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militantlyromantic's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
5.0
I was delighted by this trilogy. Both characters have good reason to mistrust each other, but they're also deep-down ethical people, and Roland, who's a cinnamon roll despite everything expected of him, refuses to believe the worst of Sairis even when Sairis gives him every opportunity to.
In addition to the well-drawn romance that functions far more on these two deciding again and again to trust each other in order to overcome outside obstacles than on the moral-enemies setup, there are a lot of great supporting characters. Daphne, Roland's sister, is at once a practical, intentional leader, but she's also a highly supportive sibling and a girl who's having fun with the man she's marrying for political reasons. The leader of the mage school in Daphne and Roland's kingdom turns out to have a complex and fascinating history and by the end of the trilogy, I kind of wanted an entire book about him.
As much as this is a romance, it shares time as a fantasy, and to some extent, a political thriller, and all of the pieces come together in a satisfactory way. If you're into any of those genres, I would tell you it's worth checking out.
In addition to the well-drawn romance that functions far more on these two deciding again and again to trust each other in order to overcome outside obstacles than on the moral-enemies setup, there are a lot of great supporting characters. Daphne, Roland's sister, is at once a practical, intentional leader, but she's also a highly supportive sibling and a girl who's having fun with the man she's marrying for political reasons. The leader of the mage school in Daphne and Roland's kingdom turns out to have a complex and fascinating history and by the end of the trilogy, I kind of wanted an entire book about him.
As much as this is a romance, it shares time as a fantasy, and to some extent, a political thriller, and all of the pieces come together in a satisfactory way. If you're into any of those genres, I would tell you it's worth checking out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Grief
Minor: Child abuse
Brief misgendering of a character, but the person who does so is quickly corrected.
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