Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom by Anthea Sharp
(Cover picture courtesy of Orca Books.)
THEIR LAST CHANCE…
Jennet Carter and Tam Linn are almost out of time. Feyland, the most immersive computer game ever designed, is about to be released into the world—along with the Realm of Faerie’s dangerous magic.
WIN THE GAME…
The faeries, desperate to break free from their realm, have set treacherous plans in motion. Despite magical allies of their own, Jennet and Tam have no idea what dire threats await, both in-game and out.
OR DIE TRYING…
Battling for their lives against the united powers of the Dark Queen and Bright King, Jennet and Tam’s quest to stop the fey takes them into the perilous Twilight Kingdom, where illusion reigns—and magic can break all the rules.
[Full disclosure: Anthea Sharp provided me with a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.]
The Dark Queen and the Bright King have formed an alliance to get into the real world and it’s up to Jennet and Tam to stop them. But how can they fight the two most powerful beings in Feyland when they can’t even access the game anymore—except as part of the beta testing team consisting of a professional gamer, Roy Lassiter from The Bright Court, Zeg and Jennet’s father.
So it’s up to Tam and Jennet to find a way around the beta testing’s constant monitoring and find the Elder Fey, the only ones able to stop the alliance. Since the only way the fey can survive is by entering the real world, they certainly have motivation to sabotage Jennet and Tam’s plan and go so far as to kidnap the Bug, Tam’s little brother. The Changeling replacement for the Bug is hilarious, but there’s still the very serious fact that the Bug could be killed if Tam and Jennet don’t succeed in their plan.
With a description like that, you can tell The Twilight Kingdom was extremely fast-paced. There were some great plot twists that kept me guessing until the end and the plot was so fast I couldn’t put the book down. I just had to keep reading to see what happened, even though I had to work early the next morning! Yes, it was that good.
My favourite portion of the book was Tam and Jennet’s relationship. Not because I’m a romantic (I’m not), but rather because of how their relationship and characters develop. They’re not crazy possessive of each other like you see so often in YA, but you can definitely feel the passion between them. And guess what? Anthea Sharp has written it so that their love feels real; it’s not the shallow, possessive lust a lot of YA writers pass off as love. At the same time, Tam and Jennet have great character arcs as their own characters. They learn to trust one another, but also that some of their own preconceived notions were wrong the whole time.
With the best characters I’ve seen in a long time, excellent world-building and a crazy fast-paced plot, Feyland: The Twilight Kingdom is a great resolution to a great trilogy. It also gives a little preview as to what the spin-off trilogy, Feyguard is all about.
I give this book 5/5 stars.