Yo look I'ma gonna need a Tamura novella. For reasons. That certainly have SOMETHING to do with archery and :shifty eyes: other stuff.

Anyhow.

CW warnings - violence, rape, mentions of other rape, some truly disturbing night time ghoulies that make me regret reading right before bed on a stormy, windy night...

Where to begin...

Ok so this is enemies to lovers straight down the line. There is literally, no reason under the sky, either of them should trust each other. None. Be it wariness because the Empire turned them into people they didn't recognize or an instinct that the other would upend their world, these two start out rough.

---and that's it for now, I'll update after TSP Book Club in July! ( )

Another beautiful fantasy romance from Grace Draven! Did not disappoint, and follows the same general character/ story arc as most her other works. Reminded me of Gladiator / Spartacus, but with magic and a love story. Epic ending that had me on the edge of my seat, and beginning, even if the middle did drag at times.

Only quibble I have is that I didn't ship Gilene and Azarion the way I shipped some of her other couples. Both were strong, amazing characters in their own rights, but I personally felt that the chemistry between them wasn't as strong. With that said, I felt as if the book ended a bit abruptly. I guess I would have liked a little more closure at the end (did they ultimately get married? Did she join his clan? Did they have children somehow? And whatever became of her family?)

All in all, another well-told story by Ms. Draven, and of course, I would not hesitate to pick up her future works

Everything about this book seems shallow.
The reasoning of everyone is extremely contrived for the sake of the plot.
Most characters are cardboard cutouts.
It's basically a collection of all the worst fantasy clichées.
I feel a bit bad tearing it down in this manner because I think I can see an honest attempt at being better than that but it just failed miserably. At least it's not a case of pure laziness and she honestly tried her best. It's the worst if you can clearly recognize the disregard of the author for her readers. If you are not that good yet but you really try you will improve. But then, this book apparently was quite successful so idk. Maybe that's all it takes?

I don't see any chemistry or reason why those characters should develop any kind of romantic interest towards each other beyond their bodily attributes which again is shallow.
The two protagonists at some point start patting each other on the shoulder with this awkwardly pompous way of complimenting each other on weird nonsensical supposed attributes which seems stilted and completely out of place. I think it was meant to tell us as a reader that they somehow appreciate each other to make the romance more believable. Instead, it just made it worse.
I would've been far more willing to accept some straight-up mate4life bs and just go along with it instead of this incredibly forced and weird romance.

Basically the book just tells us what we are supposed to believe and think but that constantly clashes with the reality we are being shown.

The book clearly set out with the goal of enemies to lovers from the beginning but it failed at both steps. A big part of the animosity is achieved by unnecessarily withholding crucial information. Which then, later on, is revealed and tempers the hatred but there wasn't any reason to keep any of it back in the first place.

It all just feels so incredibly contrived. You can clearly see the intentions of the author and which part was supposed to accomplish which step of the plan.

I sometimes had trouble telling which perspective I am currently reading and sometimes it almost seems like there was a third external camera pov that we randomly switched to. At least I didn't notice any major head-jumping.
Maybe this is an issue exclusive to the audiobook. There were quite a few editing mistakes of the audiobook as well, mainly multiple takes of the same sentence. ( )

3,5 stars ( )

Avarion!!!! Be still my beating heart....
Honestly, when I finished this book I had the biggest grin on my face and a heart full of love.
( )