Carole's Monday: The King's Trial by ML Farb

Author: M. L. Farb 

Title: The King's Trial

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: ebook

Published:   June 27th 2019 

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

In a land where stories of the Shadow Demon keep children shivering in bed and tales of the Yorel bring hope to the commoner, Yosyph is both the reason for their fear and their hope. 

By day Yosyph appears nothing more than a mute tavern-hand. By night he plans a revolution and slips through shadow, rescuing those marked for death by the xenophobic queen.

When he learns that thousands of his people will be sent as slaves to the mines, he must choose—fight the royal army with an ill-prepared rebellion or journey to the land of his ancestors through the deadly King's Trial. If he succeeds, he'll win his kins' loyalty and their help.

His journey grows complicated when he rescues a maiden and enrages a prince, but if he doesn't return with help in time, the people he's loved and secretly served will be gone. 

I was a little iffy going into this one since I've had such meh luck with YA fantasies lately. I was worried for sure. But this gave me hope for the genre!

The story follows Yosyph who seems to be just a mute tavern-hand that people do not notice. However, he is planning the revolt against the evil, xenophobic queen. Things get a touch complicated as his journey goes on. Should he fight head on with his ill-prepared rebellion or attempt the deadly King's Trial and earn his kins' loyalty and their aid in his rebellion. 

I was hooked from page one. I finished this in two sittings! I simply could not put this down. Sooooo good. 

Yosyph was a fun character even though there were times I wanted to shake him. His POV was the best. The rest were okay and necessary to moving the plot along, but eh. I want more of him! 

The world building was okay. I wanted more of this too. I still have some questions about the world. Hopefully more will be answered in the upcoming book. This was a lot of character-building and getting the story going. A lot more story to come, so hopefully we get more world-building in the next. 

Oooooo that ending! AAAAH! I need to know what is going to happen next. I have some worries that I won't share since I don't wanna give away spoilers. But I am a touch worried especially with that twist there. We shall have to wait and see I suppose. I can't wait to get my hands on book 2. 

Overall, a good story and good characters. I liked Yosyph a lot. The world-building was lacking a touch for me. I am hopeful we'll get more in the next book. If you need a breath of fresh air of the YA fantasy genre, this is the book for you. It gave me hope for the series. A quick read for sure, but I was so invested in everyone here. I can't wait for book 2! Soon I hope! I'll give this 4 stars.