Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Taliaschild
SERIES: Beyond Fairytales
AUTHOR: Anastasia Vitsky
PUBLISHER: Decadent Publishing Company
LENGTH: 56 pages
BLURB:
Six years after the mysterious talisman brought Queen Vina to Talia, it chooses a new owner in Sonna, a child of the streets. Unprotected by her amputee father and beaten by her mother for failing to bring home scraps for the family to eat, Sonna runs into the self-assured Kira, daughter and heir to Vina’s queendom.
Weary of endless rules and duties involved in training to become the future queen, Kira leaps at the chance to escape with a new friend. When she places the priceless talisman around Sonna’s neck, neither can remove the jewelry.
Alarmed at Kira losing the talisman’s protection, Vina and Talia take drastic steps to protect the princess. In the process, the entire earth descends into chaos.
Five years later, nineteen-year-old Sonna forages for two-day-old fish heads while dodging street pimps. The talisman leads her to the mysterious Nicodemus, who offers one command:
“Go to Kira. She needs you.”
Baffled, Sonna embarks on her journey. What can a pauper offer a spoiled princess? Will the street child end up surprising them all?
REVIEW:
I have struggled with this particular review. Although I did enjoy getting to revisit Vina and Talia, I believe that I was completely taken off guard by how spoiled their daughter Kira, future heir to the throne, was. Her complete lack of respect and her inexcusable behavior, at times, especially towards Azra was unexpected and appalling.
I have come to realize that I am not a good reader of Fantasy. I am a realist, pure and simple, and have great difficulty in imaging fantasy worlds. I was confused by the change in time periods, jumping back and forth, and going to new worlds. I loved poor Sonna and wanted to grab her up and protect her. She reminded me of Talia and that endeared her to me more. I did enjoy the times when they were in a scene but then the story randomly changed to a new time or location and I was confused.
Ms. Vitsky mentioned the chance at a third book to explain Merda. I think it might help it to become clearer for me.
I was again pleased that there were not the gratuitous sex scenes littered amongst the story but only the one sweet moment. I think that it would have detracted from the story to have included them. I plan on reading the next book to see if many of my questions are answered that I feel were left hanging. Talisman had an ending that had me wanting more but was pleasantly complete if it hadn’t had a sequel. I do believe this book ended in a bit of a cliffhanger, even if the author didn’t intend it that way. I just need more of Merda’s story to find closure I believe.
I am happy that I have pushed myself to reach outside my comfort zone to newer types of books for me and am glad that I chose this series to “teeth” on. I will be reading more of Anastasia Vitsky’s books, as she has opened an entirely new genre to me, F/F romance.
RATING: 
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