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anapthine's review
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Gore, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Violence, War, Grief, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting, Genocide, and Confinement
folkofthebook's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
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
4.0
Move over sunshine x grumpy, this is sunshine x annoying little shit and I fucking love it.
The Jester is my new fav fictional man rn.
The beginning was admittedly a little slow for me and a bit of info dumping. It really picks up once The Jester is introduced and omg did that hook me in. The banter, the tension, every scene between them had me kicking my feet in bed squealing. The romance development was excellent throughout the progression of their relationship.
There were things I saw coming but also some surprises. I haven't read a fantasy book w strong political intrigue for a while, and I was really invested in this book's mystery. Sometimes I wanted to give Leyna a hard kick for some of her choices, but her constant internal struggle between what is right and wrong, the disillusionment of achieving our goals, and her sense of identity made her a wonderfully complex and flawed character in the best way.
Tonally, the story would shift between slightly darker medieval-inspired fantasy to very strongly fantasy romance, which was intriguing. I think I'd even compare it as a Magicians (the show, I never read the books) meets FBAA (better character writing though, no hate JLA) meets Folk of the Air series (political intrigue).
I don't usually reread (bc I'm haunted by my neverending TBR), but I will 100% be rereading this just for Jester x Leyna scenes & dynamic.
I'm dying for the next book so I hope you have that ready soon JP bc I NEED MORE.
The Jester is my new fav fictional man rn.
The beginning was admittedly a little slow for me and a bit of info dumping. It really picks up once The Jester is introduced and omg did that hook me in. The banter, the tension, every scene between them had me kicking my feet in bed squealing. The romance development was excellent throughout the progression of their relationship.
There were things I saw coming but also some surprises. I haven't read a fantasy book w strong political intrigue for a while, and I was really invested in this book's mystery. Sometimes I wanted to give Leyna a hard kick for some of her choices, but her constant internal struggle between what is right and wrong, the disillusionment of achieving our goals, and her sense of identity made her a wonderfully complex and flawed character in the best way.
Tonally, the story would shift between slightly darker medieval-inspired fantasy to very strongly fantasy romance, which was intriguing. I think I'd even compare it as a Magicians (the show, I never read the books) meets FBAA (better character writing though, no hate JLA) meets Folk of the Air series (political intrigue).
I don't usually reread (bc I'm haunted by my neverending TBR), but I will 100% be rereading this just for Jester x Leyna scenes & dynamic.
I'm dying for the next book so I hope you have that ready soon JP bc I NEED MORE.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Sexual content and Grief
Minor: Death of parent, Gore, and War
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