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As priests, we are meant to obey - but our duties are to our gods, not mere men.

Zeal is back, and he's seen by more people every day. The God of Temptation grows stronger, but High Priest Kinen has found the one thing that can stop a god: disbelief. The return of our gods means an end to his power.

And Kinen isn't ready to lose.

Over time, the priests of our temple have surrendered their power in the name of our god. We're trained to obey, to help, and to be Zeal's tools when he cannot help himself - and now that has become a problem.

Because power is given, never taken, and we have surrendered far too much. It's time for things to change, before our complacency destroys our gods. And yet, habits are such hard things to break.

What we need is a rebellion - and I'm going to start it.

Our gods never expected blind obedience, so it's time to give into the temptation to fight back. But will the price for this be more than I can pay? I just can't believe this is what my path was meant for - or is this all just a game between gods and men? Because we, the Priests of Temptation, have been betrayed.

I have prayed.
I have obeyed.
Now I'm doing it my way.

Possible Triggers: Discussions of rape and assault, domestic violence, bullying, harassment, consensual pain and battery, shaming, sexual sadism, minor violence, and more adult themes.

The Path of Temptation series features a strong woman and the men who love her. Graphic language, adult situations, and potentially triggering violence that are suitable for a mature audience are included.

This is a love story, but sometimes love comes with a price.

685 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 29, 2022

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Auryn Hadley

75 books2,035 followers

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5 stars
1,193 (68%)
4 stars
375 (21%)
3 stars
128 (7%)
2 stars
33 (1%)
1 star
9 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 192 reviews
Profile Image for Mana.
45 reviews
December 27, 2022
This entire series was disappointing and that sucks because the concept was great. Nari was a mary sue that actually does nothing other than being not like other girls, despite six books telling me every two seconds how she is "special" or she is the "chosen one", she was utterly useless? Like we are told that she is special because she is convincing people that God exists which was limited to her telling everyone "hey they are real" which is nothing? I think the Gods taking a lipstick and writing on the ceilings would've been way more effective considering they can move objects which itself is a whole other problem because what even is the power of the gods? They move objects, make magic tattoos and manipulate "emotions" but none of that is Godly, it made no sense why them existing even mattered. And why can't they just write letters??

The love interests were okay though it still makes no sense why Zeal even likes Nari and The antagonists were boring, bland and it didn't even make sense why they were such a problem. The writing was not good either, it dragged on and on and by book six characters were still discussing or whining about something they discussed in book one. The same dialogue repeated like 20 times because we just HAD to read the event happen then 10 people talk about it in separate scenes. I swear to god if I had to read the "five heads of a snake" one more time, I'd consider jumping into an actual snake pit.

The ending was meh at best and makes it clear that this series could've been a stand alone. I don't even like writing reviews, but I had to get this out of my system because this was a waste.
Profile Image for Birdy reads romance.
65 reviews5 followers
November 12, 2022
This was a great finale to probably my favorite series in a long time.

It had my pulse racing and anxiety spiking here and there, but at the same time it also kept its charm of every day life situations and found family.

I love that even though I had made a lot of speculations about how things were going to end, I still couldn't predict what exactly was going to happen even up until the last minute.

I'm pretty sure these MCs will be my favorite group of MCs for a long time and especially Anver and Wraythe will always have a special place in my heart as best book MMCs out there.

A lot of the small subplots got wrapped up into happy for now endings, but I am excited to see Auryn pick up this crew of MCs again in the future for a sequel series.
Profile Image for JAMIE WHITE.
126 reviews
May 2, 2022
Good series

This series was very good. My only complaint is that sometimes the series was repetitive and wordy but honestly not something that deterred from the story. The smexy scenes were well written and intentive. I love this authors view on free love and all aspects of a poly relationship. I also love the support for LQBTA+ . The a
sexual aspect in this series was done fabulously. Also Auryn tackled grief with a unique approach that was appropriate and not many authors can grasp the complexity of that. KUDOS AURYN job well done.
Profile Image for Chrissy.
1,392 reviews62 followers
July 22, 2022
Time To Rebel

This is the sixth book in a complete series. You need to have read the preceding books to understand this one. There is no cliffhanger, however the author states that she intends to write another series set in this world, but there is no publication date.

