The Cloud Pearl (Book One: Legends of Liria) by Pamela Kelt

Svila and Petra are the only two who manage to escape when Kurova Grax captures their troop of players. Clutching the papers their manager, Zoran shoved at them just before their escape, the girls need all their wits and talents to survive. Holding tight to Zoran's last words to stay safe and save Liria, Petra and Svila puzzle out the clues in his notes. To save their country from Grax and her Buran army, they need to find all the pieces of the royal crown and put it back together.

I enjoyed the premise of this story. A country overrun by a greedy neighbor, a magical royal crown disassembled into its component pieces and hidden, two girls on their own against incredible odds with occasional help from hidden members of Zoran's army. The clues are all there, they just have to figure them out. My favorite part was when the girls were caught hanging in mid-air by Skaliari and all the birds he'd tormented came back to attack him. Yeah, justice on the wing. Loved it.

The book didn't grab me right away. I started it a few times and went on to something else. Once I did get into the story, I was there for the duration. Overall, this is a well written story. A few errors were missed in editing and created hiccups in reading for me, a word missing from a sentence here and there that had me backing up to reread that part. In spite of this, I'd like to read the next book in the series. I'd like to see what other challenges and friends the author brings to Petra and Svila. I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars

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