Review: Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

About the book:

Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Tales of Goldstone Wood: Book 7

Rooglewood Press

BEYOND THE REALM OF DREAMS
IS A WORLD SHE NEVER IMAGINED.

Masayi Sairu was raised to be dainty, delicate, demure . . . and deadly. She is one of the emperor’s Golden Daughters, as much a legend as she is a commodity. One day, Sairu will be contracted in marriage to a patron, whom she will secretly guard for the rest of her life.
But when she learns that a sacred Dream Walker of the temple seeks the protection of a Golden Daughter, Sairu forgoes marriage in favor of this role. Her skills are stretched to the limit, for assassins hunt in the shadows, and phantoms haunt in dreams. With only a mysterious Faerie cat and a handsome slave—possessed of his own strange abilities—to help her, can Sairu shield her new mistress from evils she can neither see nor touch?
For the Dragon is building an army of fire. And soon the heavens will burn.

My review:

Masayi Sairu is Golden Daughter, one of the most dangerous and secret weapons of her emperor. Trained to spend her life protecting a patron disguised as a husband, Sairu takes her future into her own hands and finds herself caught up in something far larger than she could ever imagine.

Sairu is such a big, powerful heroine packed into a tiny package. She is full of humor, skill and a smile that can freeze enemies in their tracks. Her companionship with Eanrin felt natural and flowed off the pages. Sunan is a character that is not new and yet completely different from the Sunan readers will be familiar with. I enjoyed seeing Sunan’s origins and hope to see more of him in the future. Jovann is a new hero to Goldstone and I fell in love with him. He is a kind and peaceful soul internally at war with his upbringing and family loyalties. Since childhood he has had a connection to a certain songbird and must find his inner self and strength to become his own man. Lady Hariawan is best described as empty. She is almost completely devoid of emotion and has no sense of self preservation. Her refusal to act has dire cost and I do not believe her tale in the Goldstone is over just yet.

Epic has, for me, become synonymous with the Tales of Goldstone Wood.  Each individual tale is interwoven with threads of biblical stories and well known fairytales, without becoming just another retelling. I feel completely comfortable going ahead and calling this my favorite read of the year! It is packed with enough action and adventure for two books and the ever expanding mythos of Goldstone wood becomes more alluring with each new novel.

  

***I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***