What do you think?
Rate this book
Arrows
Evander Roche doesn’t want to kill anyone. But he’s one of the Queen’s bowmen, and the kingdom’s been invaded. Now Van, and his loyal best friend Milo, and their fellow soldiers, are standing at the brink of war.
Fortunately, the greatest magician in the world has shown up to help. Lorre will either win a war or prevent it -- after all, he always gets what he wants. And tonight he wants Van for company.
The magician’s beautiful and powerful. The invitation’s an honor. But Milo’s only concerned about Van getting hurt -- and Van’s starting to realize just how much Milo cares.
On the edge of a battlefield, tempted by magic, Van will discover what he really wants ... and the person he truly loves.
Fortunately, the greatest magician in the world has shown up to help. Lorre will either win a war or prevent it -- after all, he always gets what he wants. And tonight he wants Van for company.
The magician’s beautiful and powerful. The invitation’s an honor. But Milo’s only concerned about Van getting hurt -- and Van’s starting to realize just how much Milo cares.
On the edge of a battlefield, tempted by magic, Van will discover what he really wants ... and the person he truly loves.
87 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 25, 2024
6 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 25, 2025
Cupid, draw back your bow / And let your arrow go / Straight to my lover's heart for me, for mee~eee (Cupid – Sam Cooke).
I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve been saving up the remaining K.L. Noone books I haven’t read yet like how I used to hoard every Master Ball in Pokémon so I could use them only when I really needed to. When the situations was dire enough that I wouldn't even dare leaving it up to chance. Well, I think now is one of those times of great crisis and emergency, because the one-of-a-kind Mewtwo at the end of the cave that we're looking at today is Arrows... by K.L. Noone, which I consider to be the rarest kind of gem of them all; just a good ass book! And since this metaphor's gotten away from me already, let me just say that I'll be damned if I didn't need a palate cleanser after my last outing in the fantasy genre, because as expected, Arrows was a lovely time all around with a penchant for achingly sweet emotional beats. Which I guess might seem like a funny way to describe a story that centers around a romance that doesn’t end up working, and yet here we are! Hey, sometimes an example of how wrong people are for each other can be the best kind of basis for a romantic tale. Common archers Evander “Van” Roche and his bestie Milo are suddenly called upon by their queen to war and find themselves desperately trying to find a way to ease that specific kind of “before-the-battle” tension. Sounds like the perfect moment for a little sexual healing, am I right? Yessiree! But Van, being the oblivious block-head that he is, thinks the best way to solve being “blocked” is by going on a little dalliance with Lorre, the somewhat omnipotent yet beautiful master sorcerer who can move mountains and drain lakes, “ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from gettin' to you, babe” style. Now, reading Arrows was a trip because I wasn’t initially aware that it was a part of this author's Middle Lands series, and seeing Lorre from Magician suddenly show up out of nowhere made me feel the same kind of excited fervor that Marvel fans go through when a random dude walks through a cheap looking CGI portal and stands there blankly for an awkward amount of time while the audience in the theater cheers for so long you’d think we were trapped in a Cannes Film Festival standing ovation. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I recognized the wizard Lorre from the other books immediately because he was my favorite character, and seeing him in his younger and more arrogant phase was a nice treat. It's fun to see his journey in snapshots! It shows his incredible growth, because here he's basically like a yassified Tom Bombadil mixed in with that bald blue guy with his dick out from Watchmen; odd, lethargic, disillusioned, and in a never-ending search for meaning in life. Oh, and also shares the latter's general disregard for clothing, which is fine with fine ass Lorre, but I could do without having to look at that blue bald guy with his dick out from Watchmen.
