The Potion Diaries: Royal Tour, Amy Alward

Pages: 372

Publisher: S&S

Release Date: 11^th July 2016

Edition: UK paperback, review copy

Other titles in this Series: The Potion Diaries

Since winning the Hunt and saving her new BFF, Princess Evelyn, Sam Kemi has been royally busy. What with TV interviews, working in her family’s potion store and preparing to join Evelyn on her world tour, Sam STILL hasn’t had time for a real date with Zain, her new-boyfriend-slash-former-rival.

And that’s not happening anytime soon. Someone has tampered with Sam’s grandad’s mind and she is the only one who can unlock his memories. Memories that contain the key to the most powerful potion in the world and one which people would kill for . . .

So Sam must swap dresses, princes and palaces for dragons, centaurs and caves in her quest to save her grandad (and everyone else).

Just your standard episode in the life of a potion-making teenager, then.

I thoroughly enjoyed Amy Alward’s The Potion Diaries last year and while Royal Tour is just as fun and easy to read as book one, I was a little bit disappointed.

Up until the last 150 pages, it felt a little unoriginal and a tad dumbed down in the fantasy tropes and names of things. I was a little bored and noticed repeated ideas, the twists and turns in the plot were ones I had guessed and the revelations were expected. I was just eager to get finished with Royal Tour unfortunately.

I had very little investment in the story, even though I really like Sam, Ostanes and Molly. I think I must have been in the wrong headspace when I read this as what I found charming in The Potion Diaries I found a bit irritating.

The Potion Diaries is such a fun series and is perfect for young YA fans looking for their first foray into fantasy. I’ll be reading book three and hoping I connect with it a little more.

Thanks to S&S for the review copy.

Sophie