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jadeandherbunny's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
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 😭
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
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
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual violence, Torture, and War
eventualghost's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Three words: Spice. Spice. Spice.
It’s an okay book, but it does focus on the main love story above anything else. The writing could be better. The steam took away from an actual plot line. My guess is they will end up with a “fated mates” trope, but I found it hard to believe the main characters motivations for the relationship. It’s a bit repetitive in terms of the characters, and they don’t really have a lot of growth. I hope the third book provides a better arc. I do love the constant cursing at comically timed moments. Not a lot of authors can get away with that.
It’s an okay book, but it does focus on the main love story above anything else. The writing could be better. The steam took away from an actual plot line. My guess is they will end up with a “fated mates” trope, but I found it hard to believe the main characters motivations for the relationship. It’s a bit repetitive in terms of the characters, and they don’t really have a lot of growth. I hope the third book provides a better arc. I do love the constant cursing at comically timed moments. Not a lot of authors can get away with that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Rape, Slavery, and Torture
hann_smc's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I have so many thoughts and tbh most of them aren't great.
I'll start with the good. I actually like the story line. Is it predictable? Absolutely, but I'm a firm believer that predictable doesn't always mean bad.
Now for the bad stuff. Everything else.
I do not like a single character. If they all died I'd shrug my shoulders and move on. They're just so annoying that I cannot bring myself to care about them.
Lor is so weirdly self-aware of her trauma, and she keeps explaining how her behaviors are trauma responses to the audience. Her constant "I hate you" for no reason is giving me whiplash. I swear to god she's trying to gaslight me with the way she keeps talking about how she was fooled by the Sun King in the last book and that's why she can't bang it out with Nadir now. Like girl, I was there too. You literally spent the entire time talking about how it would be stupid to trust him and it was just sex, just like it was just sex with the random dude from the prison. Atlas tricked you (I guess? He was pretty clear about keeping his motivations secret though) but either way it had nothing at all to do with sex.
Also her trauma felt cringey? I know that's a terrible thing to say, but the way it was written / she talks about it it was just there for shock value, not to actually add anything to the plot.
Nadir is dumb as fucking rocks and doesn't deserve to run the kingdom any more than his dad. I'm all for a possessive MMC, but it was theadded "without my permission" to the end of "no one else touches you" that gave me the biggest of icks. Is there an instance where you would grant someone permission to touch her?!
Their entire covert operation plan was doomed from the start. The didn't even give her a fake name. He almost got caught calling her inmate and STILL didn't think to stop using it. The king apparently tortured her for weeks and she's got a pretty distinct scar on her face, but they put no effort into her being subtle/hiding her AT ALL.
The romance was very meh. The two characters were just randomly mean to create this "enemies to lovers" tension instead of them having any real conflict. The conversations just didn't make any sense either. One minute she'd be telling him he's hot, and the next she'd be like "he can't know I find him attractive." Like, what?
To top it off, them "hiding" their fae selves because it was safer also makes no sense. It very clearly wasn't safer when they almost died multiple times and it wasn't even a thought.
I understand that the flashbacks are supposed to provide important context to the present day, but I could not bring myself to care about them. Serce seems like a power-hungry idiot, and I felt myself skimming through them. Maybe it was the pacing, but it just felt jarring to be ripped back and forth instead of helpful.
I'll start with the good. I actually like the story line. Is it predictable? Absolutely, but I'm a firm believer that predictable doesn't always mean bad.
Now for the bad stuff. Everything else.
I do not like a single character. If they all died I'd shrug my shoulders and move on. They're just so annoying that I cannot bring myself to care about them.
Lor is so weirdly self-aware of her trauma, and she keeps explaining how her behaviors are trauma responses to the audience. Her constant "I hate you" for no reason is giving me whiplash. I swear to god she's trying to gaslight me with the way she keeps talking about how she was fooled by the Sun King in the last book and that's why she can't bang it out with Nadir now. Like girl, I was there too. You literally spent the entire time talking about how it would be stupid to trust him and it was just sex, just like it was just sex with the random dude from the prison. Atlas tricked you (I guess? He was pretty clear about keeping his motivations secret though) but either way it had nothing at all to do with sex.
Also her trauma felt cringey? I know that's a terrible thing to say, but the way it was written / she talks about it it was just there for shock value, not to actually add anything to the plot.
Nadir is dumb as fucking rocks and doesn't deserve to run the kingdom any more than his dad. I'm all for a possessive MMC, but it was the
The romance was very meh. The two characters were just randomly mean to create this "enemies to lovers" tension instead of them having any real conflict. The conversations just didn't make any sense either. One minute she'd be telling him he's hot, and the next she'd be like "he can't know I find him attractive." Like, what?
To top it off, them
I understand that the flashbacks are supposed to provide important context to the present day, but I could not bring myself to care about them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Death of parent and War
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
readsbyrach's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Really not that great… continues to borrow from other series and some terrible dialogue. The main character is kinda annoying too and keeps repeating the same thoughts over and over. Started skimming towards the end. Shocked by the high reviews.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence