The Spy in the Silver Palace

<a href="http://s1380.photobucket.com/user/SylviaMercedes86/media/AdventureBanner_zps740wuksa.jpg.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> <img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1532718933i/26038938._SX540_.jpg" alt=" photo AdventureBanner_zps740wuksa.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"> </a><br><br>I'm hosting a giveaway for this fantastic trilogy!!! Come read my <b> <a href="https://www.sylviamercedesbooks.com/single-post/2018/07/27/AUTHOR-OF-THE-MONTH---Jordan-Rivet" rel="nofollow noopener">interview with Jordan Rivet</a> </b> and <b> <a href="https://www.sylviamercedesbooks.com/reader-group-signup" rel="nofollow noopener">join my reader group to enter the giveaway!</a> </b><br><br><br>I was not expecting to like this book so much! I mean, I knew I would like it--the premise is a good fit for my reading tastes, the (gorgeous) cover promises excitement and intrigue, the reviews I read were good. But I was expecting a "that was cute" kind of read. <br><br>What I got was a <b>page-blazing-can't-put-down-omg-what-is-happening</b> kind of read! <br><br>I loved how Jordan Rivet flipped my expectations every which way. Her heroine, Mica, IS a kickbutt heroine, but she doesn't perfectly embody the kickbutt heroine mold. She is inexperienced and her inexperience shows . . . and influences the plot. She's not a fighter, though she has training. Fighting simply isn't her top skill. She's very talented, courageous, and has a great go-getter attitude, but she's still got a lot of learning and growing up to do. And I found that relatable. Made me feel more invested in her as a character while she's trying to navigate the incredible complex world into which she's been plunged. <br><br>Rivet flipped my expectations on that world as well. Mica is sent to work as an impersonator for the royal princess--a princess who, at first glance, is one incredibly spoiled, petty, feather-brained, beauty-obsessed young woman with absolutely no redeeming value. When I started reading about her, I actually felt irked at the simplicity of the character. <i>Oh great,</i> I thought, <i>another "mean girl" trope.</i><br><br>But . . . yeah. That's not where the story was heading at all. I don't want to give away spoilers, but I WILL say that by the end of the book, Princess Jessamyn was my favorite character.<br><br>The romance added a nice touch to the story without ever interfering with the adventure. I like a romance in my kickbutt heroine fantasy, but never at the expense of the heroine being heroic . . . and this author struck a nice balance. I will say I'm not entirely certain I'm shipping these two romantic leads, though. I mean, I really like both of them as characters, and their interactions are sweet . . . but I'm just not sure that I actually want them to end up together . . . But I'm happy to wait and see what Rivet does with this relationship. She's flipped my expectations so many times, I wouldn't be surprised to find she's got a trick or two up her sleeve where these two are concerned! <br><br>Anyway, all that to say--fantastic read by an author I'm glad to have discovered! I've got a few more books I need to read on my TBR stack, but then I'm very eager to get book 2 in this series -- <i>An Imposter with a Crown.</i>

4.5 stars! Loved it! Kept me reading deep into the night! <br /><i>Spy in the Silver Palace</i> has everything that I look for a great book – it kept me captive and intrigued throughout, it had me thinking about it long after I had finished reading and left me itching for the next book. <br /><br />Beautifully written, Ms Rivet has created a magical, fantasy world where Talents live amongst the population. <br /><br />Blurs are fast.<br />Muscles are strong.<br />Shields have impervious skin.<br />Mimics can change their appearance.<br /><br />Mica is a Mimic, but instead of spying on enemies, she is sent to work for a spoilt princess, and spends her time infiltrating parties to collect gossip and impersonating the princess at boring political functions. But things are not all that they seem. Every time I thought that I figured out who the traitor was and what the really happening, I would be thrown by a plot twist or reveal. I was kept on my toes throughout and the ending is anything but predictable. <br /><br />I immediately connected with Mica and found her talent as a Mimic enthralling. Not only did she have to look like the person that she is impersonating, she had to walk like them, speak like them and have the same mannerisms and personality. <br /><br />There was a smidge of romance, and I can see that developing more in the next book as well as more character development of the main players – Mica, Jessamine &amp; Caleb. <br /><br />Overall, a beautifully written page-turner full of political intrigue, suspense and mystery. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

