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The kingdom diaries book 1 the rebellion

Adam snowflake

Why we're reading this: This book has everybody in it, queer people, disabled people, people of color, and not only that but also…more
[close] This book has everybody in it, queer people, disabled people, people of color, and not only that but also otherkin and non bianary individuals.

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Oct 26, 2014 Mary rated it liked it

3.5 stars

A free copy was given to me in exchange for a review.

The Kingdom Diaries boasts a lot of potential. Following diary entries of our main character, we explore a world where Kingdoms are made up of people who share a common sexuality. Each Kingdom is different. In one, people can only become attracted to each other by spending enough time around that person. This Kingdom, Dime, is where our main character is from.

She is joining a group called the Allies, which has 50 different representat 3.5 stars

A free copy was given to me in exchange for a review.

The Kingdom Diaries boasts a lot of potential. Following diary entries of our main character, we explore a world where Kingdoms are made up of people who share a common sexuality. Each Kingdom is different. In one, people can only become attracted to each other by spending enough time around that person. This Kingdom, Dime, is where our main character is from.

She is joining a group called the Allies, which has 50 different representatives from the Kingdoms. The Allies are essentially a group that sorts out knowledge in the Kingdoms among other things, but if your original background is discovered, it could mean a lot of problems.

So, with that introduction, we follow the main character as she literally explains to us, the "diary", about her situation, how she is getting along with the other people who are training with her, and how she herself is discovering her own identity. She worries a lot that if she hangs around the same people for too long, she will become attracted to them, so it's interesting to see how she yearns to meet more people when she herself is more of an introvert.

While the ending just sort of happened, the ideas presented throughout the book were rather interesting. When I had been asked to review this, I was told that I would read about many different sexual orientations, so I had only a slight clue of what to expect. Most of it, from my interpretation, felt like more of a self-discovery for our main character, and to discuss what it means to be human and why we attracted to certain things. Does our sexual preference determine who we are? Do we decide these things on our own? Are we just born like this?-as in the case where the kingdoms have certain orientations.

I was curious to see what would happen should intermarriage occur, but it wasn't touched upon. It would have been cool to explore what it would be like to see the kingdoms intermingling together, to see how these people would behave.

The only things I could nitpick with this book are:
While I understand this is a free copy, the grammar needed to be improved, but since I was told that this was fixed later on, I have to take that into consideration.
I would have liked more explanation as to how these kingdoms became the way they were. Why exactly, were only certain kingdoms the way they were? Why did Dime only have bonding as a factor into attraction? Is this the only kingdom that can do so? Why is it so bad if the Allies are discovered? Shouldn't they be more open about their kingdoms, so that they could discuss things more openly?

All in all, this really intrigued me. There is a lot of potential indeed, but being only 72 pages long, it is understandable that it wouldn't be able to expand on a lot of things. Had this been extended to maybe 200 pages, a lot more questions could be answered, and the world explored more. I was able to connect with the protagonist, but wished to know more about her family and other things. It has a lot of potential, but only if it is expanded upon. I hope you give this a try if you are interested in it!!
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