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This is an incredibly satisfying read. It's also on the darker side of dark in terms of romance. We're still within the boundaries of the genre. We have an HFN. But it takes a lot of work to get there, and a bunch of deeply uncomfortable things occur on the journey.
This book has: off-screen rape and child abuse, on-screen graphic violence, maybe possibly dubious consent, and animal death. Also, the death of a supporting, but beloved character. It's not bubbly.
There's a lot of plot in this book. At over 500 pages, it's an unusually long romance, although it clocks in fairly normally within the fantasy genre. If you're interested in political intrigue and created theologies and the other norms of epic fantasy, all of that raises its head in this book. At times, I actually felt some of the plot was being shoehorned in to set up something that's probably coming later in the series, but for the most part, the pacing is very well done.
Basic premise is that Maddek, our male protag, finds out his parents -- and coincidentally, the king and queen of his people -- have been murdered. Because Politics, he is being told he can't go on a vengeance quest. This does not sit well with Sir Angry Pants. By the laws of their people, Maddek has to be named king, but everyone seems to feel it is a foregone conclusion that he will be. He gathers his closest guard and hares off on a Slightly Less Obvious Plan for Vengeance (TM).
Maddek's ma and pa have been murdered by a king who sits on a council that they also sat on, and, presuming ascension, Maddek will sit on as well. It was formed to fight off an even bigger problem, which, oh, btw, might be returning. Making waves at this point is problematic. However, also problematic is that murderer!king has five sons, and keeps finding ways to invite his sausage fest of heirs onto other people's thrones. He now controls two, and is getting closer to three.
Further complicating things is that murderer!king cannot pass his own throne onto one of his sons, because that kingdom's line runs matrilineally. The queen is dead, and so the kingdom is essentially left without an heir.
Except, as it turns out, not. Because while murderer!king was poisoning his wife and keeping her locked in a tower where he would repeatedly rape her in an attempt to have a female child, on the SIXTH attempt, it took. He just didn't tell anyone. And kept the daughter locked in that same tower. Without windows. Often without food. And now and then with a beating or two.
Yvenne, the daughter, and our female protag, is being ferried to another kingdom, where her father plans to marry her off to weaker king, supplant said king's rule with one of his son's as soon as Yvenne has a daughter and he can steal that child to control his throne, while killing Yvenne. (I told you, there's a lot going on here. We haven't even gotten to the protags actually meeting.)
Anyhoodle. Yvenne is So Fucking Badass that despite having never left the tower, being physically weak in a multitude of ways, and knowing how little room to maneuver she has, she manages to get Maddek to intervene on the journey, kills the brother who's guarding her (the second of her brothers she has killed, just, for the record), and convinces Maddek not only to keep her alive, but that if they can marry and produce a girl child, it allows them to kill the entire male line of her family and rule over both kingdoms.
First, though, because of their beliefs, etc., they have to wait until a certain night to actually have sex, as she is a virgin, and, they need to get back to Maddek's people, to get him named king and gather the forces. Which means, of course, road trip.
Maddek is, ah, well, he needs a lot of work, let's just say. In fairness, after he settles down a little bit, he acknowledges that he needs a lot of work. And he puts in that work.
It's less that Yvenne needs work than that, like all people, she's a work in progress.
This is a romance, so, naturally, they learn to build each other up, and watching that happen is delicious. However, in the early stages, when Maddek (understandably) believes Yvenne conspired to kill his parents, he makes some Less Than Stellar choices in the ways he treats Yvenne. She's so balls-to-the-wall that in some ways it doesn't seem terrible, but objectively, it's definitely Not Awesome, either.
I'm not sure that I would quantify Maddek's growth as specifically including apologies. He admits to being wrong in several instances, adjusts his view, and there are what I would call implicit apologies. Ideally, Yvenne would get them explicitly, but Maddek's actions are genuinely apologetic, and in this instance, that's more valuable than words.
