Read the complete series... To save her sister, she must beat a goblin at his own game. Freya knows the sound of goblin bells. She knows to move to the side of the road and let them pass. Never buy any of their wares. And above all else, never make a deal with the monstrous beasts. But when her sister takes a necklace and is kidnapped, Freya knows there is no other choice. She must journey to the realm of the fae where the Goblin King himself has stolen her sister. Once there, she must perform four tasks to save the only family she has left. The Goblin King won't make this easy, however. He always seems one step ahead of her. To defeat him, she'll have to put everything on the line. Even her heart. Fan of Sarah J. Maas and Ursula K. Le Guin will be left guessing at every turn!
This series was hands down one of my favorite of all time. No doubt because of my childhood obsession with The Labyrinth and David Bowie! Absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to read more from this author.
The marketing and hype around this book was around Goblin King (Jareth) from Labyrinth. However, the vibes I got were more Alice in Wonderland meets Fae - which isn’t a bad thing! I do want to comment that I read this series in Omnibus format, so my review may be skewed as I ultimately ended up reading it as one full book.
I enjoyed the world building Emma did across this story. Including different Fae kept things fresh and moving as new Journeys began for our FMC Freya. However, I do wish that the world & court backgrounds were fleshed out a bit more earlier in the story - a lot of the interesting bits about magic and the Old Gods aren’t touched on until the last book and by then it feels like these important figures and facts are ultimately irrelevant until this one specific event.
The romance between the MMC Eldridge and FMC Freya built slowly to accommodate for Freya’s history of believing all Goblins to be evil. However, there’s no real build up as to why Eldridge falls for her other than… she’s somehow … different from all other humans?. There is one slightly sexual scene and any other scenes are a fade to black- which I appreciated in the way this story was told as the main focus was on the Journeys and the overall romance. To that point, though, many of the romance scenes got repetitive at the end. Either Freya was jealous, or Eldridge was mad she threw herself into danger (again). That was pretty much it.
It definitely feels like a new author still working out the kinks in their world building and writing style. A number of times something would be hinted to or referenced, and then just be completely ignored for the rest of the story or changed. For example - Eldridge made a few hints and comments that he knew Freya’s mother. Yet when it came time to rescue and meet her, it’s just never mentioned.
Speaking of - the entire series barring the last novel are Journey’s to free her family from whatever court they’re stuck in. Yet, once they’re freed they aren’t brought on page for more than a passing scene at the beginning of the next book. For it being the driving force for Freya to having gone on this journey and subsequent tasks, you’d think she’d want to spend more time with them (on page).
Overall I did like this series! Personally I wouldn’t recommend reading it all in one go like I did as that may affect your perspective of the story. I’d say give it a shot if you like Alice in Wonderland vibes alongside faes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I loved this book so much, I actually bought the hard cover so that I could have it in a reliable format so I can read it again. I want to preface this by saying that this book is loosely based off of the Labyrinth movie with David Bowie. Also the idea of seasonal courts is a very typical fairy lore idea so it isn't knew and doesn't steal from anything. I know of several books where they are seasonal fairy courts. It's a beautiful collection and the books are amazing. Freya, the FMC, takes a little time to grow on you, but I love her and she feels really relatable. The world feels strange and reminds of older fairytales. I love the prose and the adventures that Freya goes on. It does a good job of demonstrating the complexities of emotions and romantic relationships throughout the books. I loved this book so much. Please, give it a chance and read. It is a long and fun adventure, that's totally worth it.
I have LOVED this authors work before so I wanted to check this out as a chance to "read something longer" since all the books were together but I can't finished the second one. The main character is rude, annoying, in creative and stupid. She just sucks and there's nothing funny or cleaver or likable about her. The Goblin King is also dumb and not attractive, he does nothing to earn her love or affection and she doesn't want to give it anyway. The love story aspect of this has no meat on the bones and I hate it. The sister is dumb, Arrow is uninteresting, the courts are uninteresting, I just don't care about anything in this story and it doesn't feel like anything other than a guideline for a book really, next to nothing happen. There's no steaks
10 out of 5 stars, I loved it. I'm glad I got to read it as one big book. The stories flowed very well from one to another. The love story gave my heart a cavity it is so sweet (he definitely fell first & hard). I loved that we got to watch Freya grow into the strong & capable women she has always been. I finished this book in a week & I wish I could forget it so I can read it for the 1st time again.
I wanted a series that filled me with wonder and excitement like the movie Labrynith did for me as a child. This series has gone above and beyond what I expected. I can say it's become near and dear to mg heart. I loved going through this journey and growing with Freya. Thank you for bringing the magic back to life.
I found this book through TikTok and the inspiration for it is a favorite movie so I had to give it a shot. It was absolutely amazing and did not disappoint and I absolutely loved that. This is a box set and I could read it all without having to wait. I enjoyed this so much that I would not be opposed to a continuing story ;)
I love Emma's work, and this series is no exception. Emma excels at writing strong female leads who are smart, witty, and insightful.
This series is more tame than some of the other books I've read, but that makes this a great read for the person who wants more adventure and less steam in their romance 🦋
I DNF'd this book. Very forward on The Labrynth fanfic. I couldn't get over that it was too close to the original story and felt like I was reading an off brand version without any thing new or interesting. Really liked the concept though- just not for me.
It wasn't bad, but the main character is SO annoying and hardheaded. She blindly argues that she doesn't have magic, despite being able to use and sense magic! And it's something that carries through multiple books! Make it make sense; it's so annoying!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Entertaining, but not a lot of character development. It kind of felt like, “oh, another new challenge” instead of a seamless build from one phase to the next. Happy ending, an entertaining read, and it was perfect for Halloween season.
You're kidding. This fell into my hands when I desperately needed a big fantasy world to escape into and for over one thousand pages this did exactly that. Enemies to lovers is amazing and all but I already knew it would be that way when I started. What I didn't know was how good it would be and how the whole series would sweep me off my feet. It's the perfect blend between romance and spice, not too much or too little, and there's a lot more that fleshes the plot out. Yeah it's perfect! Plus look at that cover art! This boxed set is everything!