I found a bit hard to remember all the names and the relationships between the characters. The plot was nice, fantasy - romance.
Thank you Netgalley for this book.

Linear, bland and not even remotely exciting.

The past part of this was the cover, in all honesty.

Thanks for an ARC.

#CastleOfLies #NetGalley
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read the E-arc copy of this novel.
An adventure awaits the reader of this novel. Castle of Lies is packed full of characters and plot. I am not a fan of the changing viewpoints...sadly still not. I did like Castle of Lies and the characters, but would just like to follow one or two characters viewpoints. At times it can be confusing to remember whom you are following, but overall it doesn't keep the novel from being a wonderful read and a great adventure.

Thelia isn’t in line to inherit the crown, but she’s been raised to take power however she can. She’s been friends with Princess Corene her whole life, and she’s scheming to marry Bayled, the heir of the throne. But her plans must change when an army of elves invades the kingdom. Meanwhile, an ancient magic is awakening within the castle, with the power to destroy the whole kingdom. Can Thelia find a way to protect her future — and her life?

Initially, this seemed unpromising. Nasty, scheming characters only out for their own advantage, fighting among themselves? Not really my usual preference. Fortunately, it took a turn for the noblebright rather than the grimdark when an external threat got them (mostly) working together.

There's a lot of suffering and injustice and loss and death and filth (which never seems to make anyone sick) and desperation along the way, and again, that's not my favourite thing, not in such heaping quantities. Ultimately, though, I was happy with the resolution.

There are plenty of internal as well as external conflicts for the characters, and it presents imperfect people handling a bad situation beyond their control very well.

It takes a bit of concentration to follow the quick shifts between multiple first-person viewpoints, but I didn't have any trouble telling the characters apart.

I wouldn't read a sequel, as a matter of personal taste, but if you like this kind of thing, it's well done.

I received a copy via Netgalley for review.

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group for the arc of this book.
I loved it, it held me from the get go, such a refreshing take on Elves and Magic.
It was amazing to read how all the characters developed, and how they each had them own point of views told in the book,

A really fun fantasy story with action , intrigue , and romance! The story centers around a group of friends, one ofwhom is a princess, Corene. Her besy friend is Thelia, who hopes to marry Bayled, the boy who loves Corene. Parsifal is a cousin and the fourth main character. Their kingom and castle is taken over by a group of elves and one of those elves, Sapphire, becomes the last of the main characters. The story is told from the viewponts of the different characters. I enjoyed that but I know not everyone does. I found the story interesting, enjoyable and fun, and will be looking forward to more stories with these characters.

This book was received as an ARC from Lerner Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

Our library collection is always on the lookout for new upcoming YA novels filled with action, adventure, drama, and fantasy...Castle of Lies had it all. Readers will cheer on Thelia as she strives to save the kingdom, her loved ones and most importantly herself. Each chapter had an extraordinary event that changed the course of the entire story keeping you at the edge of your seat wanting to know more and to keep on reading. This book will be a huge hit for our young adult readers.

This will definitely find its home in our young adult fantasy collection. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

I enjoyed this one and was so thrilled to be approved for it on Netgalley! I may have gapsd a little..

This is a YA fantasy story that not only comes with a gorgeous cover but an intriguing plot. We are following a young girl named Thelia who lives in a magical kingdom and wants to rule! YO GIRL WANTS ALL THE POWER. Unfortunately plans immediately change when elves attack because they truly believe there is too much magic within this human world.

I enjoyed this one because I found it to be mostly plot-driven. The main characters who were shoved into such thrilling situations. Many fantasy novels nowadays have been criticized for their lack of diversity. Well, you'll probably find this series a breath of fresh air.

I did struggle to connect with most of the characters. I felt them to be a bit flat and I wanted so much more development. I was screaming at my kindle. PLEASE! GIVE ME SOME OOMF! By the end, I didn't feel like I knew much about any of the characters, and not a whole lot of them had much of a personality to speak of. I think that Castle of Lies is the kind of book that doesn't know for certain what it is. It doesn't know what direction it's going towards but I hope to read more releases in the future by Burkhart because I see so much potential.

