Zo
Kindle: 1 hr 20 mins left in book.
Me: 25 minutes, take it or leave it.
Yes I skimmed the last 50%. You know what, I missed nothing. There were no crucial or interesting conversations. Everything was just predictable.
I much prefer slow burn, or at least, chemistry. These two didn't really have like, sizzling chemistry, you know.
But anyway, issues I had with characters:
1. I didn't like prickly Shae was. If he was actually closed off I would accept it. But he mostly pretends to be. The scene where he leaves Arthur and is disappointed Arthur doesn't chase after him, Jesus Christ. Like wow, maybe don't leave?
2. Arthur is bland.
3. At about 42% they kiss. Then they have sex. I skipped the sex scenes. They were boring.
I knew Shae wasn't going to lose his powers because the book just isn't brave enough for that. It makes sense too that Arthur leaves the order but doesn't lose his powers. Georgia remains alive. Wonderful.
Really dry. Idk I was expecting more angst. I like angst, but not like, pretend angst followed by quick declarations of love. I like real fucking angst. I think the book just wasn't long enough for that kind of character growth, and Shae is just the kind of MC I do not like.
Very nice.
I've had this on my to-read for a while now. Started the audiobook and realized the narrator was not going to do it for me. It was the same guy from Spellbound which I'd just finished, and I was distracted by it.
Anyway, I called it. Called the twist too. But was still nervous so you know it's a good mystery :)
Good chemistry. Cooper is prickly done right. Prickly but also with enough emotional maturity to try. Park is sweet af.
I skipped book 2. Thought this one was an actual stand-alone and was more intrigued by its premise. It spoiled book 2 thoroughly though. Every event, big reveals etc. It makes some sense, as some revelations do affect the broader world. I can't fault it for that but be aware if you skip book 2. Anyway spoilers below as usual.
I've come to terms with Hazard's style and will now appreciate it for what it is. No big action scenes. Showdowns will happen off page. There'll be lots of tension and jealousy.
I was about to complain about the age gap too but you know what, fuck it.
The audiobook for this is 26 hours. Somehow, that didn't register till I started listening, and it wouldn't have registered if I hadn't found myself checking how many hours I had left every few chapters. This entire review is full of spoilers, and you will see me swear. If you are like I was, 20% through and struck with the realization that you frankly do not give a shit what happens next, or perhaps you have just finished it, then continue below.
Otherwise I leave you with this: too many words for all the rubbish scenes, zero words for epic fight scenes (I mean literally, the book cut away to another POV).
HOW CAN I, AFTER 250 PAGES, NOT HAVE BEEN GIVEN ENOUGH OF ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS? A CHARACTER IN THE BLURB? Why should I give a fuck about Niclays Roos or fucking Loth Beck?
I will address a few things.1. The romance between Ead and Sabran.When I first read the blurb, I thought the romance would be between Ead and Tané. I wondered how they would meet, until that scene in the garden (or wherever they were walking), where Ead says she has no idea why she is suddenly acting irrationally around Sabran. I had had no idea too, until that moment. I had no idea, even at the end and after many confessions of love. As I write this now, I still see zero chemistry.Sabran was cruel, and Ead thought she was selfish. Then they are kissing and that's it, that's all the development we get. If you read this for the love story, woe is you.2. Tané's arc.a. Torusa. Wow. After the fight he is never heard from again. I do in fact believe that at the end of 850 pages, Shannon forgot he'd existed at all.b. Her relationship with her dragon: a couple smiles exchanged before Tané becomes a dragon rider, the first talking scene, the confession scene, the scene after they are reunited, some time traveling to the South, the final fight, the end. Those are all the scenes with Tané and her dragon. This book has a dragon on the cover. And after 850 pages, those are all the scenes with Tané and her dragon.3. Niclays RoosIdgaf about his relationship with Jannart (I may get spellings wrong as I listened to the book). There was one flashback scene, and I fucking wanted to sleep through it. He's a sad sack of shit. Don't get me wrong, I feel for him because Sabran is a cruel piece of shit, but he had choices to make in life, and he made several questionable ones. But aside from his personality, he just didn't really do anything.Things happen to him. He is a vessel for narration, like Loth. This is never more clear than on the island, where he has a chance to escape but chooses to stay because he is entranced by the story.Of course, what Shannon means here is that readers are entranced by the story, and Niclays cannot leave because then how else would readers hear the end? It is lazy, and fucking