And since we’re on the topic of the unknowable and the all-powerful, despite the framing showing that this book is mainly about Van and Milo eventually finding a home in each other, I’d argue that Arrows is actually more about taking a deeper dive into Lorre’s lore, in that even though he wasn’t even the Van’s ultimate love-interest, Lorre still ended up as the one with the most character development and is the almost the sole focus for large chunks of the novel. But in that regard, I think this book’s somewhat off-kilter structure only proves how much of a uniquely powerful voice K.L Noone has within the “cozy fantasy” community, because the truth is that had any other author written a story like this, with the main romance being put on the back-burner, I would have probably gotten annoyed at the lack of focus. Yet due to the melancholic and poetic prose, I instead found it to be an inspired choice to center the entire novel around Lorre and Van’s love affair, only to then turn that around and use said escapade as the main factor that leads to Van's realization that what he really wanted in a partner was the “tender-love-and-care” provided by Milo, not the ethereal beauty and casual distance given to him by Lorre. I found this to be just as good as every other K.L. Noone book (which is to say really, really good), but instead of a transcendent “love-at-first-sight” kind of deal, Arrows actually reminded me a little more of raunchy comedies like Aubrey Plaza’s The To Do List or Cameron Diaz’s Bad Teacher. You know, where both movies have the object of the main character’s affections not living up to the hype. Only in this book, the disappointment comes from the sex having a severe lack of connection rather than anything to do with performance. I also enjoyed the underlying through-line around the idea that infatuation and love actually can be separate goals, and that choosing to live humbly and quietly can be just as fulfilling as any grand notion of glory in the battlefield... or in the bedroom. Just because Lorre is the magic man with the Magic Stick doesn't mean he's the ideal partner for Van! It was interesting because I started seeing Arrows as an indirect answer to the central theme of The Song of Achilles, supplying that had Patroclus and Achilles just, you know... fucked off somewhere, then they absolutely would have been happy, or at the very least eventually found happiness. Adds to the tragedy, I suppose. So yeah, I loved this book, it's like a coming-of-age story for a man who’s long since come of age! It's never too late to grow up, right? Besides, as always, this K.L. Noone story was calming, restful, and beautifully written, so what more can I say? You know how cats lay under a beam of sunlight and it looks like the most relaxing and blissful experience ever? Yeah well, that’s the best and only way I’m able to describe my reading experience with Arrows.
“He doesn’t trust me with you. And he’s right about that, and he does love you , and I think you should go and live utterly ordinary lives and be happy. Be in love. Someone should be.”
I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve been saving up the remaining K.L. Noone books I haven’t read yet like how I used to hoard every Master Ball in Pokémon so I could use them only when I really needed to. When the situations was dire enough that I wouldn't even dare leaving it up to chance. Well, I think now is one of those times of great crisis and emergency, because the one-of-a-kind Mewtwo at the end of the cave that we're looking at today is Arrows... by K.L. Noone, which I consider to be the rarest kind of gem of them all; just a good ass book! And since this metaphor's gotten away from me already, let me just say that I'll be damned if I didn't need a palate cleanser after my last outing in the fantasy genre, because as expected, Arrows was a lovely time all around with a penchant for achingly sweet emotional beats. Which I guess might seem like a funny way to describe a story that centers around a romance that doesn’t end up working, and yet here we are! Hey, sometimes an example of how wrong people are for each other can be the best kind of basis for a romantic tale. Common archers Evander “Van” Roche and his bestie Milo are suddenly called upon by their queen to war and find themselves desperately trying to find a way to ease that specific kind of “before-the-battle” tension. Sounds like the perfect moment for a little sexual healing, am I right? Yessiree! But Van, being the oblivious block-head that he is, thinks the best way to solve being “blocked” is by going on a little dalliance with Lorre, the somewhat omnipotent yet beautiful master sorcerer who can move mountains and drain lakes, “ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough, to keep me from gettin' to you, babe” style. Now, reading Arrows was a trip because I wasn’t initially aware that it was a part of this author's Middle Lands series, and seeing Lorre from Magician suddenly show up out of nowhere made me feel the same kind of excited fervor that Marvel fans go through when a random dude walks through a cheap looking CGI portal and stands there blankly for an awkward amount of time while the audience in the theater cheers for so long you’d think we were trapped in a Cannes Film Festival standing ovation. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I recognized the wizard Lorre from the other books immediately because he was my favorite character, and seeing him in his younger and more arrogant phase was a nice treat. It's fun to see his journey in snapshots! It shows his incredible growth, because here he's basically like a yassified Tom Bombadil mixed in with that bald blue guy with his dick out from Watchmen; odd, lethargic, disillusioned, and in a never-ending search for meaning in life. Oh, and also shares the latter's general disregard for clothing, which is fine with fine ass Lorre, but I could do without having to look at that blue bald guy with his dick out from Watchmen.
