The Banishment

The Banishment by Cordelia Castel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The sixth installment of author Cordelia Castel’s Seven Kingdoms series opens with the antagonistic Jack talking of orchestrating an attack with Ogrebane. In the meantime, Rilla prepares for a trip to Vern, wishing to know where the Order of the Alkahest’s hideout is, allegedly Castle Azoth on the other side of Springton. The Snow Queen returns as a villain, having offered the Order fairies in exchange for capturing Prince Alex, another love interest of Rilla’s. Cendrilla meets with the Orangutan General Sumatra of the Pongo clan, and is taken to meet the Fairy Queen, although her welcome into their realm isn’t exactly wholesome.

Rilla is rendered incoherent by her meeting with the Queen, with a doctor named Mallard healing her, and she eventually begins her instruction in fairy magic with Prince Vanus. Cendrilla’s relationship with her betrothed Lord Bluebeard has definitely cooled throughout the series, although he yearns for a woman named Paloma instead. A later chapter opens with an unfamiliar character named Ella waking for breakfast and having no memory of what had previously transpired, the action ultimately returning to Rilla as she seeks the lair of the Snow Queen, and begins battle against her.

Overall, I definitely wanted to enjoy this installment of the Seven Kingdoms series, although it somewhat locks out those who are especially familiar with its predecessors, and a plot synopsis of the stories up to the point would have definitely been welcome. The chapter beginning with the character Ella also proves somewhat unnecessary, and the book borders on literary nonsense at times. The battle scenes towards the end of the book are good, although around this point the series is starting to lose its luster, given many prior average entries, and definitely isn’t recommended reading.

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