Total Book Geek: White Hart

Mae never asked to be craft-born. She never wanted that burden.

The realm needs magic again, and the the King of Aegunlund has been waiting for the first craft-born girl to marry his son, Prince Casimir.

In Mae's town of Halts-Walden, the ambitious miller claims his daughter Ellen is craft-born. Mae knows this is a load of hogwash, but she's glad Ellen will have the unfortunate pleasure of becoming queen instead of her. All she has to do is sit back and wait until Casimir and Ellen are married, then she will finally be free of the threat of her fate. But on that day an event so shocking and terrible occurs that Mae finds herself entering the neighbouring cursed forest on a quest she never thought she'd have to follow.

Join Mae as she rides her white stag through the Waerg Woods with a pampered prince at her heels. She's out for revenge and nothing, no one, will get in her way.

REVIEW

*I received a copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Mae is craft-born, this means she has magic in her. She has been keeping this a secret for her whole life. Though I do find it interesting that no one else made the connection, when a white stag appeared at her home the day she was born. Everyone just thinks she is weird and beneath them. Now magic has been gone a long time in the kingdom, so they need that craft-born to reawaken the magic, so nature and the kingdom can thrive again.

This means that the King has ordered that the Prince would marry the craft-born and make sure the magic stays in the royal bloodline. Since Mae isn't on board with marrying some stuck up prince, she has kept quiet. When Ellen, the prettiest girl in town, has claimed that she is the craft-born, Mae has become even more relieved. She knows that it is total fake, no way that there are two craft-borns. But it will keep the attention away from her.

When Prince Casimir comes to town to claim his bride, things start to go bad really fast. As in people are dead and Ellen is kidnapped into Waerg Woods. Mae is now out for revenge and Casimir wants his bride back, so off they go into the woods. Waerg Woods is terrifying, the things they encounter in there is pure nightmare material. Mae has trouble keeping her secret from Casimir when there are a couple of times she needs to use magic to save them. When you go through life and death moments together, people tend to bond over that.

The connection between Mae and Casimir grows during their journey. While Mae starts to have feelings for him and thinking that life at the palace might not be so bad, Casimir sees her pretty much as a little sister. That guy is infatuated with Ellen and nothing or rather no one can sway him from that. So Mae keeps to herself. It is kind of heartbreaking really. Often Casimir comes of as a bit of an idiot to me with how hard he holds onto Ellen. He only talked to her a couple of times and is claiming that even if she wasn't craft-born, he would still marry her. It really seems more infatuation than real love.

Meanwhile sweet Mae is starting to think there might be more to life than revenge, but when Casimir makes his feelings clear, her focus goes back to revenge. I understand why she is holding on to that, feeling that otherwise her world would crumble down, but it will come back to her. You must not forget that she is only fifteen, so you can not always expect her to make the most rational decisions.

Overall the plot was fast-paced, the Waerg Woods is freaky scary, the romance was a bit lacking and the ending was very rushed. It has an unique setting and plenty of twists to keep it interesting though. The book ended with a cliffhanger, but I am not sure if I will be reading the second book. That ending felt too forced to me.

White Hart: Amazon - Kindle

The Author

Sarah grew up in the middle of nowhere in the countryside of Derbyshire and as a result has an over-active imagination. She has been an avid reader for most of her life, taking inspiration from the stories she read as a child, and the novels she devoured as an adult.

Sarah mainly writes speculative fiction for a Young Adult audience and has had pieces of short fiction published in the Medulla Literary Review, PANK magazine, Apex Magazine and the British Fantasy Society publication Dark Horizons. Her short story ‘Vampires Wear Chanel’ is featured in the Wyvern Publication Fangtales.

She is the author of the popular YA dystopia series 'Blemished' and the gothic novella 'My Daylight Monsters'. She is currently working on a YA Fantasy series titled 'White Hart'.

Connect with Sarah Dalton:

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Mae never asked to be craft-born. She never wanted that burden.

The realm needs magic again, and the the King of Aegunlund has been waiting for the first craft-born girl to marry his son, Prince Casimir.

In Mae's town of Halts-Walden, the ambitious miller claims his daughter Ellen is craft-born. Mae knows this is a load of hogwash, but she's glad Ellen will have the unfortunate pleasure of becoming queen instead of her. All she has to do is sit back and wait until Casimir and Ellen are married, then she will finally be free of the threat of her fate. But on that day an event so shocking and terrible occurs that Mae finds herself entering the neighbouring cursed forest on a quest she never thought she'd have to follow.