I’ve put off reading this book for months because I simply didn’t want to finish this wonderful series. I have come to love all the characters from Zeal down to Drandir and I didn’t want to say goodbye. Now I’ve finally read this last book in the series I can say I wish I’d done it sooner because it was the perfect ending. I had no clue at the start of the book how we’d get to the HEAs but I had faith in Auryn’s plot constructing skills. That faith was not misplaced.

A lot happens in this book. Nari and her partners have a lot to accomplish alongside finishing their initiate training, the main thing being saving all the gods from disappearing by having people believe in them again. Making friends in the other temples definitely helps but High Priest Kinen is not going to roll over and risk having his kingdoms taken away from him.

This book is filled with politics, faith and passion (oh so much passion!!) but the mental and emotional struggles of the individual characters are still handled with care and attention to detail. The confusing blend of often opposing emotions are detailed with captivating empathy when we offered insights in to the hearts and minds of Zeal’s Priests and Priestesses of Temptation. In particular I love the way Anver grows and changes in the final book of the series. It’s been a long slow process but he has become a force to reckoned with and the way his asexuality is treated is with honesty and compassion.

As with all Auryn’s books as soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it again. I’m pretty sure this series will will make it into my re-read many times because there is always something new to appreciate list. I’ll always adore Rise of the Iliri by this author but this series is has definitely wormed it’s way into an equal favourite.
Profile Image for Sondra.
655 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2022
Ok

I was attached to the characters and story in books 1-4. Book 5 made it a mess and. Book 6 was forced to fix the mess it made. The finale seemed disconnected and wordy. The beautiful story I started reading got lost trying to add more books and profit. It ended up very political and for me the involvement in the characters and falling into a beautiful story with God's got lost into forcing myself to read so I could have an ending. It fell flat and disconnected to me from where it started.
Profile Image for lo.
20 reviews
August 7, 2022
this whole sentence structure? it’s honestly distracting.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

i did genuinely love parts of this series from start to finish. the author’s worldbuilding skills are incredible, especially compared to the RH genre at large. the characters (mostly) shine. there’s sacrilege and scandal. the smut is nice and steamy, the romance is sweet and errs *just* on this side of cheesy.

i’ve read all but one series from this author, and she excels in areas that are glossed over by many others. i wanted to give this five stars. i couldn’t.

⚫️⚫️⚫️

the constant over-explanation (as mentioned in other reviews) is exhausting, but my biggest gripe is the constant. repetitive. prose. every writer has a voice, those trademark words or phrases that set them apart from other writers.

auryn hadley’s is distinct.

every single character has it.

despite the fact that each character has their own personality traits, flaws, history, interests…literally all of them narrate their thoughts in the same exact way.

two-sentence thoughts like this, that start with a question mark and end with a period? i highlighted more than 300 of them throughout this entire series. half the time they’re *completely* unnecessary and could be eliminated with just a tiny bit of tweaking.

(example: “"This? It was because of .” — why not just say “This was because of .” ?!?!!!?!)

also the word “honestly” appears about 26x more often than necessary.

it detracts from the otherwise lovely, intriguing, red-hot plot so much that i’m pulled from the world hadley so wonderfully & thoughtfully created. it’s predictable and once you notice it there’s no going back.

i wanted so badly to love everything about this series but it felt like running a marathon to get through. i truly hope that future works have some sort of distinguishing narration between the bevy of characters. 💓
Profile Image for Tova Chase.
61 reviews
April 30, 2022
5:26 am

I have not slept yet. I had to finish this book. Will I regret the sleepless night later. Probably. Will I regret reading this book and series, never. I absolutely loved this book and series. I normally love anything Auryn writes to be honest and have devoured many of her series. And I thought that Rise of the Illri and The dark Orchid were unbeatable when it comes to Auryn and nothing could budge them but this is definitely trying. This will be in my top 3 of their series. I’m too sleep deprived to figure out which I like best. I guess I’ll just have to reread after a long nap hahaha.
Profile Image for Lel'S Is.
265 reviews3 followers
May 5, 2022
The first book was the best one, the others were just reharsh for 6 books, and the ending fell flat.
1 review
May 1, 2022
It’s a good series just repetitive

