Review: Nandana's Mark

Nandana's Mark
The Queen of the Realm of Faerie #1
by Heidi Garrett

Plot Summary:

As a half-faerie and an outcast, Melia longs to fly--like her mother and the other fullblood faeries. However, her lack of wings becomes the least of her concerns when startling visions of destruction, linked to her father's ambitions, escalate. Desperate to stop them, Melia visits the Illustrator and receives a strange mark on her forehead. The mark will draw a green-eyed stranger--one who shares her obsessions--to the Realm of Faerie.

The Queen of the Realm of Faerie series is inspired by the 14th century French fairy tale, Melusine.

Review:

The book picks up very quickly, and the world-building is very complex which made the story a very absorbing read.  There are many rules and lands and characters in the Faerie Realm, which could make the story confusing at times, but there is a glossary in the back to help.  The conflict in the story centers around Melia's father's ambition to raise the evil consciousness Umbra, and the effects of his actions and the actions of others creates more and more complications.  All the plot threads work together to create tension, and the author moves from character to character to tell the story.  It's not as jarring as I've come to expect from other novels that do this, and I thought the twists and turns this story took were so unexpected that it definitely kept me reading.

The characters, especially Melia and her sisters, were very engaging and well written.  The author has created a very interesting family history for them with complex emotions behind their actions.  The take on the faerie realms and the world-building were all very intriguing and the characters interesting and complex.  I did have a problem with the ending which was pretty much a cliffhanger and left nothing resolved.  It's the first book in a series though, and while I think I would have enjoyed it more if it felt more like a complete story, it is a very entertaining first book.

I received this book from the publisher or author for a fair and honest review. I was not compensated for this review.

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