Something I’m doing more often and something I have to constantly remind myself is just to enjoy reading, you know? Even if it’s for a review – there’s no sense in not enjoying a book. You’re only going to hurt yourself. So that’s the thought I had when I went into reading this – that I maybe wouldn’t like it. But I was wrong, I did, and I’m glad. 

I think a mark of a good writer – fantasy or otherwise – is that you’re able to lose yourself in the story and just read a ton without actually realising that you’re reading a ton. With this book I went from like 2 something percent and then finishing the book 😂. So I think it’s safe to say that this book is good if you want to get lost in a book, fantasy or otherwise. 

⚔️🤍🍂

Just like my previous read, A Curse of Salt, the female main character here (Kat, or Katerine) is a strong one and she cares for her family – cares for them so much she’s willing to enter in a competition to win the Fae Prince’s hand in marriage. Even though she will literally die if she loses. Obviously she was scared (who wouldn’t be in her case), as her possible success in the competition not only saves her family, but her entire kingdom. But she went ahead anyway. It was that inner strength that made me like her and rot for her.

Even though a good part of her journey (in the book) was unfortunately very much “get the guy”; it was done in a way that tied to her want to save her people. That made it easier to read and like her. Her motivations changed slightly towards the end so that helped as well. I know romance books are usually “do x to get y as a romantic interest” – which is fine – but I want more than that. Not just for me or for other readers, but for the characters as well. 

⚔️🤍🍂

I thought it would be a simple love triangle between Kat and the two brothers – the golden boy and High Prince, Terrin, and the bad boy, Lysander. It turned out to be much different and I’ll probably see something even more different in the next two books to come. Which I am happy to wait for – both for the development of the story and romantic interest. And also I’m fine to wait because (as usual) I have about a dozen other books to read 😂😭. 

I won’t say as much as I would like to, because spoilers – of course – but I liked the journey we took to get to know the Princes. Lysander… well, he definitely had his moments where a lot of people could and would call him a bad boy and probably irredeemable. But as with a lot of other bad boys, I knew that there was something deeper and he’s more than what he seems. I was rewarded with keeping that thought as he did indeed show more of himself – and likely more in the following books. 

Which I think is a whole thing with a bad boy – are they really bad or are they just perceived to be bad? Okay, yes, with Lysander it could be a bit of both; but I think I saw more of how he truly is, and maybe a little bit of the person (well fae) he’d like to be if things were different. In this you only got to see how he is under all the tall walls he builds at the very end; so I do hope the next book is him being himself. Or if he wants to keep the front (of being the bad boy), allowing himself to really let his guard down around those he trusts. 

Just gonna put it out there – I was not a fan of Terrin all throughout the book. I found his goody-two shoes look that he puts on (or at least I think he puts it on) to be annoying. Maybe he’ll grow on me, maybe he won’t – who knows. Maybe just like his brother, he has hidden depths and it’ll take a while for him to truly show himself. That’s the good thing about a trilogy/series – characters have more time to grow – both as characters and also in your heart.

⚔️🤍🍂

I was annoyed/let down that the tasks in the competition weren’t super great? Like I enjoyed the first one and then they went down. There’s one task that made me angry because it further pushes the notion that women are there for the man’s pleasure. Which is entirely the opposite of what I want to read. It’s also the opposite of what I knew Kat to be – she’s more than what the tasks wanted to make her look like. It also made me dislike Terrin more and probably why my rating is 3.5 stars (4 for sites that don’t allow for half stars). 

I wasn’t too impressed by the action scenes – the little that we received. I think I was expecting there to be more action scenes and instead we get a lot of passive scenes. Or scenes where Katrine’s thinking and just being there. Or being fascinated by everything Terrin. Another thing I wasn’t happy with was that the fae in this use ‘mind magic’ – read people’s thoughts, their minds. That’s a bit invasive, especially how it was shown in here. That probably won’t change so much in the next book but I guess I can just skim read those parts.