I understand the dialogues are important for world building but it can be draining for a reader to see the same information over and over again in every chapter. I believe it takes away from the dramatic scenes and I found myself skipping some sections due to density and repetitiveness. Otherwise it was a good series and I enjoyed the characters growth.
Profile Image for Claire Letnic.
479 reviews14 followers
June 6, 2023
3.75-ish⭐️’s

As per my previous review : WAY too much repetitive inner/outer dialogue.

The only reason I rated it higher than I would have normally is because at this point, and DAYS of investment, I was emotionally tied to the characters… I NEEDED to know what happened. And the first few books reeled me in to where I was hooked into the plot.

That said, I can’t lie: this last book I legitimately had to skip good chunks if not whole chapters. Even the sexy times became repetitive… and when facing the last book (13+ hours via Audible) and realizing how many hours I spent on the previous books, I was losing my patience and wanted to find out what happened. And as per the last book, the task was repetitive and somewhat daunting at times.

Obviously, if this book or series was bad, I’d rate it as such. I feel like if the “fluff” and unnecessary rambling for legitimately no reason were cut out from this book and the last, it would have tied up the series perfectly.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I was losing my patience. I really don’t like that feeling, especially when I was so invested previously.

It was the equivalent of eating only candy for a week straight: it’s tasty and exciting in the beginning… then you grow tired of it… then you grow resentful enough to just want to throw everything away and not eat it at all.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
523 reviews13 followers
May 11, 2022
Honestly out of all her series I've read this was my least fave.

I still enjoyed it, but for some reason it didn't do it for me. I think the world was well done, I liked the characters I just got a bit bored with the hashing over the same situation over and over. Their long winded talks and how when I thought they had solved it they are suddenly talking over a situation again and im like wait i thought we figured this out.

I think because I do that in my own head, its very similar to how I think, and sometimes I exhaust myself with my long over explained dialogs that I just need a break from that in my books. haha Idk if I'm even explaining that right or not. This is also deff a personal opinion so take it with a grain of salt I still think its well done. I also noticed similarities of the way characters go on and on from her other books as well and maybe I just needed a break from that style for a bit.


Profile Image for Kasumatata.
1,140 reviews22 followers
July 2, 2022
One of the best series ever

When it comes to world building in books I still have to find someone who manages to do the things to me Auryn Hadley does. I am in love with Calseth and its Gods. Throughout this series we have watched how High Priest Kinen has ruled over the Temple of Temptation and let power and greed cloud his mind and how he blames Nariana for everything that is going wrong. There's so many amazing scenes and parts I can point out in this final book, but what I love the most is how people from the different paths learn to work together and finally see the importance of every other path in the temple.

This book and this series by extension are magnificent. There's nothing I can truly add to that, because these characters make me feel like coming home.
Profile Image for Paulina.
95 reviews1 follower
December 2, 2023
This book series is a Journey.

From the child with a bit of temper to the beautiful, confident, loving woman, we accompanied Narianna through her discoveries about life, love and belief.

I'm highly addicted to Reverse Harem/Poly Romance stories. And those are quite often written by a new inexperience authors and because of that I lowered my expectations BUT ... THIS series... I love the grow of each character.. All they paths that lead to becoming their true self... I'm especially fond of the emotions that were portrayed, of all their doubts they had to ram through and they BECAME the family they craved all along.
Profile Image for Natalie  H.
3,927 reviews30 followers
September 2, 2024
August 2024
Kindle edition

Whoop. I finished a RH series. It's a miracle. Think I got four books in before I realized I was essentially reading an academy series. Kinen never really graduated from pathetic. The lawyer seemed like the main problem coming out of nowhere. Nari finally found a girl she liked. I saw the All gods' priest coming. I'm glad it worked out that way. The other temples seemed to have a much easier go of things. Glad Zeal finally lost his temper on the right people this time. The little cafe was cute. No real changes between the main relationships. A lot of discrimination against women and rebellion. Strange series with all the outer connections but I liked it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Princess J. Antoinette.
1,007 reviews105 followers
August 2, 2022
Hmmm

I wished the ending/epilogue was better, but whatever... it's been an long journey with this book series with parts that were exciting and some that were down right boring...

