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kingrosereads's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Bow Before the Elf Queen, sounds like a badass high fantasy romance, but unfortunately it fell a little flat with the badassness.
Layala Lightbringer is an elf that’s born with magic (aka a mage) in a world where there hasn’t been really been a mage since the Black Mage cursed the people when they defeated him. Her parents were common people, but everyone was forced to present their newborns to the High King Tenebris to be tested for magic. Layala obviously tests positive for magic and Tenebris forces a mating bond on Layala and his 3 year old son, Prince Thane. Her parents are able to escape with her long enough to place her in the care of a human friend who raises Layala far away from the capital in a human village. Unfortunately, her parents were killed.
25 years later, Prince Thane is now High King and he’s come to take Layala home to be his full mate. Layala hates him for obvious reasons on top of him kidnapping her. To complete the mating spell, they must wed before the 25th anniversary of placing the bond on them or they will turn into pale ones. Pale ones are vampire/zombie-like beings created by the Black Mage. There’s an army of them trying to break into the kingdom. They come from the Void and it’s believed to be Layala’s destiny to destroy the Void. Also, if one of them dies, they both die. A super fun mating bond.
And now, spoilers:
So obviously they slowly fall in love, but Thane has been in love with Layala his whole life. He’s waited for her and protected her his whole life. He withstood abuse from his father for failing to locate Layala even though he knew exactly where she was. Thane’s mother and sister are awful to Layala from the start, and believe she should be grateful to be bonded to the High King. Thane postpones their wedding to give Layala the opportunity to break the bond despite thoroughly believing it’s impossible. He eventually reveals that he killed his murderous father by feeding him to pale ones. Oh and Thane is also a mage. So there’s that.
Eventually, Layala finds out that Thane kept the full mating ritual from her. In order to complete the spell, they must wed AND consummate IN LOVE. But Layala swore to never love again after the man she loved died after having sex. You see Layala’s magic is dark and wild much like the Black Mage’s and it attracts pale ones. She believes if she and Thane have sex that it will kill him and because of the bond, it will kill her too.
Of course they find out from a dragon sorceress that there is a way to break the bond and that the spell has a loyalty clause that would’ve killed anyone either of them slept with (if it wasn’t their mate). So Layala chose to keep the bond because she loves Thane. Unfortunately, they argued and he ended up getting captured and tortured by enemy elves. She saves him, they bang, and then are on their way home.
That’s when they’re stopped by Tenebris who is not dead and wants to use Layala to raise the Black Mage, not destroy the Void. The dragon sorceress breaks the mating bond, seemingly kills Thane, and captures Layala. She wakes in a cell to find they were betrayed by Thane’s most trusted soldier and friend (who is also his bastard half-brother that he was unaware of). Tenebris threatens to kill Layala’s loved ones if she doesn’t raise the Black Mage. Then she receives a message that Thane is coming for her thus setting up the sequel.
And we’re back.
After reading Kearl’s bio, I learned that she keeps her fantasies PG-13, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not the vibe the TikToks were giving off and it certainly didn’t match up to the sexual taunts and tension buildup sprinkled throughout the book. There was sooooo much build up to the sex just for it to turn into a fade to black. Very disappointing but now I know what to expect.
The book was long with a lot of unimportant filler scenes that just felt bleh. I liked the basics of the story and the concept of the pale ones, the Void, and Layala’s magic were interesting, and it honestly is what kept me going. I didn’t really care for any of the characters as they’re pretty two-dimensional. Layala’s pretty great but she straight up lost sight over her lifelong beliefs pretty quickly. I wanted her to resist a little more and not really like Thane for a lot longer (I mean the book is 600 pages, there could’ve been more of her standing her ground). And Thane had A LOT of cockiness and confidence in his sexual abilities given he was a virgin.
I hated that NO ONE sympathized with Layala. They were all just pissed she wasn’t grateful to be bonded to Thane. No one considered she was raised by humans and Thane’s father KILLED HER PARENTS. Thane was too sure of himself and besting Layala several times, it’s a delicate balance when it comes to having a cocky love interest who’s VERY suggestive, it’s easy for it to be off-putting and creepy.
Also, while they keep debating breaking the bond, no one ever brought up the most important reason to break it: that if one dies, they both die?! Like they both claim to care about their people and that Layala would marry him if all fails to save the kingdom. But they’re willing to not break the bond, in the middle of a war, and potentially leave their kingdom without a king or queen or an heir of any kind? It doesn’t really make sense that this reason was NEVER brought up. Layala’s main reasoning to break it was because she swore to never love again and Thane’s the son of the man that killed her parents. Meanwhile, Thane’s 100% pro complete the mating spell.