Join Mae as she rides her white stag through the Waerg Woods with a pampered prince at her heels. She's out for revenge and nothing, no one, will get in her way.

EXCERPT

Father and I live on the edge of the gloomy forest; close enough to smell the leaves, hear the rustle of animals, and sense the dangers within. Darkness hangs below the knotted canopy of branches. I stand and watch in awe, following Anta’s hoof-prints. It’s late. The sun sets. The grey of dusk descends over Halts-Walden with the threat of rain in the dark underbelly of clouds. The prince may well be greeted with mud and rain in the morning. The thought makes me feel rather gleeful. I imagine some pampered, puffy prince on the back of a regal horse, riding into the village in search of the red hair of maidens, quaint flowers, and those who bend the knee to him.

“Come in for stew, Mae,” Father says. “You should have a bath, too, if the prince is arriving.”

“I thought the whole point was to make sure the prince wouldn’t want me,” I reply, shooting him a glance.

Father sighs. “That’s true. But this is still a momentous occasion for the village, and you should look the part, or you’ll attract attention. Do you know the last time we had a royal come here?”

I shake my head.

“Well, it was before my time. Your grand-papa talked of it sometimes. King Aldrych the First came when he was still a prince. He thought we were enchanted, because of where we live. I suppose the kings always do.”

We’re under Aldrych the Second’s rule, now, a man I know little about because of how isolated we are. His reputation is one of greed. The only thing I know is that he wants his precious Red Palace to make his gems. Apparently the craft is needed for that. I don’t know how it works. Part of me would love to see the castle, to discover what makes it so special.

“Well, Ellen is craft-born, after all.” I snort. She’s got about as much craft in her as the muck in Farmer Black’s pigpen.

“Are you complaining, Mae? You’ve wanted nothing more than to avoid Ellen’s fate. Ever since…” He trails off.

Ever since I realised I have the magic in me. To finish his sentence, I lift a hand and click with my thumb and index finger. The butterflies that usually hide away between our flowers reveal themselves in the garden. There are dozens of them fluttering through the sky of all colours: red, yellow, blue, patterned with eyes that stare out like rubies. They fly to me and cluster around my hand.

Father shakes his head, but he laughs. “If only your mother could see you.”

A bold butterfly with wings the colour of sapphires lands on my nose, tapping me with its antennae.

“I just wanted to call you,” I say. “There’s no job for now.”

The butterfly leaves my nose sharply, as though in a huff. The others follow, flapping their tiny wings, disappearing back amongst the flowers.

“You shouldn’t call them whenever you feel like it,” Father warns. “Nature doesn’t exist to serve you and your every whim.”

I’ve heard this speech many a time, so I clap my hands together to prevent a long lecture. “Stew it is, then!”

Father puts an arm around my shoulders as we head back to the hut. “Rabbit stew, in fact. With carrots and mint. I need to fatten you up—I can feel your ribs!”

I pat my tunic. “Really?” I am small for my age.

He chuckles as we walk through the doorway. I help him up the stone step. “You’re still growing. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be a few inches taller by your sixteenth birthday.”

I lift his arm from my shoulders, and it drags dark curls in front of my eyes. I push them back behind my ears. “I doubt it.”

“Sit down and eat your meal.” Father points to the table, laid out with a bowl of food. It’s barely enough for the two of us. “Tomorrow will be a big day. We’ll see the prince, and when he takes Ellen away, we’ll never have to worry again about you being sent to the Red Palace.”

I like the sound of that. As I shovel down the rabbit stew, my shoulders lighten. For years we’ve worried about my powers. We know little about craft and the craft-born, except that the magic within me seems to allow me to call on nature. I don’t know why it makes me powerful or how it would benefit the realm, I just know that I don’t want to be a princess and I never have. I can’t think of anything worse than flouncing about in fancy dresses, cooped up in the Red Palace forever, forced into marrying someone I don’t even know. I certainly don’t want to use my powers to help the king become even richer.

But there is something in me that longs to find out more about the powers within me. Sometimes I fantasise about disappearing from Halts-Walden and travelling Aegunlund in search of answers. I want to be in the woods with the birds and the butterflies. I want to climb trees and ride Anta ’til my arse-cheeks are sore. I don’t know why I’m craft-born, and I don’t really care. All I know is whatever the reason, it has to be more than sitting pretty on a throne. There must be more to life. There has to be freedom and adventure in this world. I want to find it.

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The Author