boring.4. Loth.So fucking sheltered in his braindead religion. Like Niclays, things happen to him. Towards the end, he improves, but if I had to listen to him talking about the Saint again, I would...well I wouldn't be very happy.5. The death of KitThat was startling. I have to assume it was added for shock value. I was shocked alright, shocked with the realization that I wasn't going to enjoy reading this book. Say what you will about harsh realities or whatever, none of the main characters died. And for Tané Suza and Ashari died. Should've killed the dragon too. Killed her off too.6. Kalyba.What was her purpose? You know when Sabran had a fever, right after the scene where Tané eats the Orange fruit and bursts into flames or something, I thought Sabran had eaten the fruit. I thought in the final fight we'd see her duel Kalyba. But no, Kalyba talked a lot and then got stabbed by Ead. I just, wow.7. The fight between Ead and the Prioress.The book cuts away to Loth just before the fight. The next thing we see is Ead injured. This is certainly a choice, and a choice that means it is difficult for me to give this book up to 3 stars. It is emblematic of the problems with this book. The way time is spent in the head of useless things, and not enough on the things that ballads are made of.8. The training with the jewels.There is nothing here, just as there was no description for this. 850 pages. 26 hours.9. The jewels, the swordMy head, my shoulders, my knees and toes, bring me more macguffins. I love how often these are lost and easily obtained. There is no conflict in this book, not really. There is only loss of loved ones. They all suffer that, except Ead for the most part, but there are no consequences for anything else. Lose the dragon, locate the dragon. Lose the jewel, locate the jewel. Get poisoned, aha cure easily no problem at all. Be about to die, get saved.10. I'm confused. Why does Fyredel not simply attempt to burn Sabran a second time? Heck, he doesn't even go after Ead for real. Doesn't even try to burn the town down. I guess they don't want to destroy the world, but when your main villain is just pure evil with zero nuance, I cannot understand why everything done in his name would not be pure evil. Where is the line?11. The Nameless One. The next villain in a book should be Unnamed. He without name. Birth-certificateless-less. Who-the-fuck.12. The whole ending was underwhelming. Suddenly the armies unite. Fight, win, as expected. Like surprise me, for once, surprise me.13. The most tragic deaths in this book are Triam and Truyde. After their executions, the main characters then simply do what they tried to do, very easily. They were both so fucking brave. The scene in the jail where Truyde tells Ead the Knight of Courage is her Saint, bruh, that was better than any other speeches.14. Crest should've been drawn and quartered. Sabran should've made sure of it. She literally has no backbone.15. The Priory is made up of a bunch of fools. Were the damsels even at the final fight?16. The final fight where Tané wished she had a Seiikenese weapon. The whole time I'm wondering why she doesn't have one. Like, isn't part of preparing for battle making sure you have a weapon that you can and want to use?17. The narrator. Bruh that “So be it” from the Nameless One was just like, peak narration. The accents don't mesh with what they apparently should. I think if I had read this I would've been more forgiving, because I'd be able to read much faster. But I listened to the whole thing because I really fucking wanted to get to the end. I did. It was disappointing, but frankly, I saw that coming from 10% in.
Idk what it is about alpha beta omega books. Especially the ones grounded in shifter society. Man, the prejudice just comes flowing out, no stops, no filters, nada, just problematic statement after problematic statement. This book would have been 5 stars based only on sexual tension. Now it's a 3.x. Here's why.
ETA: I am bumping this down to 2.x because the climax gets resolved off page. Off-page. We get an epilogue that the showdown we built up to, has been resolved. Off fucking page. If you want a similar but more complex book with an on-page resolution, try Winter's Orbit.
The regular character problems:
1. Haydn. That's how you spell it right? Without the E because. Haydn is a general, was a general, who lost two thousand and something men in the past month. Haydn doesn't seem very upset by this fact, never mind what he says. They call him Death Bringer. Now I don't know about you, but nothing about this man, nothing, says Death Bringer. I don't buy it. I just don't. He should've been non combattant, maybe a strategist. I'd believe that more. Death Bringer and we never see him fight, Death Bringer and all he does is talk about how good he is at killing. Yeah sure, sure.
2. Devlin. Called that he was next in line for a book from a mile away. They always do this. Set up the side character for the next book. Just throw away the rest of the book and give me that one then. Fucking hell.
