Princess Kaylee has never had to fight for anything. Her entire life has been arranged, even her marriage. But when Prince Devlin falls under an enchantment, she finds she is willing to do anything to save him, even if it means fighting a dragon.
Devlin's own sister, Princess Arabella, is behind the deadly plot. She wants the throne and will use any means necessary. Her perfect plan unravels, leaving Devlin caught in a magical sleep that is slowly spreading through the kingdom of Breniera. All Arabella needs to finish her spell and claim the crown is a drop of Kaylee's blood, but obtaining the single drop is proving more difficult than expected.
To save her betrothed, Kaylee embarks on a quest to find an ancient sword and gather a drop of dragon's blood, while trying to stay out of Arabella's traps. But Arabella's traps aren't the only danger. Time is everything. For once the last inhabitant of the kingdom falls asleep, the spell will be sealed, and not even true love's kiss will break it. (Goodreads)
I love a good, strong female character and have always kind of hated the whole princess-who-needs-saving stories, so picking up Quest I was really curious to see how Waibel was going to portray this reverse fairy-tale I loved how Kaylee grows throughout the story and was able to save her prince, and the kingdom. This is a great example of a very strong character arc, and I totally loved Kaylee for that.
One thing I wasn't expecting was how much I actually really liked the antagonist. Arabella was completely fascinating to me. I could understand her motivation, and while I didn't agree with her methods, I loved getting into her head and seeing what she was thinking and why. I'll admit, if my parents showered a lot of attention on my sibling over me, that would probably tick me off too :) Arabella oddly enough stole the show for me, and added a perfect layer of complexity to the story.
Has anyone checked this out? Ever found themselves totally intrigued by the villain?
This sounds like a great twist on the regular fairy tale. I can't say I have ever been intrigued by a villian, other than Snape near the end of the Harry Potter series.
ReplyDeleteSnape is kind of a classic example of a villain that captured a lot of people's interest--I was totally intrigued by him too!
DeleteI love Quest of the Hart! Can't wait for Mary's next story Charmed Memories to come out...I think next month! :)
ReplyDeleteI just finished Charmed Memories and I LOVED it!!
DeleteFairy tale in reverse? Now that sounds pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love the jewel on the cover. It reminds me of 'The Heart of the Ocean' diamond from TITANIC :-)
I was wondering where the jewel looked familiar from and that's totally it!! :)
DeleteFaith--I thought the same thing about the jewel!!
ReplyDeleteIn Game of Thrones, there are several "villians" whom I find so interesting. They are even more complex than the heroes in some cases.
Loved QUEST OF THE HART and LOVE Mary Waibel! Win/win!
One of these days I'm going to start watching GoT, I swear!!
DeleteIt's been a lot of years since I read a fairy tale, but I don't suppose I should say I wouldn't LIKE this book. After all, you've already taught me I like reading about saries, Meradeth, and I'd never even HEARD of them before. So who knows? I might like a reverse fairy tale, too. The idea of a strong woman doing the rescuing does sound appealing.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the most intriguing villains I've ever encountered is Hannibal Lector. He's done such gruesome things, but he's incredibly cultured and intelligent. A fascinating mixture.
I think you'd enjoy this one, Susan :) And Hannibal Lector is an awesome example--definitely an interesting mix of different aspects that makes him altogether creepy and fascinating!
DeleteVillains, of course, keep things interesting!
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of this before.
They definitely do keep things interesting, and all kinds of good stuff :)
DeleteI have never heard of this one- but I love the twist of the princess trying to save the prince. Arabella sounds fascinating. There are some antagonists that are just so well done! :)
ReplyDeleteI love a really awesome antagonist (which probably says more about me than I care to admit...) and Arabella is an awesome one!
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