Title: The Kingdom of Back
Author: Marie Lu
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Kingdom of Back is a story of a girl, Marianne Mozart who always stood next to her brother, Wolfgang Mozart while he composed new music and emanated his talents across the world. This is a story of the Mozart siblings who learned from each other and shared their good and bad times.
Apart from spending their time with music, the siblings were fond of fairy tales. The story starts when the Mozart siblings realise that there is another world for them. The fairytales aren’t just fictitious but happen to be true. One day, a boy, Hyacinth, from The Kingdom of Back enters the life of Marianne. Marianne’s every heartbeat sings music. She gets a chance to show her musical talents to the world but only by her brother’s side. Hyacinth allures to make her famous only if she’d help him to get his kingdom back.
Back then, women weren’t allowed to compose music. She gets jealous of Wolfgang, who is allowed to play as well as compose music. Short of rights and credits, Marianne decides to take the help of Hyacinth. After completing half of his tasks, she realises that something is not right. Her actions of helping him tore her real world apart. When she stops helping Hyacinth, he warns her. Her ignorance leads to the declination of her own family. The torment of losing her family pressurises her to find a way.
Marie Lu has a brilliant command over words. Her writing style is lyrical.
This book portrays the value beyond the relationship of siblings. Sometimes, we get caught up in our miseries that we ignore what other relationship offers to us. The Kingdom of Back is a story of every talented woman who wasn’t allowed to show her talents to the world.
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About the Author
Marie Lu is an American young adult author. She is best known for the Legend series, novels set in a dystopian and militarized future, as well as the Young Elites series, the Warcross series, and Batman: Nightwalker in the DC Icons series.
