Duchess Jacqueline Graduates to Full Novel Length
The first three stories in the Court of Mysteries series are all novellas. I was anxious to get to A Summit in Shadow, the fourth story, since it was the first novel in the series and the first novel that author Sarah E. Burr had written. While the transition had a couple of bumps, overall, I enjoyed this book.
If you haven’t checked out this series yet, it has a different setting for a mystery series. The stories take place in the Realm of Virtues, a land of kingdoms with a Medieval feel. It’s not quite fantasy, but there are references to unicorns again here. The focus is still on the mystery, so fans of that genre will feel right at home.
And if you haven’t read the series don’t start here. There are major spoilers for the earlier stories. Given what happens, there isn’t any way around it. But with as fun as this series is, you’ll want to read them all anyway.
Our main character is Duchess Jacqueline, who has taken over the kingdom of Saphire after her parents’ death. This story finds her and her closest friends and advisors traveling to the kingdom of Lysandeir. A summit of other rulers is meeting to decide the fate of a region that has been lawless for as long as anyone can remember. Jacqueline is hoping to lead the others to reach a decision that will most benefit her kingdom. But when a young woman dies before the talks even get started, everything is thrown into chaos. Are the rest of the attendees in danger? Can Jacqueline figure out what is going on?
My biggest question going into this book would be how the pacing went as the stories transitioned from novella to novel. Sadly, the book took a bit of time getting into the story. I get that the book was setting up some political intrigue, but I still felt like the set up took a little too long. Yes, everything that was set up did have a payoff before the story was over, so I’m not quite sure how to make it better in this case.
Not that I’m exactly complaining. I love the characters, so I was excited to reach the novels since it meant spending even more time with them. As expected, the growth all of them got was great, with some surprises along the way. The new characters were strong by the time the book was over, and I’m expecting we’ll see some of them again, which I’m looking forward to.
I do want to be clear, there is a strong mystery here. It took a bit of time to get to the heart of it, but once we were there, I was impressed with the clues that Jacqueline followed to solve things. There were some nice red herrings as well.
Once again, I listened to the audio. I’ll admit that narrator Melissa Green did start to bother me a couple of times as she got overly involved in the story. But most of the time, she did a good job of bringing it to life.
Given I’ve loved some of the author’s novels written after this book, I’m sure the pacing will even out soon. If you are looking for a mystery series with a creative setting, check this series out. You’ll be enjoying A Summit in Shadow before you know it.
Do check out the rest of the Court of Mystery series.
I love reading your reviews of this series, Mark. It's like a trip down memory lane for me, back when I was first figuring out how to write a book. I'm happy to read how much you enjoy the characters. Juggling world-building and a mystery are challenges I often face in this series, so I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
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