I've finally finished and didn't give up on this book series.. Oh boy sometimes reading these books kinda felt like a chore instead of entrainment.. 🤷🏾‍♀️ but to each its on.. Read it for yourself and see what you think.. Don't just take my word for it you never know right? 🙄


Overall Rating:
(Book Series)
3.5* ~ A Good Read
Author 3 books1 follower
April 29, 2022
I am soooo happy with this ending of a fantastic series

And so so sad that the series is over. One again, Auryn Hadley pulls us into a well crafted world, with characters we fall in love with, feel sorry for, or hate - depending on which character.

I was thrilled to read that there will be more stories in this world, because I want to know how things continue to change, what happens in other temples, and what’s next for the people on the path of temptation.

I don’t want to give spoilers for the series, but sexy, open about sexuality, FF, FM, MM, FMMM, and even a biromantic asexual. This book is the epitome of open minded sexual behaviours.
Profile Image for Alyrica.
555 reviews17 followers
May 2, 2022
So Good

I absolutely loved this series. Though I am usually not a fan of several elements within these books, this author has the talent to make love her work regardless. She is wonderful at fully fleshing out and developing characters, relationships, worlds and plots so that I get completely invested. I would highly recommend!
Profile Image for Dreia Wells.
Author 34 books579 followers
May 11, 2022
Beautifully ended

I am sad to see Nari's ending! But gosh what a ride!! Book 6 was intense. I was worried for bit and then it all came together in one big flourish!! Auryn this series was perfect and I enjoyed every minute of it!!!
Profile Image for Karin Dirksen.
572 reviews7 followers
December 3, 2022
Final book in this story arc, bit more in this world is promised.
Profile Image for Lex.
5 reviews
September 20, 2024
I haven't enjoyed a series as much as this one in a very long time. I will absolutely be recommending this to all of my kinky/poly reader friends.
Profile Image for sequoya.
161 reviews
January 4, 2025
yep. this was great asf. i just wish we were told where kinen went & maybe a longer, more descriptive epilogue... good final book tho
Profile Image for Jasmine Ginyard.
77 reviews1 follower
April 29, 2022
More!!

Need more! Want more! This was another amazing series by Auryn. Loved every part of it except that it ended. Please keep giving us these awesome series !s. Hadley and I'll keep reading them. 💖💖💖
Profile Image for Dawn Barnstable-Pick.
137 reviews1 follower
June 16, 2024
The overall series was fantastic. A little wordy and repetitive at times but overall worth the read.
85 reviews
May 23, 2022
This review will address how I feel about the series as a whole. This series has a wonderful immersive/transporting quality to it, that I think is rare to find. That is one of the reasons that I enjoyed it, and I suspect many others did too. Despite my high ratings across the board, I think that this series did have some issues. If it had not had this magical quality to it, I would have dropped the ratings down by at least one star.

My favorite things about the series:
The world-building, mythos
The characters' loving relationships
Healthy and sex positive

My least favorite things about the series:
Highly repetitive in certain regards
Plot was a little messy and drawn out
The books were a little too long for the plot they were supporting

I really enjoyed the use of most of the ancillary characters, although some were underused or simply used as steamy catalysts. Mostly, the world-building and relationships saved me from groaning when paragraphs were repeated throughout the books. The last book finally offered a more progressive plot, like the first book had.

My largest plot issues stemmed from the fact

I am certainly interested to see how this author develops either alone or with their writing parter. I think that if the plot and dialogue can be tightened up, then future books will be that much more exciting to get lost in.
Profile Image for Celia Liver.
145 reviews5 followers
May 18, 2026
This book was insanely interesting and promising at first, but I ended up abandoning it for two main reasons : Anver and the constant contradictions.

