I feel like the world said, “You can either simplify the fantasy elements of this book or make the romance fluffier and less of a focus,” and the author just said, “…No.”

This is a Greek mythology inspired fantasy and a romance between a prisoner and captor who’ve been magically tethered to each other. There aren’t that many books I can think of that have this vibe—it’s truly a Fantasy. Romance. It has as much magic, politics, religion, cloaks, travelling on horseback, and sharpening your weapons around the campfire as any high fantasy. But it also has as much angst, bad boy, slow burn, spicy times with your captor, longing, trust building, and ILY as any dark-ish romance. 

I’ve been searching for another heroine like this since I read the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews. Our heroine Cat has matured beyond “I’m a badass!” into “Ugh, when do I get to retire from being a badass?” Both Cat and our hero Griffin felt more mature than the typical fantasy romance couple and I’m here for it. I was also impressed by how non-info dumpy this book was. It really pulled off the balance between explaining what we needed to know and keeping us a bit in the dark, especially with who our heroine is and what she’s capable of.

Sounds perfect so why four stars? It’s because these kinds of xSTP-xSTJ relationships are never my favourite (even though I know a lot of people love them). They’re so antagonistic, emotionally unintelligent, and closed off to the idea of a relationship that I want to reach into the book and slap them. But I’m not deterred from continuing on in the series. This is the kind of couple who will move mountains for each other once they let go and fully let each other in.