Have you ever wanted the epic-ness of an adult fantasy romance but also the bonkers-ness of some weird alien peen? Because I found it 🥰

Like an adult fantasy romance, this had an alien rebel prince, a corrupt kingdom, a gladiator situation, escape attempts, and lots of sexy sparring lessons… it wasn’t called that (there were alien words for prince, kingdom, gladiator), but it was basically that. And I was here for it!

Also, it was 600 pages—in a ‘this could have been a very fast-paced fantasy duology' kind of way.

On the bonkers alien romance side, we had some *interesting* alien anatomy. I loved how this particular alien-human difference had our hero PANICKING meanwhile our heroine was more like YES GAWD 🥵

Plus the sci-fi world building was excellent. No corners were cut—there weren’t any futuristic language auto-translators, space travel took years, and there were lots of interesting details to the alien culture. There was just a consistency and believability to this world that sucked me into the story.

And the character writing—it wasn’t just amazing characterization, it was a psychological case study. There were moments where it felt like I was reading No Exit by Sartre (“Hell is other people”). All the side characters were so well developed, there was just such a deep understanding of human nature going on in here.

And this heroine! If we were picking fantasy teams, I would absolutely pick her first. She was so brave and single-minded that her heroism could not be contained. Also, she was legitimately a pyromaniac and being in the POV of someone with a compulsion was fascinating.

I just loved this book!

It’s book two, but they both can be read as standalones. And it felt really different from book one (remember that pet to lovers book I reviewed the other day? 😆) so I’d say read whichever one you feel like.