1. Anver (I genuinely hated him)
At first, I actually really liked Anver. I appreciated having an asexual character whose asexuality wasn’t just “representation,” but something integrated into the lore and role of the guardians themselves, guardians of the temple not being able to have sexual relationships.
But I just cannot accept someone emotionally cheating on the MC for years, then coming back, saying a bunch of nonsense excuses, and not only being forgiven almost immediately, but somehow shifting part of the blame onto the MC.
And yes being asexual does not mean being aromantic.
You do not need s*x to betray someone romantically.
He explicitly said he loved the MC while simultaneously kissing and constantly spending intimate time with another girl and ignoring the MC and his former friends.
Ela excusing it by saying, “Well, we’ll all eventually have sex with many people anyway,” is not the same thing at all. Polyamory and cheating are not interchangeable.
What made it even worse was that the girl Anver was involved with literally insulted and borderline bullied the MC, and he never once defended her or stepped in.

And honestly, his excuses were infuriating. Some examples:
- “I thought the grass was greener on the other side.”
→ That is not an excuse.

- “You should have accepted Tish into our group.”
→ No. Nobody is obligated to accept someone just because you like them romantically and anyway they at least tried to.

- “I was young.”
→ He was 18, not 12. Being young explains mistakes, it does not excuse cheating or tolerating bullying.

- “I wanted to protect someone, and you don’t make me feel strong.”
→ This one especially irritated me because it came across as deeply misogynistic, as though the MC being a strong woman somehow emasculated him, and therefore justified his actions.
I was honestly disappointed that one of the first openly asexual male characters I’ve read ended up being both misogynistic and a cheater. And I hated how quickly everyone accepted him back without truly defending the MC, especially Ela.

---

2. The contradictions within the worldbuilding and themes

At first, I was completely immersed in the world. Jamik and Nari’s mentor were fantastic characters, and the temple’s philosophy surrounding rage, love, emotion, and openness felt mysterious and compelling. I was excited to learn more about the myths, the teachings, and the different paths.

But the more the story progressed, the more inconsistent everything became.

For example:
- The temple constantly talks about consent and emotional awareness, yet Ela and Wraight are assaulted, the gods themselves punish the perpetrators more seriously than the institution does, and the students barely face consequences. That felt absurdly unrealistic.
- Bullying is tolerated for years.
- Students are literally being prepared for futures involving sexual and emotional relationships with multiple partners, yet they receive almost no substantial education, theoretical or practical, on intimacy, boundaries, communication, or emotional management (thankfully mentors were there).
- Teachers become weirdly obsessed with the MC choosing her future path and act immaturely or even hostile toward her because she hesitates. I genuinely do not understand why her choice affects them so personally.

And honestly, the MC ends up feeling overly privileged.
She wants all the paths, and somehow she gets all the benefits of them, like the special marks and the uniqueness

…but I strongly suspect she won’t actually have to deal with the burdens attached to those roles, cooking for others, public responsibilities, difficult rituals, or the physical and emotional sacrifices associated with each path.
So instead of feeling balanced, it started feeling like the narrative wanted her to be exceptional without truly making her pay the cost for it.

---

3. Contradictions within the romance and poly relationships
-Ela

Ela is an incredibly interesting character. He's beautiful, intelligent, sensual, kind, but also violent and protective when needed.
But he’s also contradictory :
- He claims to care deeply for the MC, yet does almost nothing to stop the bullying she suffers.

And romantically, I understand that he’s bi and poly. I have absolutely no issue with him loving men too, or with the relationship structure itself. But does every remotely sexual moment with the MC need to involve him talking about other men or d*cks ? It honestly started feeling like he overwhelmingly preferred men while the MC was treated as secondary and the fact he never had alone romantic times with her sort of confirms that.

And what bothered me most was the complete lack of communication.
When Talin asked whether the MC (with whom Talin already entered a relationship) was comfortable with him pursuing a relationship with Ela, Ela immediately shut the conversation down with : “She doesn’t get to decide who I am with (physically).”
-> Technically ? Sure.
But in a serious romantic relationship, your partner absolutely does deserve discussion about major relationship changes and Ela seemed to forget that bc he was just happy to have a man with him.

