complexity and duality. I also loved seeing her stubbornness and savagery. I pitied her but I admired how strong she stayed despite everything she had gone through. I absolutely adored Phaedra. I loved her kindness, her loyalty and her stubbornness. I felt like I could relate to her and I was always anxious to know about her story line. I loved how well written Gargarin, Arjuro and Lirah were, even if at times I didn’t like the characters and I can’t wait to know more about their storylines.

I found the plot was suspenseful and unpredictable. There were so many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. Some of the twists were related to the major plotlines, but even some of the smaller character lines had some surprises that I didn’t see coming. I really enjoyed the depth of the story and the complexity kept it intriguing and kept me guessing.

I have to say that I love the way Melina Marchetta writes! I love the way that she is able to make readers feel the emotions of the characters. I love the way each character she writes has their own unique voice. I love the way she describes scenes and, particularly in this series, I love her world building. In saying that, I did have a little, and I mean teeny tiny, problem with the pacing of this book. I felt at times that it did drag on somewhat, but I still think that Marchetta is a genius.

Overall, Froi of the Exiles was a great book, and a really good follow up to Finnikin of the Rock. I had a few minor issues with the book so I gave it 4.5/5 stars!

I read this book for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge 2013 and the 2013 Sequel Challenge.

Mel.

Review: Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

Synopsis (From Goodreads)

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.

This was a really good book. I managed to read it in two nights despite being busy and only managed to put it down when my eyes were closing because I needed sleep! This is the first book of the Lumatere Chronicles and I decided to give it a try on the recommendation of a friend. Although this book is probably classified as Young Adult, I wouldn’t recommend it to young YA readers because it is a fairly violent and the book and covers some adult themes.

What did I like about this book?

• It was refreshing to read a book with a male protagonist. It has been a while since I have read a book, particularly a YA book, that has that. I find that male protagonists often are less whiney than females and I tend to like them more. Plus there just aren’t enough male protagonists out there.
• I really enjoyed the plot. It was interesting and complicated, with one twist that I did not expect coming at all. There were plenty of hints along the way for you to try and guess what would come but quite often I managed to guess wrong. I also really enjoyed how it flowed well and how every little thing that happened would end up having an effect on something further down the track.
• I loved Melina Marchetta’s writing style. I like writing style’s where I find I don’t focus on the wording or the sentence structure too much, where I just focus on the story and Marchetta’s writing was perfect for me. It flowed really well. I also enjoyed how she changed the writing style when writing from another’s perspective, particularly one who was just learning the language and how she wrote his thoughts as jumbled and running into one another.
• I loved the depth of the characters. You had the most honourable men compared to the least honourable, a strong independent woman compared to a weak dependent male. I also loved the development of the characters across the book as you saw the strong independent woman become a little more dependent and the weak dependent male become stronger. I loved seeing the different interactions between the characters and how they changed over time because of certain events and revelations. I particularly liked watching Finnikin’s interaction with Evanjalin change and also his interaction with his father. I also liked how Froi’s interaction with other people changed.
• I really loved the romance of Finnikin and Evanjalin. I loved how it wasn’t an instalove but that it grew over time, quite slowly at times. I loved all the doubts and the things that got in the way because they were very realistic and problems that most couples in real life will have to face at some  point, if at a slightly smaller scale. I particularly liked the scene between the two at the end of the book.

What didn’t I like about this book?

• The only thing that annoyed me was when the first change of perspective of the story came. It wasn’t obvious at all that the perspective had changed, particularly seeing as it was a new character’s perspective. It took a little bit for me to realise what had happened and who’s perspective I was now reading from. I also didn’t really like that sometimes the perspective would change mid chapter without very much indication at all that it had happened.

I give this book 4.5-5/5 stars because it was a really good read. The only reason I didn’t give it the full 5/5 is because of the abrupt changes in perspective.

This book was read for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge 2013 (click the picture to sign-up).

Mel.