Harp of Kings

The Harp of Kings is a story about 3 warriors-in-training. Liobhan, her brother Brocc, and Dau sent on a mission to retrieve a missing harp from another kingdom, before its king-in-waiting is crowned. The book switches between the characters’ POV and I love that I got a glimpse of their thoughts and feelings throughout the mission.

For the mission, our characters are assigned new identities as they disguise themselves as travelling minstrels. Liobhan struggled with this quite often since her disguise dictated a lot of what she can say/do in a place brimming with misogyny. I would make a terrible spy if I were in her shoes, I can never keep a straight face when I disagree with anything. I love Liobhan’s character and how she grew from the beginning to the end of their journey.

I was also invested in Dau’s story. In the beginning he seemed arrogant and unlikable, but reading his POV as he slowly shared more about his past gave me a better understanding of how he turned out to be and the ways he is trying to be better. There is a hint of potential romance between Dau and Liobhan and I’m all for slow burn romances.

I love Juliet Marillier and her Daughter of the Forest books. I didn’t enjoy the Harp of Kings as much but I think it’s mainly because it’s a great introduction to a series, whereas each book in the Daughter of the Forest series could stand on their own. This is a promising first book! I’m curious to see where the story goes from here.