And since we’re on the topic of the unknowable and the all-powerful, despite the framing showing that this book is mainly about Van and Milo eventually finding a home in each other, I’d argue that Arrows is actually more about taking a deeper dive into Lorre’s lore, in that even though he wasn’t even the Van’s ultimate love-interest, Lorre still ended up as the one with the most character development and is the almost the sole focus for large chunks of the novel. But in that regard, I think this book’s somewhat off-kilter structure only proves how much of a uniquely powerful voice K.L Noone has within the “cozy fantasy” community, because the truth is that had any other author written a story like this, with the main romance being put on the back-burner, I would have probably gotten annoyed at the lack of focus. Yet due to the melancholic and poetic prose, I instead found it to be an inspired choice to center the entire novel around Lorre and Van’s love affair, only to then turn that around and use said escapade as the main factor that leads to Van's realization that what he really wanted in a partner was the “tender-love-and-care” provided by Milo, not the ethereal beauty and casual distance given to him by Lorre. I found this to be just as good as every other K.L. Noone book (which is to say really, really good), but instead of a transcendent “love-at-first-sight” kind of deal, Arrows actually reminded me a little more of raunchy comedies like Aubrey Plaza’s The To Do List or Cameron Diaz’s Bad Teacher. You know, where both movies have the object of the main character’s affections not living up to the hype. Only in this book, the disappointment comes from the sex having a severe lack of connection rather than anything to do with performance. I also enjoyed the underlying through-line around the idea that infatuation and love actually can be separate goals, and that choosing to live humbly and quietly can be just as fulfilling as any grand notion of glory in the battlefield... or in the bedroom. Just because Lorre is the magic man with the Magic Stick doesn't mean he's the ideal partner for Van! It was interesting because I started seeing Arrows as an indirect answer to the central theme of The Song of Achilles, supplying that had Patroclus and Achilles just, you know... fucked off somewhere, then they absolutely would have been happy, or at the very least eventually found happiness. Adds to the tragedy, I suppose. So yeah, I loved this book, it's like a coming-of-age story for a man who’s long since come of age! It's never too late to grow up, right? Besides, as always, this K.L. Noone story was calming, restful, and beautifully written, so what more can I say? You know how cats lay under a beam of sunlight and it looks like the most relaxing and blissful experience ever? Yeah well, that’s the best and only way I’m able to describe my reading experience with Arrows.
“He doesn’t trust me with you. And he’s right about that, and he does love you , and I think you should go and live utterly ordinary lives and be happy. Be in love. Someone should be.”
April 24, 2025
Milo, I don’t know how you could stand by and watch the man you love have sex with someone else. That is some kind of unconditional love.
The author explains: It’s an unusual story for me, in that Van spends a good amount of it with Lorre, who’s not his ultimate love interest, versus Milo, who is—but sometimes the wrong person, or at least the not-right person, can help bring the right person into focus.
Still, a gorgeously written story with a beautiful, HEA.
The author explains: It’s an unusual story for me, in that Van spends a good amount of it with Lorre, who’s not his ultimate love interest, versus Milo, who is—but sometimes the wrong person, or at least the not-right person, can help bring the right person into focus.
Still, a gorgeously written story with a beautiful, HEA.
won-t-read-bc-nopes
July 23, 2025Just noting not to read this one. One MC is with someone other than the other MC and sleeping with him in the book, while the other MC knows. Would not work for me.
LOVE this author though, have read multitudes of her work, and this is the only not-safe-for-me read I've come across so far.
Many thanks to @Rain for noting the scenario in a review!
LOVE this author though, have read multitudes of her work, and this is the only not-safe-for-me read I've come across so far.
Many thanks to @Rain for noting the scenario in a review!
May 28, 2024
A very nice mix of the fanciful, the magical, and a straight forward love story. The odd relationship between the beautiful magician Lorre and the solid strength of soldier Van was surprisingly very hot. I liked that it was almost a poly or ménage scenario, but without the third person being physically present. That would be Milo, a fellow archer to Van, whose love for Van is apparent to the reader, but not to Van. Milo was so kind and accepting to help Van get ready to sleep with the great sorcerer magician, Lorre, who had picked Van out of all the troops to come to his tent.
Van was all in to Lorre and who wouldn’t be, as he was described so beautifully! I am going to check the author’s book list and see if Lorre has his own book. He was a wonderful character! Van and Milo were excellent, too. The author described them well and gave them each a personality with depth.
The writing in this novella is clear and moves the story along. There is no getting bogged down with flowery language or excess emotion. Lorre was almost too unemotional, but he was great. In the scene after he and Van have sex, Lorre gets up to look at maps and have some tea, from a cup floating in the air. Van is laying in the sumptuous bed inside the tent, watching him and wondering what he should be doing. After awhile, Lorre looks around and says, “Oh, are you still here?” His dialogue and manner throughout the story were eccentric and honest. Van related to him with kindness and desire and found a way under Lorre’s distant manner.