Other than that, it was fun and mind numbing in a mildly entertaining way. Will read the sequel.
Layala Lightbringer is an elf that’s born with magic (aka a mage) in a world where there hasn’t been really been a mage since the Black Mage cursed the people when they defeated him. Her parents were common people, but everyone was forced to present their newborns to the High King Tenebris to be tested for magic. Layala obviously tests positive for magic and Tenebris forces a mating bond on Layala and his 3 year old son, Prince Thane. Her parents are able to escape with her long enough to place her in the care of a human friend who raises Layala far away from the capital in a human village. Unfortunately, her parents were killed.
25 years later, Prince Thane is now High King and he’s come to take Layala home to be his full mate. Layala hates him for obvious reasons on top of him kidnapping her. To complete the mating spell, they must wed before the 25th anniversary of placing the bond on them or they will turn into pale ones. Pale ones are vampire/zombie-like beings created by the Black Mage. There’s an army of them trying to break into the kingdom. They come from the Void and it’s believed to be Layala’s destiny to destroy the Void. Also, if one of them dies, they both die. A super fun mating bond.
And now, spoilers:
So obviously they slowly fall in love, but Thane has been in love with Layala his whole life. He’s waited for her and protected her his whole life. He withstood abuse from his father for failing to locate Layala even though he knew exactly where she was. Thane’s mother and sister are awful to Layala from the start, and believe she should be grateful to be bonded to the High King. Thane postpones their wedding to give Layala the opportunity to break the bond despite thoroughly believing it’s impossible. He eventually reveals that he killed his murderous father by feeding him to pale ones. Oh and Thane is also a mage. So there’s that.
Eventually, Layala finds out that Thane kept the full mating ritual from her. In order to complete the spell, they must wed AND consummate IN LOVE. But Layala swore to never love again after the man she loved died after having sex. You see Layala’s magic is dark and wild much like the Black Mage’s and it attracts pale ones. She believes if she and Thane have sex that it will kill him and because of the bond, it will kill her too.
Of course they find out from a dragon sorceress that there is a way to break the bond and that the spell has a loyalty clause that would’ve killed anyone either of them slept with (if it wasn’t their mate). So Layala chose to keep the bond because she loves Thane. Unfortunately, they argued and he ended up getting captured and tortured by enemy elves. She saves him, they bang, and then are on their way home.
That’s when they’re stopped by Tenebris who is not dead and wants to use Layala to raise the Black Mage, not destroy the Void. The dragon sorceress breaks the mating bond, seemingly kills Thane, and captures Layala. She wakes in a cell to find they were betrayed by Thane’s most trusted soldier and friend (who is also his bastard half-brother that he was unaware of). Tenebris threatens to kill Layala’s loved ones if she doesn’t raise the Black Mage. Then she receives a message that Thane is coming for her thus setting up the sequel.
And we’re back.
After reading Kearl’s bio, I learned that she keeps her fantasies PG-13, which there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not the vibe the TikToks were giving off and it certainly didn’t match up to the sexual taunts and tension buildup sprinkled throughout the book. There was sooooo much build up to the sex just for it to turn into a fade to black. Very disappointing but now I know what to expect.
The book was long with a lot of unimportant filler scenes that just felt bleh. I liked the basics of the story and the concept of the pale ones, the Void, and Layala’s magic were interesting, and it honestly is what kept me going. I didn’t really care for any of the characters as they’re pretty two-dimensional. Layala’s pretty great but she straight up lost sight over her lifelong beliefs pretty quickly. I wanted her to resist a little more and not really like Thane for a lot longer (I mean the book is 600 pages, there could’ve been more of her standing her ground). And Thane had A LOT of cockiness and confidence in his sexual abilities given he was a virgin.
I hated that NO ONE sympathized with Layala. They were all just pissed she wasn’t grateful to be bonded to Thane. No one considered she was raised by humans and Thane’s father KILLED HER PARENTS. Thane was too sure of himself and besting Layala several times, it’s a delicate balance when it comes to having a cocky love interest who’s VERY suggestive, it’s easy for it to be off-putting and creepy.
Also, while they keep debating breaking the bond, no one ever brought up the most important reason to break it: that if one dies, they both die?! Like they both claim to care about their people and that Layala would marry him if all fails to save the kingdom. But they’re willing to not break the bond, in the middle of a war, and potentially leave their kingdom without a king or queen or an heir of any kind? It doesn’t really make sense that this reason was NEVER brought up. Layala’s main reasoning to break it was because she swore to never love again and Thane’s the son of the man that killed her parents. Meanwhile, Thane’s 100% pro complete the mating spell.
Other than that, it was fun and mind numbing in a mildly entertaining way. Will read the sequel.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Gore
Minor: Death of parent
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