This was a surprising hit. Any book that I don't put down within the first 3rd is usually a win with me. While sometimes it felt as though nothing was really happening, for some reason the mundane details didn't bother me. I liked the gradual pacing. <br /><br />It's very much a YA fantasy, with our lead Mica having just completed training at a school for Impersonators, also known as Mimics. These unique Talents can shift form to mimic practically anyone's appearance (there are a few limitations). In addition to Mimics, there are Shields with impervious skin, Muscles with superhuman strength, and Blurs who (you guessed it!) can move at extraordinary speeds. <br /><br />Mica trained at the Academy for 4 years, with her end goal after graduation of being assigned as an Imperial spy in their rival kingdom, Obsidian. Imagine her chagrin when, instead of being doled out an assignment as a super spy, she lands a place at the side of the pampered princess Jessamyn. But, as Mica soon begins to realize, there are more ways to aid the Empire than in enemy territory alone. Talents, including one of Mica's closest friends, are going missing, just vanishing without a word. No one knows why and there's certainly no one talking about it. Once originally thought to be the work of their Obsidian rivals, it soon becomes clear that the troubles may be closer to home. Mica makes it her mission to find out what's happening, even if it seems no one cares, including Jessamyn herself. Or does the princess know more than she is letting on? Amidst the courtly machinations and intrigue, the plot begins to thicken and it seems that maybe more than just the lives of Talents are at stake here. <br /><br />Mica at first seems way in over her head, but as the book progresses she begins to come into her own. Granted, she still doesn't strike me as super spy material, as she tends to let her emotions overcome her and influence her actions and decisions, but she's still so incredibly green that I'm allowing it. There's a little bit of spy work, there's a little bit of blood and violence, and there's just a tiny smidgen of romance (though my ship from the beginning has not yet yielded fruit...like at all. Hmmmmmm :/) I wasn't expecting that ending exactly, and I'm really interested to see how the author plays it out. On to Book 2!<br /><br />If you are looking for a new, clean YA fantasy series to start maybe try this one on for size.

OH MY word! I started this and I could not put it down......! <br /><br />The world is really unique and exciting and yet easy to understand....the heroine is so likeable, the layers and twists just keep coming...<br /><br />It was clean too, which I deeply appreciate, and I hope the rest of the series stays the same, cause I'm going after them so fast I might as well be a Blur.

