Kingdom of Feather and Sky

Project Phoenix, Book 1

By: Sophia Wachtel

Narrated by: Kate J. White

Princess Kyra Calmora was only fourteen when she watched her brother die. Vowing to hunt down the rebels who murdered him, she spends her nights flying across the fractured halves of her country, searching for justice. But after four long years, she has nothing to show for her hard work. Worse still, not even her parents seem to care about their fallen son anymore.

When Kyra meets a mysterious servant boy whose sister was kidnapped by those same rebels, she sees a chance to finally find closure. Defying her parents, she leaves the comfort of her old life behind and runs away with Lewis. As they traverse a country full of unrest, injustice, and brewing rebellion, Kyra begins to suspect that Lewis is hiding something underneath his smooth-talking charm. As the rebels call for the death of the rest of the royal family, she must decide who she can trust before her brother’s fate becomes her own.

©2023 Sophia Wachtel (P)2025 Sophia Wachtel

More depth to the story than I expected

I think I would have particularly loved this book as a teenager! As an adult, I appreciate the very real conundrums presented, including the difficulty in changing a royal mindset. Such an important concept: viewing another group of people not as inferior but as people of value. And the plot twists toward the end were definitely unexpected!

Shows a lot of potential

Overall I thought this was a good start to a series. Even though the story was fairly predictable, the world building was intriguing and left me wanting to know about the history and intricacies of the world.

It was decent

There were some rough points in it, but the overall story was okay. Except when the protagonist made all the worst choices possible because plot had to move forward. For being a YA book, I will give it some grace. The plot twists were predictable but not too obvious. Does have some good moral lessons about propaganda and biases.