Review: Of Knives and Nobility

Of Knives and Nobility by E.G. Bella is another ARC I received from Beyond the Bookery's new series, A Twist of Tales. It's meant to be a gender-bent retelling of "The Princess and the Pea," but it reminded me more of "Snow White" and "Rapunzel" due to having a malicious and abusive queen. The narrative is done very well with a dual POV between the prince and princess that allows readers to get to know both characters. It's filled with action, suspense, and romance, culminating in a thrilling adventure with strong moral values.

Prince Fenrick feels discouraged after his brother's wedding when he realizes he gave up on a great opportunity for a marriage alliance with Princess Ellina. Since then, Ellina's mother has made it nearly impossible for suitors to reach her by giving them impossible tests to earn her daughter's hand. Desperate to prove his own worth, Fenrick volunteers himself for the tasks and grows closer to Ellina in the process. Meanwhile, Ellina becomes concerned for Fenrick's safety under the watch of her tyrannical mother.

I generally enjoy books with dual POV and thought it worked particularly well here. Seeing both Fenrick and Ellina's perspectives gave me more insight into the queen's abominable behavior. The narrative also helped to convey both characters' underlying feelings towards each other that they had difficulty expressing for much of the story. Both of them are placed in unfortunate situations created by the wicked queen. Ellina is sheltered in the castle with only her maid, Runi, for companionship, and Fenrick is sent on deadly missions where the odds are stacked against him in his attempt to win back Ellina's hand.

The side characters were fun and well developed. Fenrick has a lizard named "Pea" as a clever tongue-in-cheek reference to the fairy tale that inspired this book. His brother, Viggo, has some behind-the-scenes dalliances with Ellina's maid. The queen's advisor introduces an interesting character archetype that I haven't seen in a while. He is a good person who is blinded by his feelings towards her and fails to realize what type of person she really is. It was interesting to see all the different ways each character handled the queen's tyranny.

Overall, Of Knives and Nobility is a thrilling "Princess and the Pea" retelling about a wicked queen and two protagonists who must overcome her using their unique skill sets. I enjoyed reading both perspectives and seeing how Fenrick and Ellina grew beyond their feelings of helplessness for the sake of protecting each other. The antics around the side characters added a healthy dose of levity to the story. I'd recommend this book to someone looking for a dual-POV fairy tale retelling with an interesting male protagonist.