June Read: The Kingdom of Back

Hey everyone! Once again, sorry for the couple days late post. With the beginning of summer, things have really started to heat up for me, both literally and figuratively.

Like last month’s, this book is different from the one on my list due to my online library finally getting it in for me! So here is my content and personal review for The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu. There will be spoilers in the content section, so scroll down to the personal one if you wish to avoid those.

The Synopsis (Taken from Goodreads)

Born with a gift for music, Nannerl Mozart has just one wish: to be remembered forever. But even as she delights audiences with her masterful playing, she has little hope she’ll ever become the acclaimed composer she longs to be. She is a young woman in eighteenth-century Europe, and that means composing is forbidden to her. She will perform only until she reaches a marriageable age—her tyrannical father has made that much clear.

As Nannerl’s hope grows dimmer with each passing year, the talents of her beloved younger brother, Wolfgang, only seem to shine brighter. His brilliance begins to eclipse her own, until one day a mysterious stranger from a magical land appears with an irresistible offer. He has the power to make her wish come true—but his help may cost her everything.

In her first work of historical fiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu spins a lush, lyrically told story of music, magic, and the unbreakable bond between a brother and sister.

Content Review

Positive Messages: There are a lot of positive messages in this book about loving one’s family, even when it’s tough. The main character, Nannerl, loves her family, and especially wants her father’s praise and approval. In turn, though her father clearly favors her brother for his ability to bring them in more income as a boy, when she gets sick, he becomes very worried for her, more than when his son is usually sick.

Nannerl’s mother is a very positive figure in the home. She’s always patient and kind, and when Nannerl asks her once why she never snaps at them (her and her brother) when she’s worried like their father does, she says what use would it be to snap at them, except to hurt them. She also speaks kindly of her husband to her children even though he’s been treating them a little curtly due to stress and money issues.

One on one with her daughter, Mrs. Mozart advises her on how to voice their opinions with the stubborn men in their lives. As the women in their lives, she says, they must voice their opinions without letting the men realize it. Elsewhere, she tells her to fight for those less fortunate and speak for them, while being a good role model for the future generations.

Nannerl and her brother, Wolfgang, have a very sweet and close relationship. He looks up to her, encourages and admires her work and music, and eventually tells her all he ever wanted was to be like her. In turn, the two help each other out when they’re sick, they write music together, and Nannerl watches out for him when he is young.

When Nannerl makes a big mistake, she realizes she needs to right her wrong, even though it’s tempting to continue down the path she’s going. Still, she manages to turn things around and do what’s right. She also realizes at the end that she’s already achieved her desire to never be forgotten through her brother’s admiration and his attempts to be like her in his own music.

Rating: 5/5

Spiritual Messages: I would actually say the main message of the book is spiritual in nature, although maybe the author didn’t intend it like that. The villain of the book, Hyacinth, is a beautiful princeling boy who Nannerl and her brother believe has been taken from his kingdom and wishes to get it back. He is attractive, says all the right things, and promises Nannerl to fulfill her wishes if she fulfills his. Quite like sin, it can look attractive, feel right, sound right, and promise us an illusion of happiness. But like Hyacinth, revealed to be a liar and the true villain who wants to destroy the kingdom and Nannerl’s life, sin will ultimately come to bite us and like Hyacinth wanted to do with Nannerl, “consume our souls”.

A couple people pray over sick children. A doctor says God showed a girl mercy by letting her recover from a sickness. A man believed he was supposed to be a missionary, and wonders if maybe his missionary work will be done through his children’s music.

In the fantasy kingdom, a “witch” is sealed in a cavern. It turns out she’s not a witch but a queen who is in trouble.

Not really something spiritual, being more of the magical realism part of the story, but a girl and boy can see things nobody else can although other people are literally right there. Hyacinth somehow has control over the two, making them sick and helping them get better again, and controls some events in the real world, or at least Nannerl believes that. Strange dark creatures like shadows also glide around that only they can see. 

Rating: 4/5

Romantic Content: A girl’s “monthly courses” arrive and are lightly discussed as well as her bodily changes. With them, she becomes more aware of the opposite sex, and develops a crush on a boy. She also wonders what kissing a boy would be like, and thinks about when her parents kiss.

