Morrighan: The Beginnings of the Remnant Universe by Mary E. Pearson

4 stars.

Age Recommendation: 14-Adult

I don't feel like I can truly review Morrighan, a novella that chronologically takes place before the Remnant Chronicles trilogy, without touching on the trilogy itself. So here's a small primer on the Remnant Chronicles, a YA series published starting in 2015 that is enjoying a bit of a revival on social media.

The trilogy starts with The Kiss of Deception, where we meet a young woman named Lia, Princess of Morrighan, who has fled her home on the eve of a wedding to a prince she has never met, the Prince of Dalbreck. Trailing her are two men--the aforementioned prince and an assassin from Venda sent to murder her in her sleep. We meet the two men--as does Lia--but for the vast majority of the book, the reader doesn't know which is which, and Lia doesn't know who either of them are.

The story continues in The Heart of Betrayal and The Beauty of Darkness. The spin-off, Dance of Thieves Duology (Dance of Thieves and Vow of Thieves), set after the events of the Remnant Chronicles, became very popular on social media a couple years ago. Morrighan includes references to places that exist in both, and is the "lost history" of a girl that gave name to Lia's home country.

Morrighan (the girl) is a member of one of the nomadic tribes referred to as the remnants of a near world-ending natural disaster that happened about 60-70 years earlier. She has a type of knowing that speaks whispers to her about where the tribe should go or what dangers they might find. Only some members of the tribes have this knowing, and it is a precious gift that allows tribes to find places of temporary safety.

Also in this world are scavenger clans--bands of humans that met and stayed together in cooperation, surviving by raiding the remnant tribes, taking their food, animals and sometimes their lives. When Morrighan is a small girl, she meets a scavenger boy, Jafir, and over years of their meeting in secret they become friends and then more. But of course there are bigger things in this wild, desolate world that come to tear them a part, not the least of which is the fact that Jafir's scavenger clan believe the remnant tribes are worth nothing more than what they can take from them.

While the Remnant Chronicles and its related novels are classified as young adult, they have enough political machinations, intrigue, deception, romance, and action, to satisfy an adult fantasy reader. Even though Morrighan technically takes place prior to any of the other books, it should probably be read either last or between the original trilogy and its spin-off duology. It is more a folk tale than a fleshed-out fantasy novel, and would lose much of its impact if you had no knowledge of what this world would later become.

My original ratings for the Remnant books:

The Kiss of Deception: 4.5 stars

The Heart of Betrayal: 4 stars

The Beauty of Darkness: 5 stars

Dance of Thieves: 4 stars

Vow of Thieves: 5 stars

The Remnant books as a whole would be a 4.5 star series. As of the date of this post, all three books in the original trilogy are on Kindle Unlimited to read for free if you subscribe.