Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
Release Date: 256 pages
Publisher: Sparkly Wave
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
One prince wants her out.
Another wants her as a pawn.
Someone wants her dead.
Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.
Yes,
17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a
very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn't attain glory on
her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So
she took his place.
Now she's competing for the legendary Blood
Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It's her chance to prove her worth
and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.
But
winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she's a fragile
damsel who doesn't belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate
her at all costs, he's stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates
him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.
The
older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in
dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted.
And then there's someone trying to kill her.
"Fail to measure your competition, and you'll soon be measuring your failures."
The Cup and The Prince is the first installment in author Day Leitao's Kingdom of Curses and Shadows. 17-year old Zora Sunborn lives in a place called Dark Valley where dark magic created strange creatures. People in her village always have lights on, they don't use any covers, skirts, or even tables because it creates shadows, and the creatures can be born in these shadows. Zora teaches self-defense techniques to younger students to protect themselves against the shadowy creatures that come in (4) different types: Humans with gray skin, claws, and sharp teeth; 4 legged wolves that are fast and dangerous; spiders the size of an apple with sharp pincers and deadly poison; and balls which are round and small like a spider or large as a human. They can literally explode like a bomb.
Dark Valley is a literal prison, a punishment for their descendants who created the shadow creatures from dark magic. After Zora’s boyfriend Seth cheats on her and demeans her worth for being a girl, she decides to pay him back by stealing his invitation, ring, and golden rod which gives her entry into a champion’s only royal games. It's a competition that is held every 3 years, but this year’s competition will be a bit different. With Zora being the only female champion in history, the stakes get even higher when Prince Griffin decides the winner will get the Blood Cup. The Blood Cup demands a sacrifice.
To win the
competition, you must also kill a Lion and wade through all the politics that
comes with the competition including finding a possible partner for the future.
Zora is underestimated from the start because she’s short and a female. Zora's
competition comes in the form of Prince Griffin who really wants to win the cup
as readers will soon discover. There’s an assassin who apparently wants her
dead, and Prince Larzen who she is forced to strike a bargain with after he
uncovers her lies. She becomes immersed in court politics and later
catches the eye of King Kiran, who, of course, wants something from her.
To win the competition, she must fight her way through a series of challenges, as well as the machinations of two princes, a King, and a third party with an agenda. There are many shady characters in this story. I honestly did not know who the good ones were and who the bad ones until the ending when Zora discovers that for herself. There’s another character who readers should pay close attention to. Her name is Alegra and she may be the most important character outside of Zora herself. In fact, the cliffhanger ending taunts you of things to come and what danger she brings to everyone, including Zora.
This will be a quick turn around since the sequel, The Curse and the Prince, comes out in January.
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