Review: The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1) by Mary E. Pearson

Title: The Kiss of Deception

Series: The Remnant Chronicles #1
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Publication Date: July 08, 2014
Pages: 486
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Dystopian
Source: Ebook
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A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor's secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can't abide. Like having to marry someone she's never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

MY REVIEW

This review MAY contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I liked this story. I did. But I think that my expectations were set a little too high after all the hype for this series. 

Okay, this book really had to grow on me. What do I mean, you may ask? Well, this book and I had a love/hate relationship from the beginning. I think the last book that part of my loved and part of me felt bleh about was Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. Not as much bleh as Red Queen was to me, but I still had some issues with the book. Not enough to overpower me or make me hate the book, but enough to take note. Yeah, I know that was probably super confusing. Let me explain. (Hopefully!)

I think that the thing that threw me off at the beginning was the characters. They just did not resonate with me one bit. At first, the only thing that I really liked about them was the whole love triangle business. My first impression of Lia was that she was selfish and self-absorbed. Pauline felt way too naive to me. Alarmingly so. I honestly didn't feel too strongly about Rafe or Kaden. I sadly didn't have a preference as to which one she would fall for. And that just shouldn't happen with a love triangle. Rooting for your ideal pick is half the fun of reading about it! I honestly almost stopped reading altogether,  which I rarely do. But lo and behold, I kept at it and I am thankful that I did. The characters really grew on me. They may have felt obtuse at the beginning, but it gets better. It really does.

Okay, now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, onto the things that I enjoyed. First of all, the world building. The first thing that you will notice about this book is the religious scriptures placed throughout the book. They don't make much sense, but they add a lot to the world building. I liked this strange religious structure throughout the book and how it seemed to build off of an ancient apocalyptic event. I adored the concept of "remembrances" instead of "prayers". It was truly unique. The world building does not stop there. I loved the structure of all the different kingdoms and the rifts between them. 

I really liked that the book is written from different perspectives, but you don't know who is the assassin and who is the prince. It adds a lot of mystery to the story as you are trying to piece together who is who. 

I felt that this may be a dystopian story, but it was not confirmed. There is the talk of ruins and of the ancients that leads me to believe more may be revealed in the series. 

The writing in this book was easy to understand and not jumbled at all. It flowed perfectly. I think that may be why I continued on in the beginning when the characters were not to my liking. =P

There is so much to keep you wanting to know more about this world. Lia's "gift", the ancient texts she stole, the mystery of why someone would want her dead. It's all wrapped up nicely, in the end, leaving you wanting to know more!

Overall, the romance wasn't nearly to my liking, and it seemed forced. The world building was good, but confusing at times. I think that some things could have been elaborated on a bit more. The story is strong, and I like the characters well enough. We'll see what happens in the next book. I would definitely recommend giving this one a shot. I had some trouble with it in the beginning, but I am glad that I stuck it out and gave it a chance. Everything falls together nicely in the end. This series has so much potential and I am excited to continue it.

What's the last great fantasy book that you have read? If you are not into fantasy, what genres do you prefer? Feel free to leave a recommendation!