Especially because the MC herself had previously checked whether Ela was comfortable with her relationship with Wraight (Ela's guardian). So the emotional consideration felt one-sided.
Overall, Ela often came across as someone who barely distinguishes between sex and romantic love, despite constantly insisting he loves the MC deeply.

---

- Talin

Talin started out charming, protective and genuinely compelling.

But his POVs slowly disappointed me. He began feeling like the stereotypical guy who immediately loses control whenever he sees an attractive man and again there’s barely any mature discussion around emotional boundaries or commitment even if he's better that Ela on that point.

---

- Wraight

Ironically, Wraight ended up being my favorite because he was the one who seemed the most genuinely protective of Nari.

But even his storyline confused me.
His choice to become Ela’s guardian means limiting his emotional and sexual future with Nari , prioritizing Ela in a massive life decision and effectively not choosing the woman he supposedly loves most.

I understand that he and Ela complement each other and were close beforehand.
But were they truly that inseparable? Did they share some life-altering trauma? The narrative never convinced me enough for that sacrifice to feel emotionally inevitable.
Instead, it felt like the story bent itself to maintain the poly structure at all costs, even when emotionally it would have made more sense for certain characters to prioritize the MC.

And that became my core issue with the romance, the book didn't seem to want to let anyone choose the MC first.
And Even Wraight contradicts himself, he says she’s the only woman he’ll ever love or kiss, then in the next scene he casually jokes about wanting threesomes with other girls.
At some point, the characterization started feeling really inconsistent.

---

Final thoughts

So overall, this book just stopped working for me personally.

I felt that the poly relationships were poorly communicated and that the worldbuilding failed to fully deliver on the fascinating educational and philosophical setup it initially promised.

Instead, a lot of it became repetitive, contradictory and emotionally frustrating for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Angel Najera .
17 reviews
October 19, 2024
please, please, more!

I know you’re going to make another in the future, but please add Zayr’s and Nari’s first time, Thiemos and Ele’s, along with others favorite… I re-read this series so may times and love it more each time. Thank you for writing such wonderful series, but we need a follow up, please!
Profile Image for AHCuteArt.
1,190 reviews27 followers
July 28, 2022
Why did you read this book?
I am a fan of the author and this series.

What format did you read this book in?
Read it as an ebook on Kindle.

Is this an educational book or a book for entertainment?
I read this book for pure entertainment purposes.

What genres do you think this book belongs to?
Fantasy, Gay and Lesbian, Psychology, Religion, Romance, Spirituality, Adult

What was your favorite part in the book? SPOILERS!
My favorite part of the book is the marriage a the end.

Who would you suggest this book to?
Anyone who likes epic fantasy and reverse harem, or if you’re a fan of the series.

What is your general opinion/ rating of this book? SPOILERS
I am happy at the HEA. This was a good book to complete the series. Unfortunately, most of it fell flat for me. There were a few moments of tension, but for the most part I felt that the story seemed to drag on longer than it needed to. I am happy to see all the villain’s get what they deserved in the end. I am happy that the High Priest of the All Gods temple wasn’t the main heroine. I am surprised who became the new High Priest of Temptation. (I thought it was going to be Saval.) I’m sad to see this series end, but I am looking forward Auryn Hadley next book. I am a huge fan of most of her books. :D

How intense are the intimacy scenes?
VERY intense. There is some FFM, MMMF, MMMMMF, MF… I think I included everything.

At what “burn” level is the romance?
This one burns, “hot”.

Love interests, how many of them are there and what gender? SPOILERS!
There are 5 love interest all male.
Wrathe- Eladehl guardian. Big teddy bear type.
Anver- Becomes Zeal’s guardian. Had his lace redone.
Talin- Nariana guardian. Was part of Temptation Baron's household.
Eladehl- Nariana partner and priest of the body.
Zeal - Temptation God who got his temple back from the corrupt High Priest.

