Book Review: “Quests and Quandaries” (The Floating Isles #1) by Alda Yuan

“Quests and Quandaries” (The Floating Isles #1) by Alda Yuan (2018)

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy

Page Length: 282 pages (paperback edition)

Synopsis:

The Floating Isles were created millions of years ago when a beetle the size of a continent churned up mud from the seabed for a perch. And things have only gotten weirder since.This is a tongue in cheek account of a princess forced to go on a quest, very much against her will. With the proverbial band of sidekicks at her side, Rahni leaves the familiar comforts of home for the mysterious Eigen States, a place where, of course, nothing is as it seems. Or else it wouldn’t be much of a quest. Rahni is determined not to let the laws of the land dictate anything, least of all how seriously she has to take the whole matter. Her dearest wish is to get through the quest with as few near scrapes and mortal enemies as possible. If she has to go on a quest, she wants it to be bland, with no nonsense about holding the fate of the world in her hands. Naturally, nothing goes quite as she plans. But what else is new? (description from Goodreads)

Review:

Quests and Quandaries follows a princess who turns seventeen and is destined to go on a quest on her birthday. Reluctantly she sets off on a adventure all the while meeting new people, making new friends, visiting new lands, and fighting off enemies.

Rahni is not your ordinary princess, she’s sarcastic outspoken, brash, and is far from being prim and proper like most princesses. To be honest, I found her character somewhat annoying for first half of the book until she finally grew on me. She’s not particularity kind and is harsh to even her closest friends. It’s she goes on the journey that her barriers are broken down and she learns to work alongside others instead of putting herself first. And we as readers watch her character and the others continue to grow over the course of the story as team and as individuals. I liked seeing how they would take on each new obstacle and how they grew to trust each other.

This book is pure fun and what I loved about it that the story doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has a lot of entertaining aspects such as witty dialogue, action packed fights, and interesting lands. The magical lands were my favorite fantasy element of the story. Each land brought new characters and lots of surprises. They reminded me of fantasy lands I grew up with in childhood favorites such as Narnia and places within Ella Enchanted.

My only complaint is that I felt that there were too many footnotes. I liked having them because it gave context to various situations and added flair to the characters, but there were so many of them that I felt it disrupted the reading pace of the story. Other than that I enjoyed this book! It’s fast-paced and it keeps the reader engrossed!

Recommended if you like adventure quest tales!

Final Verdict: