Although, it's easy to acknowledge that the author matured, it's not high quality yet.
I reluctant to read because I didn't enjoy the first one that much. But I decided to give it a chance. I was not convinced no matter how much-starcrossed lovers they sound. It's very predictable and it doesn't evolve quick enough. ( )

ALLEGIANCE is a story of courage, strength and divided loyalties, coloured with provocative personalities and intriguing hooks to keep you engaged and determined to read what comes next.

Read the full review at http://www.kees2create.com/blog/2012/06/09/Book-Review-Allegiance-by-Cayla-Kluve... ( )

3 ½ Stars

Allegiance is the second book in the Legacy Trilogy by Cayla Kluver.

I have to be honest, after reading Legacy (first book) I didn’t have high expectations about this book, but anyway I wanted to read it because I wanted to see what Ms. Kluver was going to do with the story.

The beginning of the book felt promising, actually I was surprised that many of the problems I had with Legacy were in some part fixed in Allegiance, but sadly half way in it started to fall short of my “new” expectations. The attention to detail wasn’t as overwhelming as with Legacy, but still sometimes it was a bit too much, the length of the book is unnecessarily long and needed some editing. But my biggest problem was the lack of growth of the characters, especially the main character, Alera.
In legacy while being in love with Narian Alera agreed to marry Steldor and become the new Queen of Hytanica next to her new husband.
Allegiance starts couple of days after their marriage with the coronation of Steldor and Alera as the new monarchs of Hytanica. I thought ok, Alera didn’t love Steldor but she agreed to marry him the least I was expecting was for her to do her best of the situation, she now is the Queen and I was expecting her to behave like one, but no, she is still the same spoiled selfish child thinking only about herself and brooding about Narian.
Steldor is patient with Alera, he doesn't want to force her to anything, he loves her and wants her to come to him of her own accord. He tries to approach her but is always meet with the cold wall of her indifference. Alera is attracted to Steldor but instead of working on a relationship with her husband she feels as if she’s betraying Narian, sorry but Narian is not your husband Steldor is! It was painful to see Alera’s attitude, not once she thought about her responsibility as a Queen and as a wife, even in the moments that Steldor needed her the most she keep her distance, I don’t know what kind of wife or woman could do what she did. By then she lost all the points she had earned with me. After these events she tried to take some control but it was always after somebody else told her what to do. She was a scared, immature and selfish child, not a Queen.

Now let’s talk about Alera’s men. In Legacy I liked Narian and hated Steldor. I was really disappointed when Alera accepted to marry Steldor without fighting for Narian, I kind of understood her reasons, but still I wanted Narian for her. In Allegiance I saw the real Steldor and my opinion changed completely. Ok, he has a temper but is not without provocation, with a wife like Alera is easy to lose your head, still he was caring, attentive, sympathetic, patient and overall her love for Alera was obvious.
Narian not only is fighting for the enemy, he’s leading the army, ok, supposedly he’s trying to minimize the damage but anyway the land is being destroyed and thousands of Hytanicas are dying under the hands of the troops he commands. Hytanica fell to the Cokyrians thanks to him. I thought Narian could have found a better solution to his predicament than following the Overlord orders and destroying Hytanica.

The secondary characters were sometimes more interesting than Alera, especially London and Canaan, they were the real force behind the good (queenly) actions that Alera did. Alera’s sister Miranna was one of the character that changed the most, although her change was a bittersweet one it was good to see some character development in her.

The pace in Allegiance flows better than in Legacy but still it stalls in some parts. The plot is well defined and interesting and it will have you glued to the pages wanting to see what is coming next. Despite the problems I had with Allegiance (Alera) I can honestly say I enjoyed it and it was a book difficult to put down. The outcomes are unexpected and will have you guessing page after page, surprising you more than once along the way.
The end was somehow a closure but still there is a lot to come. The next and last book, Sacrifice, will be release at the end of this year. I’m planing to read it, I want (hope) to see if Alera is going to be the Queen her people need.

I recommend this book and this series in general to all YA Fantasy lovers. ( )

Great book, ALTHOUGH... I HATED the pathetic weakness of Alera. I was totally team Narian in book 1, in book 2 her sniveling, pettiness had me routing for Steldor and i almost cried she was so cruel to him when it was obvious he was trying to make her fall for him. Overall, holding my breath for the last book to come my way!

Okay, so before I can talk too much about Allegiance, I need to talk some about Legacy, since I can now do so without spoilers. When I prepared to read this book, I realized my memory was fuzzy, because, well, it's my memory. Anyway, I tried reading my review, but that was less than helpful, because I didn't want to spoil anything and concrete facts were what I needed.

Last night before bed, I reread the last couple chapters of Legacy to brush up. Anyway, that reminded me both of the things that I loved, and the things I didn't. Basically, the main character needs to stand up for herself more and the society needs to be more open-minded. What I loved so much about Legacy, though, was that Kluver did something I did not expect. She married the heroine off to the guy you didn't want her to marry, the guy she didn't want to marry.

Obviously, this made me sad, but I also loved it. Why? Because usually in fiction, the princess manages to get out of her arranged marriage and marry the guy of her dreams. Examples include Aurelia and Entwined. No such luck here. This seems a lot more realistic. I could not wait to see how Kluver was going to handle this, since it's not like she can just divorce her husband, the king. Pretty much the only way out of this will be to fall in love with him (which sounds tricky what with him being such a playboy) or for him to die. Either way, I knew some serious drama was in store.

Okay, so now that I've read Allegiance, I find myself entirely satisfied, except that I don't have the final book, Sacrifice, in my hands right now. How will I wait?!?

Alera is much the same as she was in the first book; she still frustrates me no end sometimes. From her narration, it's obvious that she is an intelligent, powerful woman, but she doesn't see that in herself. She spends a lot of the book crying and throwing the grown up equivalent of temper tantrums. While normally this would lead me to dislike a book, here it just shows what the Hytanican society can do to even the best of women. Simply disgusting the way their women are treated and undervalued. However, by the end, Alera is finally starting to realize that she's a force to be reckoned with, so yay for that.

The romance aspect of the book felt like Kluver was playing tug of war with my heart. Just when I had switched to supporting one guy, I would then be tempted to switch to another. Ahhh! Mostly, this was seriously frustrating, but in as good a way as possible.

Mostly, though, what I think I love so much about this series is the fact that I cannot predict what will happen much of the time. The fact that I can't see things coming makes the whole thing such an emotional thrill ride. Kluver's definitely defying some of the standard YA plot lines and putting the characters through hell. Love it!

Fans of YA fantasy will likely adore The Legacy Trilogy as much as I have, especially people who have enjoyed Tamora Pierce novels. ( )