Although the market has been saturated with fairy tale retellings over the past few years as they slowly increase in popularity, one fairy tale that is often overlooked is that of Mulan. The reason is clear; it’s not an easy tale to tell. So, while I was excited to pick up Quest, I was also hesitant.
Mei lives in an enchanted herbalist shop with her father, guardians of ancient spells that for generations her family has been charged to protect…magic that the royal family desperately needs on their quest to fight the lingering effects of a broken curse that is slowly destroying the kingdom.
When Mei’s sickly father is charged to join the king’s cause, Mei doesn’t even question her decision in disguising herself as a boy and taking his place, despite the risks involved should she be caught. She will do all within her power to protect her family’s secrets so that their coveted spells don’t fall into the hands of the greedy royal leading the quest, Prince Darcel.
But the moment Mei joins the magical quest, she finds herself entangled in something beyond a grand adventure fighting against the corrupt magic raging throughout the land—she’s quickly losing her heart to the prince she swore to forever loathe…a man who has no idea she’s not who she seems, or what powers she’s truly capable of. What consequences will befall a simple apprentice in disguise when Prince Darcel discovers not only her true identity, but that her mission has been to thwart him and his mission all along?
World, Character, and Plot
I should preface this review by reiterating that I understand the difficulty of retelling Mulan. Because the protagonist is disguised as a boy for the majority of the story, a believable romance is extremely difficult. I went into Quest willing to give it some grace because of this reason…
That being said, I could not get into this particular story. The writing was good, the world and plot was interesting, and individually I liked each character. For me, it was the romance (the center of the plot) that constantly threw me off. Even before the MMC knew that the protagonist was actually a girl in disguise, he was doing things that seemed very… romantic. (Think, placing a blanket over her while she is sleeping, or teaching her how to fight by wrapping his arms around her.) There were several moments that I had to actually set the book down, because the second-hand embarrassment was so intense.
I wish I could say that the story improved once the MMC found out that his traveling companion was a girl, but it didn’t. He had a very muted reaction to discovering, and then almost immediately realized that he was in love with her. If, as a reader, I’m expected to believe that he considered her a boy for their entire journey to that point, then this was a bad case of insta-love. If I’m supposed to believe that those feelings were developing before the reveal… Well, you can see the issue.
The plot of the story, an adventure to heal the land from darkness, was actually very interesting. There just wasn’t a lot of it! The main focus of Quest was romance, which unfortunately did not work. I think, in order to retell Mulan, that the plot has to be the focus, because the romance cannot begin to build until far deeper into the story. They could have been friends, but forming a romantic relationship before the secret came out was just odd.
PAGED IN: Like all of Camille Peters’s books, Quest is classified as a clean fantasy romance. There is some slight innuendo (very slight), and much of it is similar to the Disney movie. (For example, the protagonist is bathing in a lake when the men in the group stumble on her.)
Conclusion
I love Camille Peters and will always recommend her books to anyone looking for a good clean fantasy romance, but Quest wasn’t it for me. The plot was too thin, and the romance was too strange. Although I enjoyed the idea of a Mulan retelling, this particular story missed the mark.
Special thanks to Camille Peters for the ARC copy. All opinions are my own. You can buy Quest here.
Marie