AJ Lancaster's "The Lord of Stariel" - An Epic Fantasy Adventure

Lourena Phillips: I loved the characters and the sweetness of the romance. I loved the magic of the land’s connection to the heroine. I loved the mystery and chaos of a large extended family. The strong humor was fun, but the random gay insertion was jarring.

United States on Mar 17, 2024

@plotsandreviews: Hetta was like a pillow; of some use, interesting on a bed and aesthetically pleasing (allegedly) but with no true focus beyond wanting to be liked. She lacked objectivity, direction… this whole story just happened around her 😬.

“Special Stone of a land is stolen and the family MUST find it to put the land at ease. As the family goes through the potential suspects, the culprit will be closer to home than anyone would have thought”.

AND BAM! THAT is the whole story without ONE MENTION of irrelevant Hetta. 😬 I dislike characters like these. BLEH, BLEHHHH people. 💀

In any case - it’s an okay read if you aren’t too bothered by irrelevant, white livered and weak focused women.

United States on Mar 05, 2024

Vger83: Fun entertaining read! Looking forward to the rest of the series. I listened to the audio and the narration was great as well!

United States on Feb 27, 2024

Ashton Edwards: This was just an entirely lovely experience. Each character had a full personality and you wanted to get to know them. The magic was fun and the romance slow and sweet. Hetta is a witty and confident (mostly) FMC. She is a free spirit that refuses to be constrained by the expectations of polite society and how they think a woman should act. If you like regency stories and magic is this a great book for you!

United States on Feb 25, 2024

Nanny witch: A really great start for what I think is going to be a beautiful series of stories. I was captivated within the first few pages and as the story unfolded I couldn’t put the book down. An old Lord dies and a new one needs to be chosen, Hetta, the main character came back after a number of years away from home, to be there for her father’s funeral. The choosing, an ancient ceremony to choose the next lord, was already a foregone conclusion as her father had been coaching her eldest cousin to take over his role. Hetta and her whole family were in for a massive shock as lives were changed completely.

United Kingdom on Feb 07, 2024

Ananya: I absolutely, unequivocally loved this book! It was a totally random find and goodness, am I glad I found it.

It's got:
- A sentient estate (how interesting is that!)
- A historical alt-British kind of setting, which I'm a total sucker for
- A strong, practical, matter-of-fact kind of female protagonist whose beauty is not expounded upon (and isn't that rare in fantasy?)
- The title of "Lord" being gender-neutral
- Fairies (ahem, "Fae")
- ...and more!

What's not to like! It's also drily funny, and there's nothing I love more than dry humour....

India on Oct 30, 2022

rita.andotherstories: "The Lord of Stariel" war mein erstes Buch der Autorin und ich war von Anfang an in diese Serie verliebt. Ich hab so einen Stil selten gelesen, wo man ein "Bridgerton" oder "Downtown Abbey" Gefühl hat, gemixt mit der magischen Welt - einfach traumhaft.
Die Schreibweise bzw. der Stil war mega angenehm, und ich hatte einen sehr leichten Einstieg. Hetta und Wyn machen es einem aber auch sehr leicht :)

Buch 1 ist für mich wirklich so der Einstieg in die komplette Geschichte. Man lernt die Familie kennen, man bekommt einen Einblick in Hettas Leben, das Haus, und ein Gefühl dafür, wo die Reise hingehen könnte. Denn auch wenn man glaubt, es geht so und so weiter, passiert es doch wieder ganz anders.

Es ist ein Kennenlernen der besonderen Art. Das Zusammenspiel von Hetta und Wyn fand ich sehr erheiternd, erfrischend und einfach anders. Ja, es gibt Drama, Gefühle, etc., aber alles in Maß und Ziel und es war einfach so toll, wenn man nicht eeeeeewig auf das Probleme lösen warten muss. Für mich hat da alles gepasst und ich freu mich auf Buch 2.

Germany on Aug 31, 2021

L&S Platownslia: I wasn't sure what to expect with this book, having gotten it without looking into the blurb or summary, just taking the word of a friend who recommended it. Oh man, it was great. I loved the description of the world, and the way the main character grew into her role, and the way I was rooting for her the whole time.
Highly recommended and I can't wait to dive into book 2!

Italy on Aug 22, 2021

Vera Soroka: I loved this faerie story. Especially Wyn. If you like a
Iittle mystery, you will like this story by this author. I look forward to the next one.

Canada on Jan 28, 2021

superstardrifter: This is the story of Henrietta Valstar, who is an illusionist working with an acting troupe, happily living her life exiled from her home of Stariel, an estate across the land. But, her father has died, and as tradition states, she returns home for the funeral and a ritual known as ‘The Choosing’. You see, Stariel, while it is not necessarily sentient, is a magical land, and it chooses its own ruler. So, when Choosing day rolls around, Hetta, as well as her brothers and cousins and everyone else in her family, touch a magical stone to see who Stariel chooses. And it’s not her older brother Marius, nor is it her almost-certainly-the-most-qualified-for-this-job cousin Jack. It chooses her.

Meanwhile, Stariel is more than just a magical land, it is a fae land, sitting right on the magical border of Faerie, and with the death of one Lord of Stariel and the new one being not-quite-so-powerful, the fae have plans to take advantage of this fact and come into the human world to enact some fae shenanigans.

This was a very entertaining read, to me! It takes place in a very interesting world, which is not unlike our own. The days of the week are the same, the months are...

United States on May 04, 2020