EXTRA
Any trigger warnings?
Racial and Religious: Police Brutality, Microaggressions, Prejudice
LGBTQ+: Acephobic, Homophobia, Biphobia, Internalized Homophobia, Forced Outing of Character
Mental Health: Scars, PTSD, Emotional Abuse, Panic Attacks, Alcoholism, Trauma, Confrontation Abuser, Non-consent behavior
Sexual Content: Explicit Sex Scene, Masturbation, Blowjob, Sexual Predator, Sexual Abuse, Violent Sex
Violence and Death: Death, Graphic Deaths, Execution, Suffocation, Violence, Self-Mutilation(?), Forced Blood Draining, Described Blood
Other: Slut Shaming, Female Oppression, Bullying, Profanity


Profile Image for Roe Fatajo.
90 reviews
January 21, 2026
Excuse me while I make this series my entire personality 🤭

Now that that’s out of the way… wow was it very very very repetitive. If I had a dollar for every time they said “the snake has five heads,” I could personally fund the two extra books this series did not need. Somehow, Nari in primary school had more character growth than initiate Nari, which is honestly impressive in the worst way. And yes, the ending technically ties everything up with no loose ends, but after all the helplessness, trauma, and general suffering, it felt painfully anticlimactic. All that for this?

Let’s talk about the sexualities, because… yikes. I get that people evolve, but Anver and Wrayth were very clear about what they wanted from the start. By the end, Anver felt less and less asexual—not in a thoughtful, organic way, but in a way that felt borderline harassing, like everyone suddenly forgot what boundaries are (Yes, Anver included). And don’t even get me started on Talin and Wrayth. Wrayth being straight was brought up approximately a million times, so Talin randomly having his mouth on him added absolutely nothing except discomfort 😬

As for Nari, her suddenly being intensely attracted to some random girl she passed on the stairs felt forced, like the story was going out of its way to make sure we knew she was open to being with women. That’s why it’s extra frustrating because I actually loved her crush on Xenia—it was genuinely cute. But then every single male POV also had to comment on how Xenia is kind of pretty but obviously not as pretty as Nari 🙄, which just cheapened it and made the whole thing feel weirdly repetitive again.

Now—credit where credit is due—there is a LOT I loved about this series Drumroll please

The way Jamik and Amerlee raised Nari? Elite. No notes. The relationships between all of Nari’s parents were genuinely one of the strongest parts of the story and felt warm, layered, and earned. I also loved the closure we got regarding Nari’s Papa—it was emotional, satisfying, and handled with care. Watching Nari build a relationship with her Compassion siblings was just heartwarming 🥰

The writing itself deserves praise too, because it was strong enough to make me cry over a character I actively hated—Tath’s death was intense and emotionally devastating in a way I did not expect. And honestly? Just Jola. I love her, end of discussion. Honorable mentions to the side characters who came through 100% of the time: Grath, Farik, Migard, and Zeyr—you will always be in my heart 🫶
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
4 reviews
April 11, 2026
This review is for the whole series. I have mixed feelings, but mostly positive.

I feel like Hadley wrote this series specifically for me. It's a paranormal romance (reverse harem structure with "sword-crossing") in a dystopian gaslamp world, following a fantasy academy bildungsroman plot structure. She places emphasis on consent and transparent communication, and she highlights diverse sexuality and personalities among her main characters, who form a fierce ride-or-die found family dynamic. That ticks a LOT of my boxes.

Hadley also manages excellent world-building, compelling characters, and an intriguing plot. It's very rare to see one author handle all three of these aspects of writing so well.

However, the series could really have used better editing passes (e.g. alpha readers, beta readers, copyeditor). There are some pacing issues, plot holes, continuity errors, repetitive uses of language, incorrectly-used vocabulary (like "handspan" instead of "handbreadth"), and a few places where it's not clear what she's trying to say, all of which could have been fixed relatively easily.

Hadley also clearly tries to create a world with vibrant diversity, but unfortunately (aside from the sexuality diversity), a lot of her attempts in this direction read as tokenized or "painted on", where the representation of a traditionally marginalized quality could be removed without changing the character at all. For example, And then there's some diversity that's conspicuously completely missing without explanation. For example, I feel that many of these problems could have been caught by sensitivity readers.

I am glad to learn that she is apparently planning a sequel series. I would love to explore this world more, and I dearly hope that she utilizes deeper editing passes and sensitivity readers in her next series in this world.
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