This was a really strong 1st book. The plot - with the magic, espionage, and politics - was intriguing.<br /><br />Here are some of my thoughts:<br />• I have not quite read a book with spies infiltrating a palace like this. Especially with the Impersonator being a well-known job and somewhat out in the open. I also find this different in that the spy work in this is literally shapeshifting your physical features. And for this spy to not be particularly talented with swords, and is not already a trained assassin – different. I like that Mica’s talent is in shapeshifting (not into animals though, at least not in this book) in itself, but she is not actually a perfect human being who can kill anyone. On another note, I am surprised that this YA spy book does not have the protagonist being a seductress as a main skill. (Don’t get me wrong, she can flirt, and she is aware she can use her shapeshifting to seduce – but at least in this novel, she does not seduce. I don’t mind that happening in YA spy books, but this is refreshing – to have the female spy being not 1) a perfect assassin 2) seductress. Her sole talent is changing her physical attributes.)<br />• I find the world-building interesting with certain people “Talents” having one of these skills: 1) muscle 2) speed 3) impenetrable skin 4) can change physical attributes.<br />• There are multiple plots going on. One with the kidnapping. Another with the tension between the two empires, Windfast and Obsidian. Then, with Mica learning about politics and how to assist Princess Jessa.<br />• Mica is likable enough, and again, I just really like that Mica isn’t the usual spy that I have seen in other YA books. She is skilled, but not too perfect. In this book, she has also made wrong calls, and can be quick to jump. She wins some and loses some as she navigates the palace as a spy. I appreciate that she develops as a character by learning how to best assist her empire. Before, she only had a vague notion of helping and gaining glory overseas to fight the enemies. However, by doing the spy job at the palace in her land, she learns to help her empire in different ways than she has originally planned. She gains true appreciation of how can contribute to the cause. I love how passionate she is in helping Talents.<br />• Princess Jessa is a surprising character. She seems haughty and shallow before, and perhaps still is to some extent, but I like that she is more intelligent and kind than people give her credit for. I respect that there is purpose in everything she does, no matter how frivolous it may appear or how rude Princess Jessa gives her orders. The bond she and Mica forms is one of my favorite things about this book because they both learn to respect and trust one another, despite being so different from one another.<br />• I also like that this book has established solid friendships for Mica with Sapphire and Danil. It’s clear that she has strong bonds with the characters despite barely seeing them.<br />• In general, I appreciate that there are many characters in this book and none feels too generic. <br />• The romance between Mica and Caleb – I ship it. I do hope we get more developments in future books, but from what I’ve seen, it’s cute.<br />Overall, solid intro book with many elements. The world-building, plot, protagonist, friendships, and romance are all done well. I am intrigued and curious how the future books will play out. <b>3.5 stars</b><br /><br /><u>Things that you might want to know <b>(WARNING: Spoilers below)</b></u><br />Happy/satisfying ending? <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="dfab7ab2-eacd-4101-b357-b1ab6d3dcf23" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="dfab7ab2-eacd-4101-b357-b1ab6d3dcf23">No, cliffhanger, not last book</label><br />Love triangle? Cheating? Angst level? <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="52273842-b423-4b32-be71-f8708f051c33" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="52273842-b423-4b32-be71-f8708f051c33">No, no, medium</label><br />Tears-worthy? <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="d6b15ebb-5b14-4bae-9c40-4c0fc2deea88" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="d6b15ebb-5b14-4bae-9c40-4c0fc2deea88">No</label><br />Humor? <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="3f32dcbd-b36c-47cf-82e9-3188b86f3767" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="3f32dcbd-b36c-47cf-82e9-3188b86f3767">Not really</label><br />Favorite scenes? <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="d28af1a5-ab8a-46c6-9d3d-c25244200677" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="d28af1a5-ab8a-46c6-9d3d-c25244200677">When Mica’s family is there to celebrate her graduation and assignment. When Mica gets caught doing her exercise with the impersonations by Caleb and he asks her questions. When Mica and Caleb reunite at the palace, and she realizes he’s Caleb. When Mica saves Caleb from thieves/bullies without knowing it was him initially because she couldn’t stand a Talent being bullied. When Caleb recognizes Mica when she’s disguised as Lady Rowena and she asks how does he always know, and he reveals that he has mistaken several times before with other people by mentioning Gullton, the town where they met. When Jessa saves Mica by knocking a teapot on the man’s head. When Mica ruins Jessa’s plan and Mica feels bad, realizing Jessa does care afterall, and realizes the work she is doing is not so silly afterall. When Mica saves Danil and they escape together. When she gets everyone to help her with saving everyone at the warehouse. When Mica saves Jessa’s life and realizes how much she has learned to appreciate and value the princess.</label> <br />

Mica is a Mimic, one of 4 Talents in the empire; she can change her appearance to look like anyone. She has just graduated from the Academy and doesn't get the assignment she was hoping for - to travel to the Obsidian kingdom as a spy. Instead, she is assigned to Princess Jessamyn of the empire. Initially, Mica thinks all of the assignments the princess gives her are silly social ministrations; but, she quickly learns that the politics of court are complex and dangerous, especially when she is also tasked with trying to find out why Talents are going missing in the empire.<br /><br />This world was pretty interesting. I still don't understand everything, especially with regard to the empire's enemy of the Obisidan King, but I hope more will be explained in future books. I liked Mica and especially liked seeing her transform her outlook in her assignment throughout the course of the book. At first, she is exasperated to be running silly errands for the Princess, but once she figures out that her placement in the palace could be more beneficial to the empire and her family, she changes her tune. I'm also interested to see how her friendships with the Princess and Caleb develop in the next book. I have my suspicions that they will be tested harshly.

This book was pretty good! I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first. I really liked the main character, Mica. I thought the author described the setting and characters really well and I think that made the book better.

