Title: So I Married a Sorcerer
Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Series: Embraced #2
Stupid title, great book
I would like to thank Kerrelyn Sparks, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Brigitta is on her way to visit the oldest of her adopted sisters when she’s kidnapped by pirates! Turns out she’s not simply a poor orphan—she’s the princess of Tourin, thought dead these twenty years. When she was a baby, her father took the kingdom by force and sent her away to a convent so she couldn’t be used against him. Now her brother, the current king, needs an heir, which he cannot produce himself, and so he is forced to acknowledge her existence and send for her so that he might use her as a “walking womb.” But the pirates get to her first.
The pirate Rupert steals only from King Gunther of Tourin as he bides his time until he can set his plan into motion and take back the kingdom that rightfully belongs to him. When he learns that the princess is not only alive, but that Gunther desperately needs her, Rupert sees a great opportunity to significantly lighten the king’s coffers. Except, he’s shocked to discover that the princess is nothing like the monsters who share her blood, and the more he gets to know her, the more he comes to care for her, the harder it is for him to hand her over to her awful brother. But he could never trust her—and so he can’t keep her.
This was my first foray into the work of Kerrelyn Sparks, and I daresay it won’t be the last. I’ve seen her books around (I swear The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo was inescapable a few years ago), but, I’m ashamed to say, because of those stupid titles, I definitely judged the book by the cover—and was far from impressed. But I saw So I Married a Sorcerer on NetGalley and figured I could give Sparks a shot—since it was free.
And to my surprise, the contents didn’t reflect the stupid title at all. Well, there was a sorcerer, who did get married, but—you know what I mean. It was a matter of tone, and I expected a tired plot with undeveloped, reactionary characters who cared more about having sex than being responsible and honorable people. But no—not in this book.
Brigitta was a wonderful heroine, kind and sweet yet strong and determined. Not exceptional, perhaps not even all that memorable, but entertaining to follow through the duration of the book as she gained courage and a sense of identity. Her power as an Embraced was interesting, a combination of empathy and psychometry. A bit boring, perhaps, compared to everyone else’s, but it was integral to the plot and development of the characters, so I thought it was well-utilized.
Rupert, too, was a good hero, tortured and conflicted yet compassionate and honorable. He made more of an impression than Brigitta, mostly because his power to control the wind was AWESOME, but I still don’t think I’ll find myself revisiting him in future.
I didn’t 100% buy their falling in love. More like 99%. I’m not sure why; there was lots of internal dialogue, it wasn’t necessarily sudden. It was almost…like it had become an afterthought. Through the first half of the book, not much is happening besides them being on a ship, getting to know each other and weighing their options. Then while they’re on Rupert’s Island, there’s a plot shift; Brigitta jumps into the love grotto with both feet, but Rupert, while mostly on board, is still hesitant to take the plunge. But at the same time, his identity is revealed and the bigger plot moves forward, leaving the smaller falling-in-love plot behind…and not *quite* finished, in my opinion.
The pace was steady if not fast. As I allude above, the plot was pretty clearly divided—the first half at sea, falling in love, the second half in Tourin, defeating Gunther. Some readers might not like that, but it didn’t bother me.
If the whole stone-reading premonition game hadn’t been mentioned in the beginning, I’d have said the competition was rather shoe-horned in, but I think as it is it just needed to be mentioned sooner. What *was* shoe-horned in was the Chameleon. I really don’t think he was necessary to Brigitta and Rupert’s story, but I’m assuming he’s part of a bigger picture, a recurring antagonist throughout the series, so Sparks probably just wanted to keep his thread intact so he stays fresh in mind.
The biggest problem I had with this story was its ambiguous time period. For all intents and purposes, I believe it’s historical—medieval?—but there was a sense of modernism that I just couldn’t shake. The speech patterns and word choices didn’t seem completely suited to the setting, but what really threw me was Rupert’s predilection to use the word “crap.” Specifically, “holy crap.” Technically, as far as I can understand, the word “crap” has been around a long time, but I just can’t imagine it was ever more frequent or more casual that it is today. It’s not a word that I, personally, associate with the medieval time period, and it stuck out like a sore thumb.
But it’s Sparks’ story—her world from the ground up. English isn’t even a thing there, so maybe “crap” is more common. Whatevs.
Speaking of her world-building, I’m impressed. She’s not Rowling, but she didn’t do half-bad. She committed, and by the end, I was itching to study a map and go backpacking.
Overall, I’m very interested to see where this goes. I’ll check out the first book and watch for the third to become available. Oh, speaking of—you could read this as a stand-alone if you really wanted to, Sparks’ tells you what you need to know, but as soon as I read that Leo’s touch killed every woman except Luciana, I was like—yes, please.