The problematic society:
Hazard goes out of her way to show you that homosexuality is great, perfectly great, but homodesignation isn't. It just isn't natural, isn't biologically possible. This isn't anyone being bigoted. It just can't work. Fine, it isn't illegal now, but come on, nobody accepts it. Do you see what I'm seeing? Can you hear what the fuck I'm hearing? Is it just me or does homodesignation sound a lot like homosexuality?
What fucking hypocrites Royce and Haydn are. Reading the beginning, right after Haydn is like ew, omegas, then calls his father disgusting for saying much the same thing. Oh my fucking God is this a simulation? Was that supposed to be sarcastic. Does the author present these two ideas to show us that Haydn is in fact, very prejudiced. Monsieur Royce with his own brother. His own brother, man, he was prejudiced against him. Never even examined the situation, just shipped him off to war to possibly die. That relationship is fucked up for its own reasons (Lucien and Aksel? Askel?) but hot damn.
Of course I figured something was off with Haydn. I knew, but I wanted it not to be so. He couldn't just be an alpha. No, it had to be revealed that he was an omega all along. In his own words he was literally born to be fucked. Is that all omegas aspire to? To be fucked? Can you hear, do you hear the FUCKING...women btw. We're talking about women. Every time we talk about omegas we're talking about women. When we talk about homodesignation we're talking about homosexuality. The parallels are there.
Had this same issue with Irresistible Omegas. Wanting to submit, that can't be an alpha thing at all. Gotta show he's not really one. Gotta make it okay for him to submit.
Fucking disappointed is what I am. Alpha beta omega books just keep being excuses for some really shitty stereotyping. At least this one has female alphas.
Fuck it. The book was good. It had problems, and I'm going to list them, but it kept me coming back each night and I stayed up till 6 am to read it when I had work at 9 am. So there's no way it's sub 4 stars. I sometimes refresh ratings after the wind of nostalgia blows, so I might bump this later.
The problems:
1. Too many proper nouns introduced at the same time at the beginning. I only finally understood many of them at the end. I don't like over explaining either, but you can work it in somehow. Like Goat. Huh? Yeah I get it now, and I sort of got it when it was introduced, but I was mildly annoyed I never got a proper explanation.
2. Weird names. Madoc. Took (yeah I get this one, but still), Pally, Quick (fucking Quick?), Lawrence (there's nothing wrong with it, it's just very old fashioned idk). There was Kit and Tac too. I don't even remember who Tac is supposed to be again.
3. I saw things before Took. The ending betrayal by a certain woman we saw early on. It was pretty obvious from what she was saying. But Took missed it. West too.
4. I wish we could find out who took Took. I thought West might have something to do with it, but we don't find out for sure. Plenty of mysteries left. It's not bad, it's supposed to be a series. But where the fuck is book 2?
5. I like that Madoc guaranteed the death of a certain man. I hope the others died too. If they didn't, I'll have a problem with it. But like, whatever, it's a common plot device.
6. The lore was dropped in here and there. I can't quite understand why the boyars would surrender themselves to suffer and why they still have power even though they're imprisoned.
7. The way the mystery came together. Even when they were explaining it, I still didn't understand, until after the last showdown.
8. Wtf is that cat?
The awesome:
1. That shadows bar fight ahhhhh. Madoc ilysm. Heck, Took too.
2. Paladin. I want more of this man. Like I want to see this man in action. Pally makes him sound so uncool. Din would've been cooler or something.
3. Took is so mysterious. Why did he turn even with his bloodline? What's going on with his anger? (Madoc has this too but he doesn't black out) What did Anderson mean? Where tf is book 2???
The WTF:
1. The bloody sex scenes. No I don't mean that as a swear word. I mean that actual blood was involved. I...you do you T A Moore. You absolutely do you.
Extra points for not making me annoyed with the relationship. There was no does he does he not. Took knew how Madoc felt. Took had issues to work through. They started slow, relatively. Took tried. Madoc loved. Took loved in the end. Sweet.
Well I stayed up late to finish this book and it was worth it (I'll remind myself this when I'm falling asleep during meetings). It's pretty much what I expected. Some angst, a whole lotta love :))
I'm really happy.
I listened to parts and read parts. I've read some reviews that say the narrators should've been switched, and honestly, that's just leaning into stereotypes. I liked it just fine.
