****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I LOVE Marie Lu's books. I pre-order her books pretty much as soon as they pop up on Amazon.com (often both Kindle and hardback editions). So of course I was excited to get a copy of The Kingdom of Back before it came out (and I still bought the hardback and Kindle editions).This is a different book than any of her works. It's historical fiction about the two Mozart siblings as they grow up, and the imaginary world they created (Nannerl and her brother actually did make up stories about a place called The Kingdom of Back). Because of this, the beginning has a much slower start than her other series. There's no real love interests to ship, big fight scenes, or political intrigue, like you'll find in almost every other one of her stories.What you will find, however, is a dreamlike quality to the very beautiful prose (the Kingdom of Back may be a dream... or maybe it's reality). You'll find a lovely sibling relationship. You'll find relatable characters like Nannerl, who wants to be remembered after she's gone, and is tempted to do the wrong thing in the pursuit of popularity. There is a compassionate attitude towards the struggles of these characters that you'll find in other Marie Lu books. Finally, as someone who loves history, I found the accuracy of this book great (I looked up a lot of things, and it listed the wrong death date for Empress Maria Therese, but that was probably artistic license).The last 1/3 of this book was fast-paced and kept me turning pages. I wept during the last few chapters. And the last line was amazing. The cover was gorgeous and deeply symbolic. The maps are so pretty.If you're looking for something fast-paced with amazing ships, there are better Marie Lu books to read. The Kingdom of Back was a beautiful book in a different way, but it's still an outstanding addition to her collection of works.