Milo was great about Van being with Lorre. Instead of being upset with jealousy, he was worried that a sorcerer would mess with Van physically or mentally. He was all concern and caring. Yet, it took Lorre pointing out to Van that Milo loved him, was in love with him.
The scene with Van and Milo leaving the camp to go home and Van thinking that Lorre had already left, was very well done. I loved it.
Milo and Van are together at the end, with a good physical scene, and a happy future with a cute assist from Lorre.
Van was all in to Lorre and who wouldn’t be, as he was described so beautifully! I am going to check the author’s book list and see if Lorre has his own book. He was a wonderful character! Van and Milo were excellent, too. The author described them well and gave them each a personality with depth.
The writing in this novella is clear and moves the story along. There is no getting bogged down with flowery language or excess emotion. Lorre was almost too unemotional, but he was great. In the scene after he and Van have sex, Lorre gets up to look at maps and have some tea, from a cup floating in the air. Van is laying in the sumptuous bed inside the tent, watching him and wondering what he should be doing. After awhile, Lorre looks around and says, “Oh, are you still here?” His dialogue and manner throughout the story were eccentric and honest. Van related to him with kindness and desire and found a way under Lorre’s distant manner.
Milo was great about Van being with Lorre. Instead of being upset with jealousy, he was worried that a sorcerer would mess with Van physically or mentally. He was all concern and caring. Yet, it took Lorre pointing out to Van that Milo loved him, was in love with him.
The scene with Van and Milo leaving the camp to go home and Van thinking that Lorre had already left, was very well done. I loved it.
Milo and Van are together at the end, with a good physical scene, and a happy future with a cute assist from Lorre.
May 28, 2024
Oh, Lorre. :D
"Magician" was the first book I read by K L Noone, and it's still my favorite of her series. This one is set well before that, but it's still a delight to meet even a young and prickly version of our favorite bishounen aesthete of a magician. I think Lorre has a lot in common with both autistic people (the fascination with how the world works, the sense of never quite fitting in no matter how carefully he studies or how beautifully he crafts his mask, the bewilderment when the solution he thought was obvious wasn't a solution to anyone else) and cats (shamelessly vain, well aware of his beauty, entirely willing to use it, addicted to sunbeams, and tea is apparently his personal catnip). Anyway, I hope for more in this series!
"Magician" was the first book I read by K L Noone, and it's still my favorite of her series. This one is set well before that, but it's still a delight to meet even a young and prickly version of our favorite bishounen aesthete of a magician. I think Lorre has a lot in common with both autistic people (the fascination with how the world works, the sense of never quite fitting in no matter how carefully he studies or how beautifully he crafts his mask, the bewilderment when the solution he thought was obvious wasn't a solution to anyone else) and cats (shamelessly vain, well aware of his beauty, entirely willing to use it, addicted to sunbeams, and tea is apparently his personal catnip). Anyway, I hope for more in this series!
March 12, 2025
Short and Sweet.
As an archer, I'd have liked to have read more about archery...even just a line or two about it lol.
As an archer, I'd have liked to have read more about archery...even just a line or two about it lol.
March 14, 2025
3.5⭐
So, usually a book that spends most of its span having one of the romantic couple lusting after and having (on-page) sex with someone else (and the other one pining away) is A HARD PASS for me.
I wanted to read this one because it's part of great series and another story of Lorre. And I wasn't put out really, though I can't pretend I particularly enjoyed Van and Lorre together. While real life is messy and sometimes people do find each other after stumbling out of someone else's bed, it's just not really something I'm looking for in romance.
Despite the setup that's not for me, the story manages to be quite enchanting like other Middle Lands books.
So, usually a book that spends most of its span having one of the romantic couple lusting after and having (on-page) sex with someone else (and the other one pining away) is A HARD PASS for me.
I wanted to read this one because it's part of great series and another story of Lorre. And I wasn't put out really, though I can't pretend I particularly enjoyed Van and Lorre together. While real life is messy and sometimes people do find each other after stumbling out of someone else's bed, it's just not really something I'm looking for in romance.
Despite the setup that's not for me, the story manages to be quite enchanting like other Middle Lands books.
June 23, 2024
Sigh. KL Noone’s stories featuring Lorre just make me happy. I loved Van and Milo. Such a lovely little work. Forever auto-buying the stories set in this universe.
January 5, 2026
I had trouble rating this one. K.L. Noone's writing is as beautiful as always, with good world-building and complex, well-developed characters.
Van and Milo are both extremely likable and sweet, and I can't dislike the lonely, misunderstood Lorre, no matter how much of an ass he is.