Some parts were a drag, as romance (contemporary especially) tends to be, but I honestly didn't care. This was fun to read, and fun is good.
Fuck it. 4.5 stars.
I paid for this book. Not Libby, Hoopla, or KU. I was so intrigued by the premise that I straight up bought it.
This review has spoilers probably. I skipped 75% and you might be better off skipping 100%.
Look at this ending:
“They'd tussled over who paid what until Aaron had put his foot down and insisted on paying his fair share.”
Paying what fair share? Fair share of what? Aaron's paying rent for the mansion? Buying groceries? WHAT FAIR SHARE?
You might be wondering, it's just a sentence, like, it's not that important even, like, but it's one of the last sentences I read and I have chosen to focus my ire on it. Especially because it's so cliche: the lower earning partner who wants to contribute as much as the higher earning partner. Whatever. Ooh so independent ooh.
This book is full of cliches like that. Like Lewis being jealous of Mason and Aaron, ew. Hands off my PA, you know how fucking creepy that sounds if you two aren't dating?
Grumpy/sunshine? More like immature prick/zero personality. Lewis is fucking unbearable. I like angst. This wasn't angst. This was infuriating. Oh my fucking God, oh my fucking God you like him just be normal wtf is wrong with you? I CAN'T BE THE MAN YOU WANT. A few moments later, I LOVE YOU. Really? Give me a fucking break. I didn't buy the rejection. I simply didn't. I didn't buy the romance. As Aaron said to Mason, you can fucking do better.
Personality wise, Lewis sucks. Aaron is bland. I don't read a lot of fanfic, maybe if you like fanfic you'll like this, idk. Fuck, I would rather have read that fucking book Jagermeister wrote. Give me Skylan over these two. But all the gushing was so cringe, with a fucking Skylandalorian. Do you know how hard it is to pronounce that word?
I skipped so much. The characters are cringe/immature and there is no character growth.
It'd be more interesting to read a Wikipedia page in a foreign language.
-the locker room.
the locker room?
THE LOCKER ROOM.
Somers is still a bully. Bullying Nico and talking about him being petty when his ass called this whole man an ultrasound. Okay it's too drawn out now. It's enough. I've already skimmed book 4. I'm pretty much done with the series. Emotionally exhausted from the nonsense.
Somers rubs me the wrong way. Idk man. And Hazard, idk man. They deserve each other.
These books aren't on KU either so I just spent real greens bingeing this series.
Also another annoying thing. Every book ends with Hazard heading to the hospital. Every single book. Maybe switch it up a little? Make Somers end up in the hospital? Or better yet, neither of them? Can they both come out unscathed for once? Go get shawarma afterwards together maybe?
I didn't figure out the mystery at all. So 4 stars for that.
Haven't had a five star read in a hot sec. This one definitely counts.
Hoo boy. I've been looking for slow burn and angst. Oh yeah, this is angsty af, and it's going to be slooooow. But fuck it, on to book 2.
ETA: FIVE BOOKS???? IT TAKES THEM FIVE BOOKSSSS. FIVEEEEEEEEEEE. OMG WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO. Sighs. I can do this. I can do this.
Fucking hell Hazard you're cheating on Nico omg. After Billy cheated on you too. You're a terrible terrible wicked man.
Also if I hear the phrase THE LOCKER ROOM one more time, if I hear the phrase THE LOCKER ROOM... If i fucking, fuck! I'm actually listening to book 3 right now while typing this review, and you won't believe it, just as I was typing this sentence, I heard that fucking phrase again. Jesus Christ. We get it, we fucking get it. ThE lOcKeR rOoM. My God, you'd think something particularly fantastic happened there. I thought it would end after we learned what happened at the end of book 1. But here we are, still talking about the locker room. Move on or move through fuck it.
The mystery: ok. I suspected the original, but not the other murderer(s).
Hazard and Somers though. Fucking toxic.
Nico you deserve better and you should have known. You always knew. You knew from the beginning. Why did you go after him? Abandon this sinking ship!
I listened to like 5% and moved to reading. Tristan James is pretty good, I just wanted to read a bit faster.
I enjoyed this. It was a quick listen (about 4 hours). I'll admit I was very distracted at the end and so had to Google to understand what happened.
Sigh.
50%. That's how much of this book was spent on “should I or should I not?” 50%. The sex scenes were good. The plot was resolved in less than 50%. FIFTY PERCENT!
