Jon Keys

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read a little more than half of this book, but it didn't engage me at all and I realised that even if I forced myself through the rest, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving it a star rating, so I might as well just leave it.

There were several reasons why this book wasn't working for me. First of all, there were many new words, which isn't unusual in fantasy stories, but in this case I felt like we were hit by a lot of unfamiliar words at once and they only got explained later. It wasn't a huge thing, but it was an overwhelming start and I felt myself confused by what is what.

I didn't find the writing style and the way the characters spoke engaging, and when the romances began halfway through, I felt like the drastic changes from their earlier relationships were too sudden.

Lastly, this book had like... one female character, who is the mother of one of the protagonists. No sisters, no female friends, no female rivals, no female mentors. Nobody. I realise this is a m/m romance so the protagonists had to be male, but I just can't justify the complete lack of female characters in the cast.… (mere)