Whoah! This book was such a delightful surprise - let me count all the things I loved about it:<br /><br />- So well written, with such great worldbuilding! The world Rivet has created is so vivid and detailed, so easy to picture in my mind's eye - you know how sometimes fantasy worldbuilding just seems like a grey sludge of vaguely medieval stuff? Well, this world was just so delightfully crisp and in focus.<br /><br />- Mica! I love a brash bash heroine as much as anyone else, but I also love heroines who are sweet, quiet, tentative or inexperienced as well. Mica was one of these, and I connected with her in a way that I sometimes don't with the tougher birds.<br /><br />- Caleb! He's just as much of a cinnamon roll as Mica is. I loved that their connection was based on chemistry that went way beyond the physical, and I loved how Jordan wrung my heart with the ending. I often get kinda protective of my younger heroines around their love interests, and I loved how respectful and generally all-round decent Caleb was, even when we're legitimately worried that he may be about to turn around and stab Mica in the back. Even if he's secretly villainous, he's still a gentleman, right? YOU HAVE MY BLESSING, CALEB.<br /><br />- JESSAMYN! Wow. So one of my pet peeves is the "everyone at the imperial court is stupid" trope especially when the shallow, airheaded female courtiers are treated worst of all. Well, I LOVED how the book pretended it might be going in this direction AND THEN GAVE US SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT. By the end of the book Jessamyn was my favourite character.<br /><br />- Just overall the characters and the political shenanigans were so nuanced and smart? This kind of book is such a favourite of mine - spies navigating a glittering court where you never know who's on whose side - and to make it work, you legitimately need to be kept guessing, and good and evil can't be too clear-cut. I was SO IMPRESSED by how Jordan did this without letting the book get too heavy or grim.<br /><br />- I loved that a big part of the plot had to do with how important it is not to blame everything on your country's Designated Ancestral Foes.<br /><br />- I really loved how squeaky clean this book was. It's not that I don't appreciate fiction that deals more overtly with grimmer, grittier realities of life, but I love it so much when I discover a read that I can enthusiastically recommend to younger folks. This is a book that would be truly enjoyable for all ages, while still delivering a ton of adventure and intrigue and a mature perspective on politics and war. <br /><br />Apart from that, I think my only complaint was literally only that one or two scenes seemed just a whisker rushed. Overall, I inhaled the book in a few sittings, and I can't wait to read the rest of this trilogy!

The spy in the silver palace is an enjoyable and entertaining read where people can have a "Talent". You can be a Blur, a Shield, a Muscle or a Mimic. I found the last one quite interesting and it reminded me a bit of Aria in Game of Thrones. <br /><br />When I first picked this book, the cover made me think it would have a RH romance in it but nope. It didn't and that's completely my fault for thinking that. The romance part was okay, I guess, but I'm not too convinced or attached yet. <br /><br />However, with the way things ended in this one, I'm excited to see what the author does next in the sequel. We'll see!

I really enjoyed this world and Mica's character. I felt kind of let-down too when she didn't get the assignment she wanted. The author did a good job of building tension and leaving lots of options open for "who is the bad guy?" I had about three people it could be and there was a strong case for any combination of them to be the mastermind behind the scenes. I finally had a good guess, but it was still fun knowing that I could've been wrong.<br /><br />Even though there's a touch of possible romance, I loved that this was very much Mica's story. This was her job, her mission, her tale. <br /><br />I hope Jessamine doesn't undergo a complete personality reversal in the next book because I wouldn't buy it. That little brat was nasty from the get-go. I will say that she is a great leader and will someday be a good queen. But just because someone is a good ruler it doesn't make them a good person.<br /><br />I actually "liked" that her character was made that way. I didn't like her by any means, but it was fun to have a character who was good at their job, but a nasty piece of work. She is smart, informed, involved, cares about her people as a whole. But she doesn't really care about people as individuals. She treats Mica horribly and besides not being at all considerate of what Mica's job is or how new the situation is, the way she talks to her just made me want to throw a bucket of ketchup all over her perfect princess face. <br /><br />So a great read with a fun world and interesting characters. I liked the twists and how Mica adapted to everything thrown her way. Definitely reading the next book.