Tournament of Losers

A wonderfully engaging, slightly gritty fairy tale. It's Cinderella, combined with the concept of suitors competing with each other to complete tasks in order to win the hand of a royal. So the book's overall plot is predictable, but I don't consider that a flaw in this sort of story. And there were a few surprises. Rath and Tress are both very appealing characters. Rath is rough around the edges and also extremely surly, but his point of view is never grating to read. His surliness seems fairly justified, as he really does live in abject poverty; his attitude also keeps the story from being overly fluffy. Almost from the start, I felt like he absolutely deserved to win the tournament, and also that both the royal family and the people would benefit from him becoming a leader. Tress is a vision of loveliness. I adore the way Rath sees him. Tress has a few interesting traits, as well as enough spirit to be more than a match for Rath. Their scenes of banter are great, and their arguments, while understandable, are pretty vicious. There's a decent amount of development of their relationship, and the happy ending is well-earned.I like the vibrant, dangerous city, which seems to have a life of its own apart from the story that unfolds. It's full of interesting side characters, such as the guards who accompany Rath, Rath's best friend, and the brothel keeper. I could read a million more stories set in this world. Also, I don't think any of the major characters are white, which is refreshing to read in both the m/m and fantasy genres. There are also a lot of non-cishet people; this definitely isn't a heteronormative society, and I loved visiting it for a while. I noticed some reviewers wondering about the concept of the tournament, asking how exactly the nobles were going to add to their bloodlines if they encouraged same-sex marriages. The answer to that question is up for interpretation, of course, but there are a number of trans people mentioned, including one of the already-married princes. It may also be that mixing bloodlines isn't the goal, but instead, the nobles want to infuse people with new perspectives into the country's leadership. And perhaps some couples make use of surrogacy in this world, like Allen's family in [b:The High King's Golden Tongue 25902535 The High King's Golden Tongue (Tales of Harken #1) Megan Derr https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1436805757s/25902535.jpg 47453880], or adoption. It's a great book, and I highly recommend it.