Today's review will cover a genre I don't cover often- historical fiction. Secret of the Two Kings, by takes place in 8th century Korea, in a fictional kingdom inspired by a real one. It focuses on Sae Joo and Sae Yoo, twin princes of the Silla kingdom, who must be separated at birth so the kingdom won't have to face the prophesied 'wrath of the heavens'. While Sae Joo grows up as Crown prince of Silla, his brother lives life as a commoner. So what happens when they meet? Will Silla rise or fall?

I really like the plot of this story. I think it's original, mainly because it's inspired by a part of history that I don't know a lot about. I've always been interested in history, but the only thing about Korea in my textbook is the Korean war… not a lot. So while the events in this story are fictional, I do like the interesting choice of setting and I feel like it taught me a thing or two!

The characters, however, feel a little one-dimensional. It appears as if many of them have been assigned a stereotype- Jung Ho is the vengeful brother who wants to be king, Jae Joong is the righteous and noble ruler, Dae Wong is the ever-loyal sidekick/henchman… a hint to make them a tad more realistic: give them more flaws; make the good less good, make the bad less bad. I guarantee it works.

The GPS is decent, but there are a few chapters that do need to be edited when it comes to grammar and punctuation. It does seem to get better in later chapters, though, so I'd advise you to especially check any earlier chapters.

Lastly, I'd like to mention the overuse of passive voice. When explaining something or setting a scene, passive voice is used often. Passive voice can be useful, of course, but it does weaken sentences often. Example:

Passive: 'the minister was smiling evilly while the people were cheering for the king'

Active: 'the minister smiled evilly as people cheered for the king'

Active does look a little more pleasing, doesn't it? I wouldn't encourage abandoning the passive voice, but using it less will certainly strengthen the story as a whole.

The story has a lot of potential, but it still has a long way to go. I do have to say it's an interesting concept and I'm eager to see how it proceeds, but I hope my advice could be of some use.

Rating: 5.5