Royal Replicas

Royal Replicas by Michael Pierce is a young adult sci-fi romantic drama written in first-person (with the exception of the Prologue and Epilogue which are both in second-person). The book is well written, flows well, and is confusion free. The pace is steady and reveals information to the reader at a rate that is neither overwhelming or boring. This is not an action-packed story, it is a drama.

The point-of-view character is an eighteen-year-old named Victoria. She is a young woman who has already endured more than most her age. This has shaped her into the person she is but has not broken her.

The story starts out interesting enough, however, I had a few problems with it.

-Characterwise, Victoria seemed to be the only one of the ‘candidates’ to be more than one-dimensional, although Piper started to become more interesting nearer the end.

-The ‘candidates’ didn’t seem to react very convincingly after the big reveal at the Queen’s dinner. They seemed to just continue on in the competition as if they hadn’t learned something so dire.

-The Prince. I found him really annoying. And not just because of the way all the candidates acted around him which made me see them as pretty shallow. I found him personally annoying. His double standards alone had me ranting at a fictional character like a mad woman. Sure, you’re all in a weird wife finding competition among seven versions of the same woman, but that doesn’t mean you get to kiss (and who knows what else) with all of them, expect them to all be perfectly fine with it, and then get angry when someone else shows interest in one of them at a masquerade ball.

He wants all the candidates to want him but is only going to pick one. When Victoria is shown interest by another man he has a little temper tantrum and ignores her for a week instead of including her in the one-on-one dates he’s supposed to take ALL the candidates on. Man, there are six other girls (all who look exactly like Victoria), check your ego, this one girl dancing with another guy and getting kissed by him should not bother you, you met her a few days ago!

Also, I found the way the prince seemed to be grooming Bethany as a replacement to Victoria after he got mad at her really creepy.

I just can’t with the prince. I really hope he dies in the next book, but chances are he won’t (I’m never that lucky).

-And I don’t see how after Victoria discovered the Queen’s plans she would make some of the decisions she did (especially with the trust issues she supposedly had after her upbringing).

-I also would have liked a stronger female lead. It seemed she just went with the flow for most of the story and relied too heavily on Kale.

-And Twilight? Really? She’s going to go from Jane Austen to Twilight? Sigh.

I really would have liked more sister team-up and active fighting back together. It would have made all the difference in the story.

The story was interesting and well-written, and I wouldn’t mind finding out how it ends (but I would hope for more character development in the next book and maybe the ‘sisters’ helping each other and fighting back as a team).
Although after reading the excerpt from the next book I might have to change my mind. It looks to be a multi-first-person book. I can’t read anything that is written from multiple people’s perspectives but all in first-person, it gets too confusing and jarring. I don’t care if the chapter says who’s perspective it’s from, I lose the connection with the character if I’m constantly having to remember who the narrator is the flow of the story is interrupted.

Warnings: depictions of abuse, violence toward women and children, and a Twilight endorsement

Recommended to those who enjoy love triangles, romance, drama, the bachelor, and Twilight

Also, I really dislike Twilight, so if you like it, you might like this story a lot more than I did

Great except it ends in a sort of unsatisfying cliffhanger

I was really enthralled with this book, can’t wait for the next installment!