However, a good chunk of this book happens with Van mooning over, or being fucked by, Lorre - and Lorre is not the love interest here: that would be Milo.
So basically... Milo is hurting because he's in love with Van, who's mooning over Lorre but feels used because Lorre doesn't treat him very well and isn't even happy himself anyway.
Basically, the three main characters all feel like crap, and since K.L. Noone writes relatable characters, I felt like crap too, which wasn't enjoyable at all.
So, technically, this book is excellent, but I did not like it. The author's note at the end bumped the rating from 2.5 to 3 stars because I was able to glean precious details about the world-building, Van and Milo's life, and even Lorre and Gareth's.
Van and Milo are both extremely likable and sweet, and I can't dislike the lonely, misunderstood Lorre, no matter how much of an ass he is.
However, a good chunk of this book happens with Van mooning over, or being fucked by, Lorre - and Lorre is not the love interest here: that would be Milo.
So basically... Milo is hurting because he's in love with Van, who's mooning over Lorre but feels used because Lorre doesn't treat him very well and isn't even happy himself anyway.
Basically, the three main characters all feel like crap, and since K.L. Noone writes relatable characters, I felt like crap too, which wasn't enjoyable at all.
So, technically, this book is excellent, but I did not like it. The author's note at the end bumped the rating from 2.5 to 3 stars because I was able to glean precious details about the world-building, Van and Milo's life, and even Lorre and Gareth's.
June 5, 2024
I can't get enough of K.L. Noone's Magician stories and Arrows proves why, yet again.
I love how we dip in and out of Lorre's timeline during the series. In Arrows, he's relatively young at about 80, magnetically all-powerful yet strangely skittish and deeply isolated. Archer recruit Vander is captivated by both these qualities leading to an encounter that proves they are not fundamentally right for each other but, at the same time, sets them on a truer course.
From Magician, we know what's (or rather who) is set in store for Lorre in the fullness of time. But for Van, his HEA is more immediate in the form of his comrade Milo.
The tension of impending battle was beautifully depicted as was Lorre's typically ingenious and magical method of avoiding conflict. The emotion in the story was both large scale, with two factions on the brink of war, and small scale, with Van experiencing infatuation which allows him to find his true love so they can settle down in peace. Glorious!
I love how we dip in and out of Lorre's timeline during the series. In Arrows, he's relatively young at about 80, magnetically all-powerful yet strangely skittish and deeply isolated. Archer recruit Vander is captivated by both these qualities leading to an encounter that proves they are not fundamentally right for each other but, at the same time, sets them on a truer course.
From Magician, we know what's (or rather who) is set in store for Lorre in the fullness of time. But for Van, his HEA is more immediate in the form of his comrade Milo.
The tension of impending battle was beautifully depicted as was Lorre's typically ingenious and magical method of avoiding conflict. The emotion in the story was both large scale, with two factions on the brink of war, and small scale, with Van experiencing infatuation which allows him to find his true love so they can settle down in peace. Glorious!
March 22, 2025
K.L. Noone's always a hit for me, so I'm not surprised that I loved this book too. This book was like a warm hug wrapped in soft, romantic magic. I LIVED for the quiet, tender moments between the MCs. Also, K.L. Noone has a way of writing every sentence that just radiates love and warmth.
Also, the prose? Gorgeous. Every word felt intentional, every interaction achingly sweet but never saccharine. It’s one of those books that reminds you love isn’t just fireworks and grand gestures—sometimes, it’s the small, quiet things that mean the most.
The only thing I felt a bit grumpy about (😭) was Lorre dropping by to have his one night stands (😭). I know this book happened way before The Magician (and way before Gareth even so much as dropped by Lorre's way), but it still just didn't settle right with me to see Lorre being intimate in any way with anyone other than Gareth (I'm a sucker for Lorre and Gareth, sue me). Still LOVED THIS BOOK THO.
Also, the prose? Gorgeous. Every word felt intentional, every interaction achingly sweet but never saccharine. It’s one of those books that reminds you love isn’t just fireworks and grand gestures—sometimes, it’s the small, quiet things that mean the most.
The only thing I felt a bit grumpy about (😭) was Lorre dropping by to have his one night stands (😭). I know this book happened way before The Magician (and way before Gareth even so much as dropped by Lorre's way), but it still just didn't settle right with me to see Lorre being intimate in any way with anyone other than Gareth (I'm a sucker for Lorre and Gareth, sue me). Still LOVED THIS BOOK THO.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews