The Four Suitors written by Author Sophie Jupillat Posey, is a fantasy fiction novel which sees our female protagonist, Princess Laetitia of Avaritia, on her 17th birthday ball, forced into an unusual agreement by her parents, the King and Queen, to marry one of four prospective suitors specifically chosen by them. The King and Queen hope that in doing so, their daughter will amend her unruly behaviour and learn from the skills that are offered by each suitor, a philosopher, an astronomer, an artist and a necromancer. The Princess will only inherit the crown if she is able to prove herself a competent match to one of the suitors skills and abilities. Whilst learning the Suitors crafts, Princess Laetitia becomes much more involved in the ruling of the kingdom and more observant, which in turn leads her to discover that something sinister is occurring in her realm, and she turns to her Suitors for aid.
Although a slow burn during the first half of the book, allowing the author to set the scene and for the reader to truly get to know each of the key characters, the story does move at a good pace to its climax. The characters are extremely interesting, and the author cleverly writes them in a such a way that the readers opinions change between the two halves of the book. From disliking the Princess at the beginning, she does eventually redeem her behaviour, to a point you can almost understand and in some way excuse it, as you end up rooting for her and even admiring her at times. Each of the suitors are extremely likeable characters, so much so that it does make it quite difficult for the reader to decide which one they would like the Princess to marry. And I do love the author’s decision at the end, with this dilemma. The dialogue is realistic, the story gives an almost historical feel to it, and there were no significant issues in the writing that pulls the reader out of the book.
I really enjoyed, The Four Suitors, and I award 4.5 stars.
