Novella Review: A Feast Most Foul by Sarah E. Burr (Court of Mysteries #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery and characters

Cons: One or two small things

The Bottom Line:

Tournament with death

Jax must free her intended

Great second entry

Murder in a Neighboring Kingdom

When I listened to the first Court of Mystery novella a couple of months back, I really enjoyed the unique setting and the wonderful characters, so I was looking forward to revisiting them in A Feast Most Foul, the second novella.  It was another wonderful story.

Duchess Jacqueline Arienta Xavier is heading out on her first official state visit since taking the throne.  She’s visiting the neighboring kingdom ruled by her grandfather.  It will not be a warm and pleasant visit, however, since Jax is estranged from the man, who is only looking out for his own kingdom’s best interests.

Her grandfather’s kingdom is hosting a two-week long tournament of champions that will featuring feasting and jousting.  However, the first night, one of the knights is killed in his tent.  Jax’s intended quickly becomes the prime suspect, and Jax’s grandfather seems only too delighted to believe the evidence.  Can Jacqueline prove what really happened?

I’ve mentioned this is a novella, right?  I feel like it’s roughly half the length of a full novel.  As long as you know this when you sit down to read it, you’ll be fine, and honestly, I didn’t feel like the story was missing anything because of the length.

After all, the story has plenty of twists and turns.  We get some conflict outside of the mystery that helps draw us in early, and things only heat up when the murder takes place.  I had begun to suspect the ending, but I wasn’t sure.  Once again, I was impressed with how Jacqueline pieced things together.  I did feel one of the subplots got a little shorted, but I was still happy with where it wound up.

Even though we aren’t at home for this story, we still got to see my favorite characters again, which was great.  I love the relationships we saw in the first book, and I liked getting to see them grow.  We meet a nice assortment of new characters, not all of them suspects, and I hope we see some of them again.

A word of warning – by necessity, this book hints at what happened in the first book.  If you don’t want to be spoiled, I recommend you read it first.  But since I loved it, I’d recommend you read it anyway.  I am very impressed with how the author gave us the background we needed without outright spoiling things.  That was a very tricky dance that she pulls off well.

I listened to the audio again with Melissa Green narrating.  She does a good job, although her voicing for one character annoyed me.  Overall, that was a minor irritant, and I understand why she was doing what she did.

These books have a slight fantasy setting.  No, we aren’t dealing with magic or anything like that, although unicorns were mentioned again.  I enjoy it for something different.

A Feast Most Foul is a worthy second enjoy in this charming series.  If you are looking for something a little different, you’ll be glad you picked up this cozy series.

Enjoy the rest of the Court of Mystery stories.