The Kingdom of Back

 Title: The Kingdom of Back

Author: Marie Lu

Overall Rating: ★★★٭

Genre: YA fantasy/historical fiction

POV: FPPT

Stand Alone or Series: "The Kingdom of Back" is a stand-alone novel.

Prose Proficiency: Good

Editing: Excellent

Steam and Smut: None. There are a couple of brief hints of romance within this story, but they are extremely subtle. If you're looking for something steamy, this isn't the book for you.

Originality: Gonna give this one a B. While this was the first story I've ever read about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's older sister, the aspects of the fantastical Kingdom of Back were fairly similar to your stereotypical fairy tale world--fairies, ogres, a lost prince and princess, castle, etc.,--and to me took away a bit from the originality of the tale. 

Review: I follow Marie Lu on Twitter; when she advertised a sale on the e-book version of "The Kingdom of Back," I jumped at the opportunity and bought it. This is the first book by Lu that I have read, though I have several of her books in my TBR pile. 

Nannerl Mozart is a musical child prodigy; exceptionally skilled at the clavier (a musical keyboard instrument similar to the current-day piano), she hopes to earn her fame by playing before the nobility and royalty of late-18th-century Europe. There's only one problem: her younger brother, Wolfgang (affectionately called Woferl), is even more skilled than she. 

Being older, and more critically, a girl, Nannerl finds herself constantly overshadowed by her beloved Woferl. He is equally skilled at the clavier, plays the violin expertly at an age younger than any other player known to the world, and by seven years of age is already composing sonatas and concertos. Nannerl wants nothing more than to be remembered by the world as something besides the "older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," to be remembered in her own right, and one night she whispers her wish to the stars.

Soon after she meets Hyacinth, a lost princeling of the Kingdom of Back, who is desperate to take back his kingdom. To do so, he needs Nannerl's help. And so a bargain is struck; Nannerl will assist Hyacinth in three tasks that must be accomplished for him to take back his kingdom, and in return, he will ensure Nannerl finds the fame she so desperately desires. 

But as time goes by, Nannerl begins to fear not all is as it seems, and her fame may cost her more than she bargained for ...

I was extremely excited about this book. As a former music major and a lover of classical music, I love any type of historical fiction revolving around any of the late and great composers. "Immortal Beloved" is one of my favorite films, as it tells the secretive story about the potential love interests of Beethoven. When I read the synopsis of "The Kingdom of Back," and found out that not only was it about Mozart and his older sister, but that his older sister was in actuality a real person and not a fictional character, I was over the moon. I couldn't wait to read this book!

So it makes me incredibly sad to say that my overall reaction to this story was one of disappointment; it had all the ingredients of a story I should have absolutely adored ... and yet, I didn't. 

Nannerl has such potential as a MFC; she's talented, self-aware, ambitious. She adores her younger brother, yet envies and at times, resents him. We see her in different situations both protect him at all costs and put him in danger's way, and throughout the book there's this question of "will she or won't she?" Will she really put her own ambition above all else, or will the love and duty to family win the day? That aspect of the book was really well done, I felt. You can see Nannerl's struggle throughout the entire story, this fight between who she wants to be and who society dictates she should be, and at times, even as a reader, you can't decide which side, which person, you want to prevail. 

In the same way, Woferl is a character you can't help but love and root for, yet at the same time, through Nannerl's eyes, you too can resent him, almost hate him. It's not his fault that he's a boy, and therefore accepted by society as a musician and composer; yet, reading this book through the eyes of a female today, it's so frustrating to know that as a female back then, Nannerl was immediately something less than her brother, simply because of her sex. Watching their relationship throughout the book, their absolute love and devotion for the other alongside the inherent competition they can't escape, is very endearing and at times heart-wrenching. It's easy to see yourself and your siblings in them. And that was by far my favorite aspect of the book.  

Everything else seemed to pale in comparison. The fantastical element of this story, the Kingdom of Back, seemed so one-dimensional, so underdeveloped. The descriptions were lovely, they painted a vibrant, pretty picture, but the plot that unfolded in that portion of the world was bland. I just could not get invested in it. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of anything hanging in the balance. We meet a total of four characters in the Kingdom of Back: Hyacinth, the Queen of Darkness, the ogre, and the trapped princess. That's it. And Hyacinth is the only character that travels throughout the story with Nannerl. The rest of the Kingdom of Back is empty. And so this need Hyacinth has to retake his throne and his kingdom just seems somewhat pointless. Because if a kingdom has no people, what need is there for a king? It's flat. It's lacking. It leaves so much to be desired.

Hyacinth (artwork credit: Instagram @ tropicoolaas)

The other major problem I had with this book was the passing of time. Ten years go by from beginning to end. Nannerl starts off as a child and by the end of the book is 18, a full-grown woman of her time. And yet, there is no solid demarcation of time throughout the story. It's just "months passed" or "a few months later" or "by winter of that year." So much time supposedly goes by where absolutely nothing happens. There's this ever-looming sense of doom Nannerl feels at growing older, as she won't be able to perform publicly once she's an adult, and in the real-world half of the book, that makes sense and reads honestly. But in the fantasy half of the story, ten years for Hyacinth to retake his kingdom? Ten years of Nannerl helping him, with only three or four actual encounters she has with other characters in the Kingdom of Back? It doesn't really make much sense, and therefore doesn't ring true.

I think the idea behind this story is genius. I applaud Marie Lu for taking it on. I really, really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, I don't think it was executed well. The two worlds don't ever seem to be in sync, though they're described as being mirrors of each other. The story of Nannerl and Woferl's traveling as child performers was much more engaging, for me, than the story of Nannerl's bargain with Hyacinth, which I felt should have been the star of the story. I got to the end of the novel and felt incredibly let down. There was this sense of "really? That's it?" I can't remember the last time I wanted so much to enjoy a book and just ... couldn't. 

Is it worth a read? Well ... I suppose that depends on what you're looking for. As a piece of historical fiction, I think it's pretty well written. There is plenty of historical accuracy in the setting and time period and Nannerl and Woferl as characters definitely pull you in. As a work of fantasy, I think it's an abject failure, I'm sorry to say; if you're looking for YA fantasy, there are plenty of better options available. 

Unfortunately, as Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I have to say about that." 

Keep turning pages. Until next time ...

MR