Crown of Coral and Pearl by Mara Rutherford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Gist
About a year ago I browsed through my local library and came across Crown of Coral and Pearl. I read the little blurb about the story and was convinced that I would enjoy this story a lot.
I borrowed it, took it home, got really caught up in writing my graduate thesis and ended up having to return it without reading one page. When I tried to borrow it again the waitlist was super long.
Fast forward to last month. I got an invitation to join the Harlequin Fall Reads Blog Tour. My first thought was “heck, yeah!”. Then I saw the list of books for the tour and noticed Kingdom of Sea and Stone was one of them. My second thought: “nice!”
This is the perfect opportunity to catch up on Crown of Coral and Pearl to prepare for the sequel.
The Details
Usually I comment on the characters first, but I can’t help myself by saying this was beautifully written.
The imagery, the descriptions and the world building were impeccable. I loved the contrast between the two main settings: the ocean and the mountain. It fit the story and its theme perfectly.
Alright, now that I’m done gushing about the imagery, let’s return to the characters.
I felt for Nor and I felt with her every step of the way through Crown of Coral and Pearl. I understood her struggles. The way she grew up and had been treated for most of her life made her the perfect heroine for this story.
Her growing pains were real. At times I grew frustrated with her. I knew she was smarter than she acted, but her lack of experience with people outside her social sphere, politics and the games one must play to survive at court made for a very cruel wake up call.
The prince, an awful person through and through without any redeeming qualities, provided the perfect contrast to Nor.
The themes Crown of Coral and Pearl represented went so much deeper than just your run-of-the-mills young adult fantasy story. They haunted me and made me think.
The fantasy elements blended it perfectly with the rest of the story. All elements; fantasy, bits of romance, political intrigue and personal struggle, balanced very well. None took up too much at the expense of the other.
I found the writing superb. I got lost in the story, the imagery and Nor’s character. A great accomplishment by the author.
The Verdict
Overall, I can’t gush too much about this book for fear I will give away a spoiler.
I’m so glad I took the time to read Crown of Coral and Pearl now before the sequel comes out and I’m really excited about reading it very soon.
It’s a big thumps-up and I would definitely recommend it.
