"Be wary of what you wish for. Wishes have a habit of surprising their makers"
 ― Hyacinth ―

This one would be my first historical fiction book review here! I don't think i've ever read a historical fiction before (well... not that i remember of so far) and i'm kind of excited to start this book once its release.

As you might know, historical fiction is a genre with the plot set in the past (our REAL past) with added fictions in it, whether the additional characters or stories, but in the end it's based in our real history.

"An essential element of historical fiction is that it is set in the past and pays attention to the manners, social conditions and other details of the depicted period" - Wikipedia -

Which in conclusion the "past" settings really become the spotlight of the story. Since i always like Victorian Era, i think historical fictions are challenging yet exciting to explore. But anyway, let's dive into it already!

Synopsis

So this book is about the Mozart family, with Nannerl Mozart as the main character. Yes, this is the famous artist Mozart that we are talking about here. But instead of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (the brother, the famous one, the one that we know) the story is focusing in his older sister Mariana Anna Mozart (or we called her Nannerl here, because it's her nickname in the family).

The story start when young 8 years old Nannerl is going to perform in front of his father's honorable guest to show her musical ability, claiming as the child prodigy by his dad, but got interrupted by her little brother who is 4 years old back then. The performance didn't goes as well as she want it to be with Woferl (his nickname) interfere with his cuteness.

One day while playing her piano and decided to teach Woferl with a few tones, she discover that her brother is a born with musical talent unlike her that got teach by her father but still struggle with it. While teaching her brother, flowers blooms in her music notes, and that music notes got stolen by a boy who called himself Hyacinth, a long lost prince in the kingdom that later Woferl and Nannerl called it as Kingdom of Back because all of things there like the tree are backward. 

Hyacinth offers Nannerl help to grant her wish and ask for Nannerl help in return. 

 My Review

I heard of split opinion about this book. Some people i know in bookstagram claim it's weird for musical theme kind of story added with magical theme. Some said it's a great compositions. I also haven't really read any books with musical theme in it (if you count Find me by Andre Aciman as musical theme in the book than maybe i've read musical theme book then), so i can't really say whether some book with same theme doing way better than this book. Since i haven't read any, i would say this book doing great.

The magical being, the kingdom of back and the Hyacinth himself is one of the main reason this book being a fun read to me. Hyacinth, a lots prince of the kingdom of back, need Nannerl's help in order to take his kingdom back. 

Woman Doesn't Compose Music

I think the main plot here, the historical fiction part, is that Nannerl, a girl, child prodigy, who compose her own music secretly because in that time, it's not appropriate for a woman to compose a music. We can feel how big the effect of women rights, feminism and any other things mattered in our lives now. How big difference back then, when woman got restricted in a lot of aspects.

Nannerl got to compose her music secretly, although the only one to know that she composes her own music is her little brother Woferl. Traveling a lot with his brother to "accompany" him for showing his musical ability, called as the musical child prodigy, Nannerl's time as prodigy stop at the age of 18 when she no longer able to perform along with his brother, staying at home with her mom waiting for a man to marry her. 

I feel sad for her because of that, how big her love for music is stop by the custom in late eighteen century. She would be an amazing artist if she born later. 

Also we got the taste of this eighteenth century vibe a lot more by how her father treated her, i mean like for a 8 years old, how can you expect her to take a good care of her little brother? I mean, where is her mom in this? why every mischief or misbehavior of Woferl (in his father count, which is not that biggie for me if you asked) is always because of Nennerl didn't take a good care of Woferl? Why woman always be the blame? 

Complicated Caracter

At first few chapter i already know that Nannerl is not an easy character to guess which her true nature is. Is the the type of main character that i want to support, or is she the main character with grey-moraled characters, "am i reading the villain POV now?" kind of thing. Because she questions a lot of things, whether she's a good musician, whether her little brother knows that he's more talented than her, and whether her father loves her as much as he loves her brother also is Hyacinth also meeting Woferl in secret behind her. She questions people a lot. Suspecting this and that which i find it's hard to keep up with this kind of character as the main character. 

Plot Twist

I always expect a plot twist in all Marie Lu's books. She's famous for bringing the ugly truth in the story, the unexpected turns. I was suspecting that Hyacinth isn't the person he claimed he is, after so much different how he looks after few years. 

But i still don't understand some plot, about why he want to claim the kingdom of back, and ask Nennerl to help him for the exchange of immortality. Last few chapter of his story confuses me a lot. If you have read it, please talk to me about it, i really am confuse of him. 

Facts Check

I find myself checking a lot of facts which one is true (the one that really exist and happened) and which one is not. Nannerl is not a fictional character guys, she lived, and she really is our Mozart's older sister. And Kingdom of Back is really the game that they made when they feel bored. Yes i did googling for Mozart and his sister after finishing this book.

This story also made me questions a lot of things. Like, is it true that some of Mozart's music is probably the one that Nannerl composed herself but got stolen by his father or Woferl himself and claim it as Mozart (which is not that wrong, since Nannerl also a Mozart).

Also Mozart did died young, some of people made some theory about that. In the book, Woferl is not a strong kid, that's because he's not belong to our world, but belongs to the Kingdom of Back. I was suspecting the ending of the book would be : he died young because he's not belong to this world, and going back to the kingdom of back, living there, and Nannerl knows about that. Boom! happily ever after. But the end of the book didn't goes as i want it to tho.

My Rating

I would rate it as So-so (go to my rating system for more if you new for my rating system). I struggled a lot to finish this book to be honest, probably because of the complicated feeling should i pro or not with Nannerl but i do have fun reading it. The magical Kingdom of Back really is a good story added by the Author. Marie Lu always amazed me by accepting challenge for every book she wrote. Every theme is different yet she pull it through. Plus, for a first historical fiction with magical theme added, it's easier for me to read. Try it yourself!

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