Let's discuss what worked:
Damieno or whatever his name is. Signor Bond is what he is. Fucking hell that shootout scene was like a cartoon scene. The characters lacked depth. Wait I'm supposed to be discussing what worked. The sex. That's all. Now let's return to the characters. I know this series is called straight guys, but I usually don't enjoy reading GFY and such nonsense. Bi awakening, sure. GFY, nah fam. Why did I read this then? Well the premise seemed interesting, and I thought there would be a mystery and all that. Obviously there wasn't.
Also Mr Jordan with I like cocks, I like cocks as much as I like boobs, but lordy I am straight as fuck. The straightest man you'll ever meet. Give me a break.
I also don't like the romanticization of the Mafia. Yes again I read this book's premise. Doesn't mean I can't dislike it. Ooh so badass ooh literally murders people for a living ooh so sexy.
This is book 13. I knew immediately that Nate and what's his name were in a previous book. And I knew Aiden (Aidan?) would be the next book. I don't super like these kinds of series. I mean, I don't super mind them either, and I might try another book later. I'll probably enjoy it more knowing what to expect.
Very cringe dialogue sometimes too.
This was fine. Not a lot of time spent with this group. Also the fated mates thing happened so quickly there was no time for romance. Just oh I think you're hot do you think I'm hot huh well this could be something.
Ah well. I skimmed all the Naran-Lev-Siv scenes. Bored outta my mind by their relationship. More interested in Bray, the OG four, and what's going on outside. It's a weird world outside. Not quite regular urban fantasy, but there's a legit coup happening and I want to know wtf the rules of government are in this place.
Palani's arc was sad. It's a romance so of course it was going to get fixed. I'm still happy though. I would've hurled curses otherwise. I'm still confused by what happened though. With Vieno and Hakon and... Also what's with the names? What's that new baby's name... Also this ranch is a baby factory. Too many babies I can't. And every parent is just fine with taking care of someone else's baby. Not one of them is like fuck no.
I can't believe I'm on book 8. Hard skimming scenes with couples I don't like, but otherwise it's interesting enough. More babyface and boy scenes here.
Maz and Lucan (and Sando? How?), please be interesting.
On a more serious note, I'd have loved to explore an alpha-alpha relationship. Now we know Lev is non-binary and it feels a little bit like a cop-out. A little bit.
Also, I love how Siv points out in an earlier book that all the omegas are in the kitchen, and now Lev wants to be a stay at home dad. Look. Look. I've done this before. I've said this before. The renforcement of gender stereotypes, it's...I don't like it. The renforcement of the size differences too. It's like Goldilock and the three bears. Big alpha, middle beta, small omega. On God can I get a buff omega?
Also congrats to Abigail for being a girl. I thought the women were extinct in this world Jesus Christ.
I just want to say that this book would have been four stars. Up until babyface and boss. I'm sorry. I cringed so hard. And boy? I don't like daddy-son or boy. I'd be fine with just daddy, but no, no, no, no. No. Babyface? BABYFACE? JESUS.
Also the forgiveness happened too quickly. It was just a...when had the hate gone? Nope. Bray's group and the OG four are still the only ones I like. Hopefully I like Maz/Lucan.
Whee. Glad I stuck with this series! I know I said I'd wait a bit, but I had to come back.
-0.5 for a few cringe action scenes. E.g “For Hakon!”. Idk, I don't expect that kind of rallying in urban fantasy. High, sure, if done well. But urban, it'd take more for me to like it.
What I disliked:
The switching perspectives (between Bray/Ruari/Kean and the original four). I found both interesting, but sometimes I wanted to stick with one side. Anyway, I didn't really take off points for this because like I said, I liked both.
What I liked:
Bray/Ruari/Kean/Jax. Omg I haven't read many romances with babies but these ones are cute. Hakon didn't get much screen time, but that's alright. I loved seeing the relationship grow. Being reading a lot of Tal Bauer which tends to be angst free, so I wanted a lot of that + rejection.
Rip to the death spoiled in the intro section. I don't know why that is. This isn't a Shakespeare play and I don't need my cast of characters introduced at the beginning. Even in those, their character arcs don't get spoiled. Points off for that.
Best so far in the series. Will be continuing.
Mm.
