Review: Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Legacy by Cayla Kluver

Paperback, 496 pages

Published June 28th 2011 by HarlequinTeen
Source: Purchased
Buy the book: Amazon : B&N : Goodreads

From Goodreads:

I noticed his eyes. They were blue, sharp and intense. Despite the youthful glows of his suntanned face, his eyes were cold and unfriendly, suggesting he had great experience in the world and was now expecting the worst.
In her seventeenth year, Princess Alera of Hytanica faces one duty: to marry the man who will be king. But her father's choice of suitor fills her with despair.
When the palace guard captures and intruder— a boy her age with steel-blue eyes, hailing from her kingdom's greatest enemy— Alera is alarmed… and intrigued. But she could not have guessed that their clandestine meetings would unveil the dark legacy shadowing both their lands.
In this mystical world of court conspiracies and blood magic, loyalties will be tested. Courage won't be enough. And as the battle begins for everything Alera holds dear, love may be the downfall of a kingdom.

I have to admit, the hype for this book got to me. That's why I snatched it up a week before its release when I found it at Books-A-Million. The premise really intrigued me, but it didn't really hold up to the hype.
The story itself I loved, but the author's attention to detail really slowed it down to barely a crawl. I like the fact that a lot of background history is given, but stating a character's every miniscule move is a bit too far. The reader does get true look at the people and society of this world, but for many this depth is detrimental. I found myself flipping through pages just to see when the next conversation started. If a lot of this had been cut out, I feel I would have enjoyed the characters more.
Alera is a strong-minded woman in a society era that extremely hinders such beings. This personality trait made her very easy to relate to for me. The men in her life? Now that is another non-interesting storyline to get into with this book. It should have taken a larger front and the book may have been better. It was not to be though and it felt really like "deejay-vu" due to the premise. The man she is supposed to marry is an a$$ and the man she wants is a member of opposite forces (yes, just a liiiittle cliche). Unfortunately, the only man that held any true interest for me was her bodyguard. He actually had depth and characteristics that I looked forward to. Well, he is not in a majority of the book and that made the wait between scenes horrid. Even worse, he has the most potential for Alera, but circumstances arise and that door is slammed shut. That is where this book lost me almost entirely. The book itself is something to be desired, but it did hold out long enough for me to want to read the second one. We'll see where that took me in my next review post!