TL;DR – All the faerie flavor of ACOTAR, but a brighter, more upbeat story and characters you can’t help but love.
Synopsis:
Forced to choose between loyalty and love…
Avery is a Golden Child with the ability to heal any illness or injury. She lives a sheltered life, dutifully healing hopefuls from around the globe. Although she dreams of freedom, she fears disrupting the status quo—that is, until her powers go on the fritz, threatening her health and her relationship with her government caretakers.
In search of answers, Avery travels through The Rift to the realm of the fae, intimidatingly beautiful beings with powers humans don’t understand. Their prince, Riel, has motivations of his own when he agrees to teach her about her rare magic. But as they work together, the two are drawn to each other.
Just as Avery manages to unlock the full potential of her powers, a betrayal shakes Riel’s House, putting pressure on the already tenuous relationship between humans and the fae. Caught in the middle, Avery and Riel will have to decide what matters most to them: loyalty to their respective nations, or their feelings for one another.
Full Review:
The Treasured One did something amazing: it took the familiar-feeling fae/faerie flavor of romantasy we’ve grown so accustomed to thanks to books like A Court of Thorns and Roses, but breathed some intrigued fresh life into it.
The story follows Avery, a “Golden Child”, one of the few humans to develop magic when a magical rift appeared in the continental United States. Her magic manifests as the ability to heal, which makes her an ultra-VIP worthy of protecting, so she lives a sequestered life in the White House.
However, at the onset of our story, she discovers that her magical powers are causing her a malady for which there is no known cure…on Earth. Thus, she is sent to the faerie kingdom on the other side of the Rift, the first human to ever be gifted the privilege.
And…well, you know exactly where this story is going to go!
Enter Riel, the handsome “second son” prince of the faerie kingdom, who is assigned to watch over her while she’s in their kingdom. The time they spend together leads to all the inevitable and delicious sparks that make this a romantic fantasy worth reading.
There was a great deal of familiar ground covered in The Treasured One that ACOTAR readers will instantly be familiar with. In many ways, it felt like an homage to many of the things that makes ACOTAR the series we all know and love.
But it found plenty of ways to set itself up as its own unique story. Avery’s magical abilities, for example, go hand in hand with a desire to help and heal, which makes her an incredibly empathetic person who actively seeks to improve the lives of those around her. This character trait makes for a much more upbeat, uplifting story, especially when she begins to discover the true nature of her power and put it to use healing fae-folk in Riel’s kingdom.
At the beginning, Riel can feel a little bit like a Tamlin knock-off, but the more you get to know him, the more he stands out as his own unique and delightfully complex character.
The romance between him and Avery blossoms over time, and feels so natural and organic to who these two characters are. By the time things culminate, you’ve spent so much time watching the bond and attraction between them grow that you can’t help but cheer for the pair.
I did find myself wishing for a lot more action and tension outside of the romantic—most of it is saved up for the last 15% of the book—but never does the story feel slow or like it drags. On the contrary, Avery’s sparkling personality makes her an absolute joy to read.
The ending leaves things wrapped up neatly, but the fact that it’s a series means that when Book 2 comes, we’re either going to start off on a whole new adventure with Avery and Riel, or have the joy of watching a fresh pair of characters fall in love.
Whatever the case, I will be HERE FOR IT. The Treasured One was a wonderfully addictive and enjoyable read from start to finish.
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