This was boring. I think it would have been better if I didn't keep comparing it to other wolf books I've read recently, especially wolf and mage. For example, one of my all time favourite series: Soulbound. Idk man, every book wolf gets compared to Jono. I can't help it. And the arena fight I kept comparing to certain challenge ring fights, you know. And so it goes. So, yeah. If I'd read this first, before Soulbound and even Mismatched Mates #1, I might have given this four stars.
So why did this come up short? Uninteresting MCs. Lorcan is boring. He's too good. Knox is boring too. Declan would've been a more interesting MC, what with his past and all. The fights are...not exceptional. Evil family is cliche. I need more from it if you're going to go down that route. Evil new captor is cliche too. Would have been intrigued if Tyr had been nice. Gage is too nice. There's not much friction within the pack.
The romance was meh. I'm Knox's or no one's ooooh omg really wow wow so much loveeee. Anyway. I've had this on my TBR. Glad to have read it now. It gets 2.5 stars because it was well structured writing.
Also Lorcan being self-sacrificing? No. Just no. I don't like it. Stupid MC gives themself up to save someone else. Look, I get it. But I still don't like it. This was unmemorable. I doubt I'll be continuing the series, but we'll see.
The payoff of so many characters is that in future books we become invested in them. I loved this book so much.
Points off for the way Wyndham dies (pretty sure this is spoiled in that list of cast thing so idc).
Okay so let's discuss how all Vieno and Sven do is cook and take care of babies. Listen, it's...it's fine, it's just, it plays right into the book's hierarchy stereotypes, doesn't it? And I...would like to see it work more against it. And I know, the right to choose. Some omegas do want to be homemakers. I get it. I just. I'd like for... I don't like it.
Grayson. This man is hot and cold. Sometimes he's oh so wise and sometimes he's just hotheaded. Lars is still the dullest (I don't mean stupid. I mean flat) character.
The original four are still A+. Bray/Ruari/Kean are also up there with them.
All the babies do is sleep. Goddamn so peaceful too.
Also not bad. Surprisingly too much plot idk. There's a lot going on. Whole conspiracies.
Also the alpha roaring is a bit cringe idk.
Alright, I just finished this one.
I finished book 2 a bit ago and held off because I'm not a huge fan of following a different relationship, especially when the main one hasn't gotten it's ending yet.
I'm not a fan of Daddy/son. Had to hard skim several parts.
It's not bad. There is a shit ton going on in the background. To be fair, the plot is progressing. It's just, idk. I'm trying to figure out what it is about the so much plot that puts me off. I think it's the stakes. They're all safe, and relatively happy. I never once felt in this book that their lives were in danger. Things are happening, sure. But they're all way too safe and comfortable.
Sven has a quarter of a personality. Like I said, I don't like d/s, so I didn't like his infantilization. Lars is...a lot of hot air. Grayson is all wise, all knowing. It's...it's fine. I'm glad we got more of the original four, although Enar has two fifths of a personality in this one. I will wait another bit before reading book 4. This series is better appreciated in small doses.
Read this a bit ago.
It was really nice. Also figured out the mystery too :) The thing that happened between the two MCS (I've actually forgotten their names rip) was a bit cheap.
John Solo's narration is always good (so far).
Not spoiler free.
I skipped the entire first half of this book and went right to where Ash gets his memories of Lonan back and I regret nothing. I did not want the angst I knew would likely have made me give this book 2 stars.
Still, this would have been 4 stars, except I'm somewhat bothered by how many people Ash is killing. When he slaughters the frozen guards, I just, I don't know man, I don't like it. Every blasé arrow fired just feels kinda cheap. Also the way this man kills people with a bow and arrow, idk. Less than a year and he's god-tier with it.
When he kills Brid. Tell me why this woman doesn't simply hide behind something while she waits for the King of Boars to kill him?
Tell me why he doesn't finish off Balor and perhaps even the Carlin. He has time to monologue, but not enough time to fire a couple extra arrows? CHEAP.
It's good he and Lonan find each other again. Predictable, but good.
Ash becomes the stereotypical good king at the end. “We're doing things differently from now on.”
Also, yes, Nua and Gillie, the stereotypical second couple that we know is there so the author can write a spinoff about them later.
I do like that both the seelie and unseelie queens are evil. That one's somewhat different from the usual.
Anyway, I patiently await book 3. Glad there is no cliffhanger here.
