Reviews with content warning for War - Rule of the Aurora King

The same pacing and humor as the first book though the plot is less predictable. There is fake dating! One bed! Touch her and die!

The addition of Serce’s point of view from nearly 300 years prior builds the mystery around what happened in the Heart Queendom. There are a couple of inconsistencies that I am willling to see if or how they are resolved in subsequent books.

The biggest one being how Lor can see portraits of Serce and Wolf hanging in the Heart castle if they were killed during the binding - so waiting to see if they are actually killed

The secondary characters are slightly more developed in this book.

The spice also amplifies a bit though it is still a slow burn between Lor and Nadir. 🌶️🌶️🌶️

It is the same richly diverse world as the first book, with the influences of Tuli’s south Asian heritage slightly more pronounced.

Overall it was a fast, fun read and I look forward to seeing where the next book goes. I will definitely read book three immediately. The fourth and final book comes out in the Fall and I am excited to see how it all wraps up. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/ 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Content Warnings

jennn_3's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Entertaining plot but he called her inmate the whole book after she was in prison/got trauma there 🤢

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literarymary95's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was a much better book than the first one. It kept me reading and I'm curious how the rest of the story will play out.

Content Warnings

jadeandherbunny's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This book has been a great time for me. It was certainly better than TOTSQ. Lor was a bit insufferable at the start but she evolved in a very satisfying way. I love Nadir, he might be one of my rare book boyfriends if the sequel is going to be as good as this book. I love that he knows his wrongs and I think he might try to not replicate them next. Also love that he is a feminist despite his nature. Only down side to the book is that the writing at times is unrealistic. Like Lor, a woman that has been in prison most of the time, has a complex vocabulary. At times I had to look up the words she uses even if she has not read a single book (or at least she didn't say so) in her life. Her vocab is even larger than people living in castles! Like only Lor uses words like "surreptitious" or "anti-climatic". Oh and also Lor

has been a bit homophobic towards her sister and Amya

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I loved this follow up to Trial of the Sun Queen, where we spend time in the Aurora Kingdom with the Aurora Prince, Nadir, and Lor is finally reunited with her siblings from Nostraza! Nadir spends the entire book pretending that Lor is just another random hookup that he is keeping in his area of the court, hiding her true identity from his father because of his elusiveness surrounding his motivations to find Lor in the first book.

Most of the book is spent in character and romance exploration between Lor and Nadir, as Lor wrestles with what Atlas tried to do to her with the bond in the last book. They decide “it’s just sex, right?” and play around with the idea of actually hooking up, but denying that there’s anything beyond this sexual tension. I actually really enjoy that setup because at least they’re acknowledging their attraction, and now are just avoiding their romantic feelings hahaha. It’s very entertaining!

I forgot that these people are fae and that they can fly, so when Nadir flew with Lor in his arms, I giggled because I forgot this is fantasy because there has been such a huge focus on the romance, which I am a sucker for. But then!!!! Big big big spoiler

omg Lor’s magic awakens! ahhhhhh then I remembered ‘yup, this is *fantasy*, not just romance, buckle UP!’ I appreciated how she discovered it & am interested to see how she will learn to control it in the next book!

A lot of the plot movement happens in the last 15% of the book, with another ending that entices readers to get oh so excited for the next book!

Honorable mention to some sapphic romance developing between the side characters Amya (Nadir’s younger sister) & Willow (Lor’s sister, can’t remember if she’s younger or older lol forgive me!)

steam rating: 3 or 4/5 — it’s a lot steamier than the first book because Nadir and Lor’s tension is so much better than her and the Sun King’s!!!!! You also get a BJ scene from Nadir’s POV if you sign up for NJT’s newsletter👀 uhhhhh done and done ✅ 🤭

see content warnings below — a lot of Nadir’s mom’s backstory really got to me, so fucking sad & she deserves better 😭

Content Warnings

rachelglazer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

While the bones of a good story were there, it feels like this book just missed the mark. It wasn't and descriptive and dynamic and I had hoped, and although we spend a lot of time with the main characters, they still don't feel very round. Entertaining, but not as strong as I wanted it to be based on the premise.

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thereaderkristle's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

much slower than the first book, but i loooved the character & romance development. our main character is just as strong and fierce, and i appreciate that she attempts to hold onto her boundaries lol.

the plot and stakes feel incredibly convenient most of the time, and the fantasy itself definitely took a back seat to the characters.

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xapoptosisx's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I cannot wait for the next book omg. The flashback chapters in this book was so good and I hope we get more background on atlas in the next one.

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