Review: A mildy interesting fantasy novel but some concerns
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2012
"Obligations of a Cobalt Hue" is a fantasy novel written by Amber D. Sistla.  The story takes place in the kingdom of Teldine where a magical item named the Cobalt Flower aids in the governance of the land.  The flower has four petals which are divided amongst four separate Champions (King, People, Land and Honor) to assist the King (who has the heart or center of the flower) in ruling the lands.  Unfortunately, the heart has long been missing leaving the role of the Champions in ambiguous disarray.  After a tragic event occurs between two of the Champions, a small group sets out to find the Heart in attempts to restore peace to the Kingdom of Teldine.  Here are my thoughts on Obligations of a Cobalt Hue;Pros+ Interesting premise.+ Strong female lead character.+ A few interesting plot twists.+ Accomplished writing style.Cons <Contains SPOILERS>- Ending felt forced and extremely rushed.- Some annoying characters.  Rydan being a perfect example.- Title sounds clumsy and could do with a rename.- Plenty of loose ends and things that could have been explained or wrapped up.  An explanation of Champion's Purgatory is a good example.- No world map."Obligations of a Cobalt Hue" was fairly well written and contained few interesting ideas.  It had small dashes of magic, court intrigue, conspiracy and romance.  I think the stories biggest fault was often with one of the main characters, Rydan.  He was realistically written but unfortunately he failed as a likable hero.  Also, as I mentioned in the Cons, the ending felt extremely forced and horribly rushed which was odd considering the rest of the story seemed well paced.  All in all a decent but not to memorable fantasy read.