The Enemy's Daughter | Review
A dystopian YA romance that reimagines the story of Tristan & Isolde - releases on 4/
⭐⭐⭐
The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett
355 pages | Published by Quill Tree Books
Out on 5/6
The Set Up: In this retelling of Tristan & Isolde, it’s been decades since the bombs fell and Republic was destroyed, leaving the five clans and the Kingsland in a battle for land. The daughter of the clan leader, Isadora, is a healer on her way to help wounded soldiers when she is shot with a poisoned arrow. Kingsland assassin Tristan offers to save her using a rare magic, but saving her life means binding her to Kingsland, and betraying her people.
First of all, we’ve got to give it up for this cover. It’s what drew me to the book because it is beautiful.
Now, on to the rest.
I did enjoy this book - it kept me entertained and was a fun read, but there was room for so much MORE. When compared to well-known YA dystopian books like The Hunger Games, I thought this story was a bit lighter in tone and heavier on the romance. This is all enemies-to-lovers vibes with a definite insta-love twist thrown in.
“Don’t break his heart? But I don’t have his heart. I’m his prisoner.”
The characters and world were all interesting, but I needed the author to go so much deeper on worldbuilding. Everything we learn about this world and its history was pretty expositional, as was the romance. I wanted more insight into everything: the bombs, the clans, the wars, and even Tristan’s long-held crush on Isadora.
And then the magic system. This story relies so heavily on the “Connection” that Tristan and Isadora have, but as a reader I felt like I was asked to just “go with it.” This tiny bit of magic was explained away in one sentence which was not enough for me.
At the end of the day this was a good palette cleanser book, a pretty standard forbidden love kind of story, but certainly not the greatest I’ve ever read.
Thanks to Netgalley & Quill Tree Books for the advanced eBook!