(Originally posted on Goodreads.)

It sounded very intriguing, but ultimately I was very disappointed with the directions this book went. And it just ... wasn’t really that great in general either. Honestly I would probably rate this 1.5/5 stars if I could.

The plot synopsis sounds so intriguing. But don't expect any legitimate court intrigue. Nope, in this story, the plot is ham-fisted romance with some half-hearted, pedestrian level political scheming and a dash of basic fantasy tropes.

Let's just get into some of the basics:

+ The Characters: They're just not well-developed; it's only been a few days and I can barely remember most of their names. And there's too many of them (and too many POVs) to have enough time to dig into all of them. Some of the characters are hardly developed at all. The four POVs we see are Thelia (cousin to the princess, Corene), Parsifal (Thelia's cousin, not related to Corene), Bayled (Corene's love interest-ish), and Sapphire (a non-binary elf). Thelia is scheming (but secretly has a ~good heart~), Parsifal is a mouthy cad, Bayled is Basic Bland Male Love Interest (tm), and Sapphire is warrior conflicted between their feelings for duty and the humans they meet. And that's it. They're never developed beyond that. Forget about Corene -- she ends up being possibly the worst person, but we never see her POV and her actions are just never explained at all. There's some minor characters like the King, Thelia's brother, Nul (Corene's other LI), but they're completely forgettable. They don't contribute anything.

+ The Representation: So you're got Parsifal, who's bisexual (and runs afoul of the Depraved Bisexual trope because sure, why not). And then you've got Sapphire, who is non-binary. Their gender identity is explored a tiny bit in the beginning, but that's all. Maybe possibly Thelia is bi/pan, but that's never touched upon at all in any regard.

+ The Relationships: Oh, boy. Corene/Bayled is as boring as you can get. Corene/Nul is never explained, never expanded upon, and I honestly don't know why this relationship exists other than to show how good and pure Bayled is and how Corene is just a ~bitch for playing with his feelings. And then there's Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire. Look, I don't like poly relationships in fiction. I just don't. I can't relate and I've only ever seen it done once in a way that didn't seem forced. Parsifal has been in love with Thelia since forever, but Thelia isn't interested at all -- until 2/3 of the way through the book she decides Parsifal is her true love (and of course they have fantastic chemistry and everything is magical). Plus there's the factor of Sapphire, who has insta-love with Parsifal (though the author did set up the feelings between Sapphire and Thelia). Don't worry though, Thelia/Parsifal+Sapphire is all handwaved with the explanation that it's "all the magic" that's making them attracted to each other. Nevermind that no one else is affected by all of this ... we're just supposed to expect that feelings can be changed/turned on with the flip of a switch.

+ The Writing: It's fine from a technical standpoint. I felt like seeing medieval-ish characters saying "mom" and "dad/daddy" sounded weird, especially since the characters aren't children. It just felt out of place.

+ The Overall Plot: I mean ... nothing really happens. Thelia wants to rule the kingdom, so she tries her darndest to make it happen. But her plans are spoiled by the elves attacking because ... there's too much magic in the human world. The how or why of this is never explained. So the King decides to send Bayled and future-son-in-law Nul to go fight the elves. But of course, Nul wants to kill Bayled (because ... I don't know why? It's never explained). The elves successfully attack, they capture the kingdom and take everyone prisoner ... yeah, we've seen this all before.

The final verdict: There's nothing here in this book that's new or groundbreaking. The LGBTQ representation is questionable. Characters aren't fleshed out (or particularly likeable), motives are never developed in any natural way (if at all), and the plot is just such standard paint-by-the-numbers high fantasy fare. It's a shame, because I do think some of the concepts introduced are interesting (like the goddess and her priestess), but of course none of that is ever expanded upon or explained at all. This sounded like an interesting story, but nothing interesting ever happens.