FTC Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are entirely my own.
Well, that was interesting.
Let me preface this by saying that I knew going into this book that it wasn’t quite my usual cup of tea. Stories about the fae and their bride-stealing tendencies are always a bit weird to me, and the far world itself is at least mildly disturbing in every presentation of it. But it’s releasing from my favorite publisher, and it was a free book, so… how could I resist?
And yes, it was unusual and not quite my first choice for a book. But I still quite enjoyed it.
Characters: To be quite honest, I wasn’t particularly fond of any of the characters. Thea is a good protagonist, but she comes with the fatal flaw of many heroines: a stubbornness that makes her unlikable. She’s always like, “I don’t need you! I can do it myself!” Which is understandable, given her background and current context, but also… lighten up a little, girl.
Bastian was cool. I didn’t quite like him (which arguably was the author’s intent), but I’m definitely intrigued by him. There’s a lot of backstory there that I’m curious to know about more.
Content: The fae are rather violent people, finding things like executions on a whim amusing. A character is shot with an arrow (with minimal detail). A character meets with a sudden and disturbing death.
There are a few kisses with some description. The fae have no problem with flirting with one another; trying to break someone’s heart is just another game for them.
Writing: The plot alone is why I’m giving this book 4 stars. There are so many fun twists, and I was definitely sucked into the story! There’s lots of great foreshadowing, some of which is fulfilled in this book but most of which is setting up the sequel.
That being said, I did feel that the story progressed quite quickly, especially the romance. I would have liked a bit more development on that.
But even so, the ending left me most eager for the next book! We do love a good cliffhanger.
Summary: So did I like this book? In short, yes indeed. It’s odd, and not my usual reading choice, but I enjoyed it and will happily read the next one when it comes out. I’d recommend it to fans of the fae aged 14+.
Mortal Queens releases from Enclave Publishing on February 6th.