Tl;dr: my "DO BETTER, DUDES" little heart has some quibbles, but overall, this is an excellent piece.
This book has: off-screen rape and child abuse, on-screen graphic violence, maybe possibly dubious consent, and animal death. Also, the death of a supporting, but beloved character. It's not bubbly.
There's a lot of plot in this book. At over 500 pages, it's an unusually long romance, although it clocks in fairly normally within the fantasy genre. If you're interested in political intrigue and created theologies and the other norms of epic fantasy, all of that raises its head in this book. At times, I actually felt some of the plot was being shoehorned in to set up something that's probably coming later in the series, but for the most part, the pacing is very well done.
Basic premise is that Maddek, our male protag, finds out his parents -- and coincidentally, the king and queen of his people -- have been murdered. Because Politics, he is being told he can't go on a vengeance quest. This does not sit well with Sir Angry Pants. By the laws of their people, Maddek has to be named king, but everyone seems to feel it is a foregone conclusion that he will be. He gathers his closest guard and hares off on a Slightly Less Obvious Plan for Vengeance (TM).
Maddek's ma and pa have been murdered by a king who sits on a council that they also sat on, and, presuming ascension, Maddek will sit on as well. It was formed to fight off an even bigger problem, which, oh, btw, might be returning. Making waves at this point is problematic. However, also problematic is that murderer!king has five sons, and keeps finding ways to invite his sausage fest of heirs onto other people's thrones. He now controls two, and is getting closer to three.
Further complicating things is that murderer!king cannot pass his own throne onto one of his sons, because that kingdom's line runs matrilineally. The queen is dead, and so the kingdom is essentially left without an heir.
Except, as it turns out, not. Because while murderer!king was poisoning his wife and keeping her locked in a tower where he would repeatedly rape her in an attempt to have a female child, on the SIXTH attempt, it took. He just didn't tell anyone. And kept the daughter locked in that same tower. Without windows. Often without food. And now and then with a beating or two.
Yvenne, the daughter, and our female protag, is being ferried to another kingdom, where her father plans to marry her off to weaker king, supplant said king's rule with one of his son's as soon as Yvenne has a daughter and he can steal that child to control his throne, while killing Yvenne. (I told you, there's a lot going on here. We haven't even gotten to the protags actually meeting.)
Anyhoodle. Yvenne is So Fucking Badass that despite having never left the tower, being physically weak in a multitude of ways, and knowing how little room to maneuver she has, she manages to get Maddek to intervene on the journey, kills the brother who's guarding her (the second of her brothers she has killed, just, for the record), and convinces Maddek not only to keep her alive, but that if they can marry and produce a girl child, it allows them to kill the entire male line of her family and rule over both kingdoms.
First, though, because of their beliefs, etc., they have to wait until a certain night to actually have sex, as she is a virgin, and, they need to get back to Maddek's people, to get him named king and gather the forces. Which means, of course, road trip.
Maddek is, ah, well, he needs a lot of work, let's just say. In fairness, after he settles down a little bit, he acknowledges that he needs a lot of work. And he puts in that work.
It's less that Yvenne needs work than that, like all people, she's a work in progress.
This is a romance, so, naturally, they learn to build each other up, and watching that happen is delicious. However, in the early stages, when Maddek (understandably) believes Yvenne conspired to kill his parents, he makes some Less Than Stellar choices in the ways he treats Yvenne. She's so balls-to-the-wall that in some ways it doesn't seem terrible, but objectively, it's definitely Not Awesome, either.
I'm not sure that I would quantify Maddek's growth as specifically including apologies. He admits to being wrong in several instances, adjusts his view, and there are what I would call implicit apologies. Ideally, Yvenne would get them explicitly, but Maddek's actions are genuinely apologetic, and in this instance, that's more valuable than words.
Tl;dr: my "DO BETTER, DUDES" little heart has some quibbles, but overall, this is an excellent piece.
