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disneydamsel1's review
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
The writing itself lagged in a couple places but overall I loved this book.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
Minor: Sexism
chanlo1994's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Cursing, Death, Grief, and Suicide
Minor: Cannibalism and Confinement
myinvinciblesummer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This is definitely worth reading. I really really liked it. 3.75 is not an insult to a book, to me. It’s an above average book, which the amount of talent it takes to write an above average book? Incredible amounts! book I reslly recommend it! Please read it!!
I’d prefer more elf lore and back story (as I know nothing lol - I’m a fantasy reader who has never managed to stay awake during Lord of the Rings 😂) and every world can have different lore, so I’d love even more world building than we got.
I loved that this book had less commonly seen types of fantasy “races” than you typically see in a romantic fantasy, that was really exciting and one of my fav parts! I love that you actually see and read about people training, and how they are as strong and agile as they are. It helps me get the characters more but it also bugs me when everyone just happens to be ripped. This book doesn’t do that, people work hard to be their best.
I did suspect a lot of the secrets/surprises but I don’t actually get mad when I do, I don’t love shocking surprises anyway, real life stresses me out with that already, I prefer maybe guessing in a book and saving myself the stress. There was def enough I didn’t guess or see coming to keep it exciting even if you are a chronic “what’s coming next” guesser 😀
I loved that there was both a male and a female narrator. I love the voice that is done for the character Tif. If you can get the audiobook and like them, this one is really well done.
* Tropes * (imho)
I’d prefer more elf lore and back story (as I know nothing lol - I’m a fantasy reader who has never managed to stay awake during Lord of the Rings 😂) and every world can have different lore, so I’d love even more world building than we got.
I loved that this book had less commonly seen types of fantasy “races” than you typically see in a romantic fantasy, that was really exciting and one of my fav parts! I love that you actually see and read about people training, and how they are as strong and agile as they are. It helps me get the characters more but it also bugs me when everyone just happens to be ripped. This book doesn’t do that, people work hard to be their best.
I did suspect a lot of the secrets/surprises but I don’t actually get mad when I do, I don’t love shocking surprises anyway, real life stresses me out with that already, I prefer maybe guessing in a book and saving myself the stress. There was def enough I didn’t guess or see coming to keep it exciting even if you are a chronic “what’s coming next” guesser 😀
I loved that there was both a male and a female narrator. I love the voice that is done for the character Tif. If you can get the audiobook and like them, this one is really well done.
* Tropes * (imho)
- Slooooow burn 🔥 ❤️.
- One 🐎
- Adversaries to lovers 🗡️ 👩❤️👨 (not quite enemies, in my opinion)
- Arranged Marriage
- Healthy Touch Her and Die (think Rhysand in ACOMF, not Zade in Haunting Adeline)
- Badass Women
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Cursing, Death of parent, Bullying, Violence, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Confinement, Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, and Animal death
samileobooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
You get pulled into the book right from the first page.
Strong Enemies to Lovers Energy. I am sick of the Mate Tropes BUT…. this gets a pass. It’s done so well & you don’t hear mate 100x or more. Just trust me on it . If you feel that with mates too. Don’t let it detour you and you will thank me just take a leap. The different personalities between the characters are perfect. It is a very original story. We get so many creatures gnomes, sprites, dragons, trolls and more. They are brought into the story naturally and it’s not all shoved in. The world building was done well. I did not feel like there were any slow parts to the book. It was all very entertaining. I enjoyed the banter between the characters. I found a few heart felt moments that made my eyes tear up. 4 stars because I only give 5 to books that steal my heart and I can read them over and over again. I look forward to jumping into the second book. It set itself up well going into being a series.
Strong Enemies to Lovers Energy. I am sick of the Mate Tropes BUT…. this gets a pass. It’s done so well & you don’t hear mate 100x or more. Just trust me on it . If you feel that with mates too. Don’t let it detour you and you will thank me just take a leap. The different personalities between the characters are perfect. It is a very original story. We get so many creatures gnomes, sprites, dragons, trolls and more. They are brought into the story naturally and it’s not all shoved in. The world building was done well. I did not feel like there were any slow parts to the book. It was all very entertaining. I enjoyed the banter between the characters. I found a few heart felt moments that made my eyes tear up. 4 stars because I only give 5 to books that steal my heart and I can read them over and over again. I look forward to jumping into the second book. It set itself up well going into being a series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and War
shinyfox's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Torture
Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, and War
Minor: Body shaming, Misogyny, and Fatphobia
crinkledmochi's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
this was cute….
i can safely say i saw a few things coming but over all not a bad read, the ending was slightly anticlimactic but im interested to see where the story goes
i can safely say i saw a few things coming but over all not a bad read, the ending was slightly anticlimactic but im interested to see where the story goes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm
Moderate: Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Minor: Fatphobia, Body shaming, and Classism
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
calleina's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, and War
gabi_in_real_life's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Although the book in it's whole is enjoyable, the plot is predictable, the writing is not very good and most of it sounds like a rewrite of Shadow and Bone coupled with a wanna-be Feyre and Rhysand.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: War and Death of parent
ka_ke's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Bow Before the Elf Queen is a unique and refreshing romantasy. Although the story was somewhat basic, (fated mates, enemies to lovers), I appreciated the introduction of Tif the gnome as comic relief, and the use of other fantasy creatures beyond the always popular Fae. The spice is medium. It’s not as explicit as ACOTAR, Crescent City or From Blood and Ash, but it still does the job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Grief, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, and Death of parent
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