The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu
wo siblings. Two brilliant talents. But only one Mozart.
Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish–to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in 18th century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age–her tyrannical father has made that much clear.
And as Nannerl’s hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true–but his help may cost her everything.
In her first work of historical fiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu spins a lush, lyrically-told story of music, magic, and the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.
I wanted to love this book soooooo badly.
It has so many things I enjoy–real life history mixed with made up plotlines, fantasy and magic, creative musicians, a strong female character, young adult genre– I thought it was kind of a no brainer that I’d have a grand old time turning these pages.
Nothing could be farther from the truth, yall.
I read this book at a sloth like pace because it just draggddddded on and on and on..I could NOT get invested in it or stay focused.
This whole book was written from Mozart’s sister POV, who was a real live person.
She was also a real life musical prodigy-just like her brother-but she was overlooked and not given the same opportunities to grow as a composer or artist for one singular reason…
She was born female.
Females were only allowed to play music in public until they were considered “of age”. At that point, they COULD play but not for any kind of monetary compensation. If they did, they were considered prostitutes.
WTF 😑
If that ain’t some patriarchal oppressive BULLSHIT.
There was lots of lots of that in this story that mimics PLENTY of real life history… which I have to admit enraged me. I mean, it was nothing new but it always ALWAYS gets me red faced to be reminded of it 🤬
Nannerl feels stuck and frustrated and almost hopeless as her childhood begins to fade and adulthood looms on the horizon…she fights an inner battle of unfaltering love and devotion to her little brother while at the same time feeling a rising envy and flaming bitterness at the injustice of him having more opportunities and freedom because of his gender.
The fairy like figure of Hyacinth enters into the Mozart childrens lives as well as the magical Kingdom of Back. This weaves adventure and excitement yet also terror and dread into the fabric of their lives.
See? Doesn’t this sound like something I’d be ALL OVER?!?
UGH.
So disappointing.
I kept hoping it would get better….and it didn’t.
It wasn’t boring enough for me to quit COMPLETELY (Yall know I HAAATTTEEEE quitting books!), but it did get to the point where I was just reading it to GET THRU IT and make it to the end so I could start something else.
Honestly, the most interesting part of the book for me was the ending pages. There was an Author’s Note that tells more about the Mozart’s real lives and the inspiration the author had to write this book. There was also an illustrated map of the entire Kingdom of Back, which was fun to see so beautifully drawn.
But other than that….HARD PASS for me on this one.
I was SO HAPPY to be done with it.