The Dark Lord's Daughter

Story is innovative and has good bones but the execution is not so great. Characters are interesting but not well developed and lack the depth of other Wrede books. Love the idea and the premise but feels like the characters are caricatures rather than actually people.

fun as heck, will be great for today's genre-savvy young fantasy readers

Remember when kids books were about being the missing child of the good king and queen of a magic world? Swapping the parents for a Dark Lord changes surprisingly little. According to Tradition, Kayla should execute rivals and raid nearby villages for funds and supplies. She refuses and instead introduces pizza and hip-hop music to the world.

This is a very safe book. It's fine but won't have any long-term impact on anyone.