Elle > Recent Status Updates

Honestly I'm really looking forward to this novel, have been since book 1, but I've been quite ill lately & not had the headspace to be able to follow everything I need to for this novel, especially as a sequel. I'm going to pause for a while, not because of any issue with the book itself, just waiting for the brainfog & exhaustion to clear a bit first. There might be an increase in YA or easier reads for a while.

"Flaccid hair cringed tighter to her head"

... what the fuck did I just read?

Wow, this is not gonna work at all.

Only in prologue but the voice is not working for me. I hope it shifts when POV does--so far I HATE the majority of description, it's too modern for the world being described. So much "shimmying", confusing ballrooms with raves, "wriggled through his guts like a bad breakfast". Almost every metaphor & simile makes me grimace. Also, overdoes sex & drugs to make the world 'adult & gritty', to the point it's a joke.

Plot recap of book one at the very start of this, organised by major characters, BLESS YOU AUTHOR ;A;

This took an odd turn at 40%, suddenly manipulation & kidnapping despite clear fae warnings NOT to do that. Also a brand new POV character with ptsd, & a fae attaching herself to him in his grief. None of this is going to end well, with two fae desperate to have mixed-blood children & two humans essentially forced into marriage under non-con or dub-con circumstances. I miss the cosy story we started with.

A wild plot appears!

Normally I would hate that it took almost a quarter of a book to get to the plot. But it's been such a lovely journey to get here. It's not that the prose is particularly beautiful or poetic, but the author has woven such a wonderful tapestry of this world and these characters that I haven't really FELT the length it's taken to reveal the actual main goal/problem/quest of the novel.

Technically this is a slow start, I don't think we've hit any plot yet -- I've complained about this same problem in so many other books recently. But for some reason I'm enjoying it anyway here?? The lore and politics slowly building up in Angus' fae chapters are enthralling - so many different fae types & courts. And I also adore the worldbuilding for "medieval Ireland" & hypocrisy of nobles in Rhiannon's chapters.

There is SO MUCH TELLING to start this novel off. I would rather have had a flat out recap to cover the previous novel - it could have been written like one of Serilda's fairytales. I would rather that than pausing every few minutes to explain who is this character, what did they do last novel, and everything they've done in the weeks/months in between novel 1 and 2 ._.

Wait, there's a stealth Robin Hood retelling with side characters? 😹

Both protagonist's stories are interesting so far, but I have no idea how they're going to connect.

Palate cleanser of some easy YA before I continue with more of the dark/serious adult fantasy books waiting on my shelf. (I'm so sorry, A Dance of Burning Blades, I promise you're next <3 You're just a long investment. )

Next arc, I have so many to get through right now.

The plot is compelling, the writing is good, the medieval succession politics are... as expected. It's just hard to enjoy this when it seems like endless torture pr0n. Game Of Thrones if the only POVs were the women being raped & beaten & constantly threatened. I don't mind a dark story (adored The Poet Empress) as long as there seems to be a point and a way out and some agency. And I'm not seeing much of that here.

Only Goodreads listing I can find is in German despite also stating it's definitely Rosmei's English language version. Okay??? Confused.

This is very heavy content: oppression, sexism, racism, & casually malicious violence from men in power. It's not fun or uplifting like Godkiller which afaik didn't HAVE sexism. An odd choice to market as female rage, women empowerment, women plotting & winning... Only agency so far was Tilde volunteering for marriage to kill a tyrant, a plan she abandons in ch2 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Feels like 'agency' was pasted on in edit.

There was not much political warfare and political maneuvering in Kaner's debut trilogy so I wasn't sure how this one was going to go. But damn we're off to a great start. And apparently dual female protagonists, not just the one from the blurb? Unknown yet if the second will wind up ally or enemy (they've yet to even meet), but both ladies have some excellent set-up so far.

NEXT ARC, LET'S GO!!!!

(No, this isn't jumping the queue. I don't care that official release isn't til Sept, IC's dropping it in June so here we go.)

Not sure what I can write here bc my thoughts right now are ????? and !!!!!! for spoilers that I simply will not risk spoiling. But my god this book is the surprise of my reading year so far. I was honestly expecting something mid-average and instead it's been keeping me bouncing on my toes the entire read so far. I doubt it will be the best read of my year, but biggest positive surprise of 2026? It's a contender.

First 90 pages were amazing. The rest of the book so far fails to live up to them.

* So much filler.
* Characters have their personalities flipped, eg. MC goes from generous/selfless to blindly selfish & wondering "why are others not happy to upend their lives FOR ME?"
* The dumbest, most illogical politics ever, eg. Dude attacks THE QUEEN. Being a duke's guest should not exempt him from consequences for that.

I wasn't expecting to swap POVs so Llewyn section was unexpected, & I don't see how it connects to the bigger story yet, but I am fascinated by all the magic lore that dropped.

Torin's POV sadly is an absolute bore. I have no issue with villain POVs... but they need to be interesting. Torin is every first thought & trope you think of when someone says "evil Church zealot". No depth, no surprises. Just bad cliches.

Great start. Low-magic fantasy world at a tram tech-level. Protag is a cross between an archivist & an archeologist who wants to prove the legend of a magic queen was real. Her mentor who shares the goal summons her but is then found dead. Murder mystery with a disaster-lesbian archeologist trying to uncover a kingdom's hidden high-level-magic past? I am IN!

I need a guaranteed great read after the last disappointment, so this one jumps to the head of the queue.

It still feels like we're missing a lot of setup. Why is the king so terrible that he needs assassinating, especially when the king's spymaster intends to crown the king's younger brother who is a convicted, self-admitted mass murderer just because it was fun? How is that an improvement?

I expected to like this more. It's not bad, but I expected it to be great... and so far it isn't. I suspect half the problem is the very short chapters: it jumps heads so fast that I don't have time to get a feel for someone before we jump again, and therefore I wind up with no attachment to any of them.

It's soooo goooood...

We get some Kadra POV? Hell yesssss, babyyyyyy~

There's so much crazy and spooky stuff going on rn, what do you mean we're only a few chapters in?

2 chapters with Will is enough to make me ship him hard with Sam, compared to over a quarter of the book trying to push the Ari and Sam agenda and failing. Sigh, I really doubt Will is endgame though, saaaaad.

Wait, now we’re in the prologue to the prologue??? When will the action finally start, it’s eternal setup so far 😭

Act 1 is too long imo--feels like 20% of the book is prologue, & not for good reason. I understand the IDEA is to cement what great friends (& missed lovers) Ari & Sam are, but honestly they were NOT good friends. They wished they were, maybe. But Sam realises early on how superficial their friendship is & that never changes. (Also I expected this to be 2nd-world urban fantasy. The 'mundane our-world' bits bore me.)

My current physical-book read. Jenn Lyons' pacing needs to be studied because it's amazing. Fast without feeling rushed or like we're skipping parts. But I'm barely 6 chapters in and so much has already happened, it's insane. Amazing, unique fantasy lore. Can't wait to see how it develops further.

SO EXCITED!!!!

It has been pure torture waiting to read this arc, due to read-&-reviewing in the order of publishing dates. After several disappointing novels, I am BEGGING this book & author not to disappoint me. Book 1 was one of my favourite reads last year, please please please let this one be at the same quality level!

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