The Laughing Listener
*I was graciously given a free copy in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are subject to change upon the final release.*
August 2019
Format: eBook
Overall Rating: 4 Stars

“Nor and Zadie. Coral and pearl. Powerful and beautiful because of each other, not in spite of each other.”

After reading the summary of this book, I thought I knew exactly what I was in for. Admittedly I’m a complete sucker for the commoner-turned-royalty trope, which is why I requested to read this book anyway and now I’m so happy I did. Somehow this ended up being both exactly what I hoped it would be and nothing like I expected, all at the same time.

Wanna know what that means? Me too! Let’s figure it out.



Several aspects of this book played out exactly like I thought they would. The choosing ceremony, the love interests, some of the political intrigue—all things I saw coming from miles away, but I definitely don’t mean that as a negative. I enjoyed knowing them ahead of time and had fun guessing how they would happen. Plus, everything else went so far beyond my expectations that it was a nice balance.

One of those things was the world building, which I really loved! Everything was so rich and all of the different lands were so interesting to read about. I’m obsessed with the idea of a whole city being out in the middle of the ocean after Nor and Zadie spent all their time casually diving for clams and swimming from place to place. Plus, the castle set inside a mountain was such a unique idea and it was fascinating seeing how each setting impacted the people who live there.



Also, the characters! Nor was such a strong female protagonist and I really enjoyed reading from her perspective. Her relationship with her sister Zadie was so sweet and seeing their strong family bond showcased like this was amazing! And maybe I’m alone in this, but I also really really loved Ceren??? He was so interesting!! Ceren made such an excellent, cunning creeper and I had fun trying to guess what he would do next.

And by the way, I don’t trust the ending of this book AT ALL.



Something about it makes me think nothing is as it seems, which means I’m DEFINITELY on board for book two. I just gotta know what happens and see how this all plays out. I can’t wait!

FINAL WORD

This book took old tropes and twisted them into something brand new that I had a ton of fun reading. Mix in some strong sisterly bonds and you’ve got a winner.

#1 ↦ Crown of Coral and Pearl ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧
#2 ↦ [b:Kingdom of Sea and Stone|46841801|Kingdom of Sea and Stone|Mara Rutherford|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|71887425] ↦ ?????