I was not sure what to expect by The Enemy’s Daughter. I haven’t really heard that much about Tristan and Isolde, but I was captivated. The dystopian setting really worked for me and I am a sucker for enemies to lovers! Keep reading this book review of The Enemy’s Daughter for my full thoughts.
Summary
It’s been thirty-seven years since the Republic was destroyed. Now two settlements—the five clans and the Kingsland—fight for control of the untainted land. Though the five clans are outnumbered, they’ve finally struck, killing Kingsland’s brutal leader.
In the war that follows, Isadora, an eighteen-year-old healer, risks her life to help injured soldiers. But when she stops an attack from Tristan, a Kingsland assassin, his soldiers shoot her with a poisoned arrow. As Isadora lies dying, Tristan does the unimaginable: He offers to save her life using a rare magic.
In choosing to live, Isadora is unknowingly bound to the mysterious Tristan. Worse, even acknowledging the attraction between them allows him to glean fragments of her memories and the very knowledge he needs to destroy the five clans. But their magical connection works both ways. So to save her people, Isadora will have to open her heart to her most cunning enemy. Because in a race for ultimate survival, she’ll need to destroy Tristan and his people first.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
This dystopian setting illustrates that fact that progress isn’t linear. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if our society crumbled. But The Enemy’s Daughter offers a vision of the world where our progressive society could crumble alongside the world we know. The Enemy’s Daughter is a Tristan and Isolde retelling – think mortal enemy to lovers – in a world where she lives in a sexist society after some sort of cataclysmic event which ends the world we know today. It’s a world of war, retribution, and laws decided upon by our own cruelty hardened by loss.
In some ways, they are haunted by the memories of how the world used to be and what their lives are now. How can we take a disaster and take the best elements from the hardship? Or we can also let it inspire oppression, violence, and a cycle of hatred. The Enemy’s Daughter examines how we end this cycle of violence. We can think we know the whole truth, but what if we just know one side of it?
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If we leave our house in the middle of the night looking for a monster, we often find one. I loved the way Poett introduces the magic which allows us to literally empathize with the enemy, to feel the truth, and know the power of understanding. That change can come from one person. Find The Enemy’s Daughter on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.