Thursday, September 3, 2015

Blog Tour: Water Princess, Fire Prince by Kendra E. Ardnek


Purchase HERE

About the Book

When the Lady Dragon does come,
Hold fast, do not fear, do not run.
Your Water Princess will fight,
Fire Prince will set all to right.
Each shall come from a Fall,
Their union will save you all.

Despite the fact that she's on track for competing in the Olympics, and he's practically raised his younger brothers since they lost their mom in a car accident, Clara Mandras and Andrew Stevenson are pretty much normal teens. They have normal hopes, normal dreams, and they live in a normal world.
All this is torn away from them when they are thrust into another world and declared Water Princess and Fire Prince. With no experience ruling a country, meeting each other for the first time, and being expected to fight the Lady Dragon – an evil sorceress plaguing the world of Rizkaland – Clara and Andrew are underprepared and inexperienced. Unless they learn to work together despite their standing opposition, Rizkaland's hope will be lost.

What is to come will change their lives forever.
 


Title: Water Princess, Fire Prince

Author: Kendra E. Ardnek

Series: The Rizkaland Legends #1

Genre: Fantasy

Audience: Teen


~ MY REVIEW ~
**4 stars**

I was excited to read Water Princess, Fire Prince by Kendra E. Ardnek, as the story description sounded like something I’d enjoy. And I did quite enjoy this story! Akin to The Chronicles of Narnia in some ways, it swept me away into a strange and intriguing world along with its characters.

Clara is a normal fifteen-year-old girl, practicing diving one day with her friends. She never expected time travel. She never expected princes or princesses.
     Andrew has younger brothers to care for; responsibilities to attend to. Saving Rizkaland was not exactly in his future plans.
     What happens when the Water Princess and the Fire Prince clash? … And when the dreaded Dragon attacks?

From the beginning, my interest was piqued. Water Princess, Fire Prince starts with a splash, and fast paced excitement. From there, it slows down a bit. But perhaps we’re too intrigued with the new world to notice, *smiles* Truly, I feel Kendra did a genius job with Rizkaland; so much imagination, color, and fun! It was a bit mind-boggling at points, the time-traveling theme … but definitely captivating! I really enjoyed exploring this fantasy world along with our time-traveler characters.

Speaking of those characters … I had a hard time with Clara sometimes. She had a bit of arrogance about her that bothered me time and again. The way she treated some people with a certain rudeness, as if they were beneath her. She just didn’t seem, hmm, happy, for a lot of the time. Kind of a moody teenager mixed with “tough” heroine sort of girl. That was just my initial reaction, maybe other readers saw her differently. But I will say, I liked her by the end of the book. She had her faults, but she definitely seemed to grow and mature—especially with the loyalty and sweetness of a certain young man. (It kind of reminded me of the Katniss and Peeta relationship). So while some of her attitude rubbed me wrong, Clara did end up being a good character! *smiles* She grew, and learned, and loved, and did some great things.
     Andrew was wonderful. At first, he was portrayed almost as a bit wimpy. But quickly you saw his strength and leadership show though. Coupled with steadfastness and gentleness … *sigh* He’s a pretty great guy.
     I liked the array of other characters. Lots of different interesting people.

I mentioned the romance … it was pretty cute. I admit, I was slightly startled at reading this deep of romance with two sixteen-year-olds, but Kendra presented it tastefully and pretty maturely. Some people do get married young and have a strong, loving relationship. As long as God wills it and works in their hearts at a young age! *smiles* Anyway, it was a sweet journey. It was touching to watch two young people bound together fall in love within the will of their King. There was some kissing and romance-y stuff. I don’t know. I’d maybe say fifteen/sixteen and up as for audience.

I don’t remember much for violence, though there were some battles. Nothing particularly frightening either.

But we have time-travel, complex happenings, griffon-like creatures, an evil dragon, a unique love story, an ancient prophesy, war, intriguing abilities, and lessons of courage, trust, and humility woven throughout the pages of this book.

Overall, I really liked it! The reason for not five stars? Well, I don’t really know. Clara bothered me a bit at first, but like I said, that changed! At the end, something happens that I wasn’t expecting. It was really shocking and sad to me, and I was wondering where the emotion from Clara was?? Yeah … I just would have liked to see more real and raw emotion from her at this point.

But other than that, I think Water Princess, Fire Prince is a great story! Filled with wild imagination, this tale is sure to intrigue you! I very much enjoyed returning to its pages, and am excited to read the next book in the series! So much mystery still waiting to be unraveled! *grins*

I received a copy of Water Princess, Fire Prince from the author in exchange for my honest review.

10 comments:

  1. WPFP is a perfect blend of wild imagination and mind-boggling science.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great review! You definitely aren't alone in having a hard time getting along with Clara; a lot of others have had the same issue for very similar reasons. But yes, Andrew is very awesome. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sarah! Ah, well I'm glad to know others understand what I was trying to say! Thankfully, Clara did grow and mature toward the end of the book! And of course, Andrew helped with that! :D

      Yes, anyway ... fun stuff! :)

      Delete
  3. I love the idea of a water princess and fire prince! It sounds so cool! :D I'll have to check it out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is quite intriguing, Sarah! You really should give it a try! :)

      Delete
  4. I like your review!! :D

    I understand your hesitation when it comes to Clara. I liked how she matured, because if she hadn't been so stubborn, her change would not have been as great. So I dunno.
    But I fangirled so hard over it. And perhaps still do...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Amanda! :D

      You did definitely notice her changing and maturing ... so that was great! I did love how Andrew eventually helped her get to that point! :)

      That's great! It's always fun to have a book to fangirl over! :D I'm doing that with To Darkness Fled a bit right now!

      Delete