A boy pulls a girl close and she blushes at the feeling of his skin against hers. He kisses her hands when she gets him something he needed, and kisses her cheek and her lips once each at different times.

A boy asks if he can write to a girl.

Rating: 4/5

Violence: Not too much violence is in this book. Some children get sick and people die of small pox. A girl is slapped by her father.

A girl shoots a river monster with an arrow and sees blood, and also gets cut by thorns.  

Probably the most violent scene in the book is when an evil faery devours a girl in the fantasy kingdom, and the girl with him remembers the blood on his teeth. (Later on it’s explained it’s more of an illusion of allowing evil and jealousy and greed to devour the girl herself, as the girl the faery devoured was actually a version of her.)

Rating: 4/5

Language: No language that I saw!

Rating: 5/5

Other Negative Content: A lot of this negative content has to do with the times in which Nannerl lived, the restrictions surrounding her, and both her and the reactions of others surrounding her to them.

Nannerl “disobeys” her father by writing her own compositions. (Although he never told her she couldn’t write them, she knew he probably wouldn’t want her to do so but did it anyway.) Her brother encourages her to continue writing them, even when she tells him their father probably wouldn’t like it. She also allows a boy to write to her, even though she knows her father wouldn’t like it, and her mother helps her get his letters without her father knowing.

Nannerl’s father, for his own part, was hard on his children throughout much of the book, using them more as money machines than treating them like children. It was true he was trying to provide for them, but in reality, the children were more-so providing for them than he was. He goes so far as to steal Nannerl’s music and publish it under his son’s name to get money, and justifies it by saying she wouldn’t be able to sell them anyway because she’s a girl. He favors his son in this way, and talks like Nannerl’s only future is to marry and that’s all she’s going to be good for when she’s older. He also justifies Wolfgang’s actions and says she needs to be more understanding as his older sister.

His actions frustrate Nannerl, as she feels like she must always do, act, and be like her father wants, and therefore feels like she’s nothing as a result. She grows bitter towards him, especially when he steals her music and refuses to apologize, and wants to hurt him however she can.

Wolfgang and Nannerl have a pretty good relationship throughout much of the book, however at a certain point, they get into a fight and she yells at him. In response, he tears her music up and takes all the attention at their events. He also (mostly accidentally) causes trouble, getting her into trouble.

Hyacinth tries to create a rift between the two, saying Nannerl’s brother stole her achievements. Nannerl feels inferior to her brother because she can’t have a career, and gets a little angry and jealous of him just because of the restrictions of times in which they live.

A girl steals a sword.

Rating: 3.5/5

Total Content Rating: 4.25/5 Stars

Personal Review:

So I’ve never really read a book labeled as magical realism before, where the real world mixes with a fantasy one. The Chronicles of Narnia, yes, but besides the brief instance in The Magician’s Nephew where the Witch gets into the “real” world, the things which happened in Narnia stayed in Narnia and the things which happened in the real world stayed in the real world. This story was unique in that the events of both seemed to overlap. And it was quite interesting.

I really enjoyed the sibling relationship portrayed within this story, how the two most of the time tried to support and love each other, despite their differences because of their genders and the times of the day. I did sympathize with Nannerl because of the restrictions of her day and how I would have felt, as both a writer and a daughter with a brother (who also has no desire for marriage), if my father did not allow me to write because I was a girl and favored my brother because he could bring in more income. And letting someone else’s name get put on my work and have it published without my knowledge? That would be devastating.

However I appreciated how she did, in most cases, handle things right. Even though she had those restrictions, she still had courage and she still realized the most important thing was not her work and being remembered forever by her own name, but the love of her family, and more specifically her brother, who always supported her. I also liked the lessons she learned and her mother’s wise council she gave throughout the story, some of it humorous in how to deal with stubborn men.

In all I’d say I’d give this 4.5/5 stars and recommend it for people who enjoy both fantasy and historical fiction (like I do), are interested in music and/or Mozart, or want to read a unique take on a story about a girl who is still strong, but not a kick-butt heroine like much of today’s “strong girls” are shown to be.

Personal Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

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Have you read this story? Do you want to read this story? What are some good magical realism books you enjoy? Who is your favorite classical composer? What is your favorite classical piece to listen to and/or play? Let me know in the comments below! ~ Kay Adelin