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sophia_turner's review
5.0
What Rien does with Valerin the Fair is ambitious.
The prose is sculpted, not unlike a poet weighing every word, every sense of timbre in how words interconnect, and every interposition of image to create texture. At first, this amount of detailed ornamentation can feel like a veneer, but as you continue it's apparent that the wordcraft is load-bearing.
Everything about Valerin the Fair is meant to invoke an ancient, mystic world, completely unencumbered by the familiar. We, as readers, are the ones entering this world, and once you're in, Rien draws the story around you.
And yes, it does live up to its reputation for being spicy. That spice, like other interactions of characters, is woven with the same care as every other element. The pleasure, as a reader, is the experience of being inside what Rien has created, and it's well worth a revisit.
The prose is sculpted, not unlike a poet weighing every word, every sense of timbre in how words interconnect, and every interposition of image to create texture. At first, this amount of detailed ornamentation can feel like a veneer, but as you continue it's apparent that the wordcraft is load-bearing.
Everything about Valerin the Fair is meant to invoke an ancient, mystic world, completely unencumbered by the familiar. We, as readers, are the ones entering this world, and once you're in, Rien draws the story around you.
And yes, it does live up to its reputation for being spicy. That spice, like other interactions of characters, is woven with the same care as every other element. The pleasure, as a reader, is the experience of being inside what Rien has created, and it's well worth a revisit.
penandpages's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
joreadsbooks's review
adventurous
reflective
fast-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? Yes
5.0
If you're looking for butch knights, intimate duels, gender-affirming smut featuring an older sorceress, and prose that has an impressive command of mood and vocabulary, look no further.
ceruleanshelves's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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? No
4.25
an arthurian-inspired sapphic fantasy romance between a butch knight and a femme sorceress. set to exquisite prose with lush detailing, it's a fast burn, high heat short with enemies to lovers (magically gifted appendage included). i especially loved the druid and sorceress lore.
mosswolf's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
imaginejolls's review
hopeful
inspiring
relaxing
fast-paced
4.0
beautifully poetic prose and vivid imagery
wardenred's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Honor is for fools. What code can deflect a sword? Loyalty and duty are what matter.
Frequently, my first reaction to reading a novella is along the lines of, "I wish it was a full novel." With this one, weirdly enough, I kind of wish it was a short story. Or a collection of loosely related short stories, maybe—just short snippets of the characters' lives, allowing the reader to be the one to imagine how much time may have passed in between them and what might have happened.
To elaborate, there are a lot of scenes or scene sequences that were really beautiful and kind of stood on their own. I would absolutely dig them as shorts/flash fics! But the transition between them weren't always smooth, and the fact that the romance leads go literally from "you burned my home down you villain" to "this is one true love" in the space of less than 24 hours gives it such a rushed feeling. I'm not much of an insta-love person in general, but today I learned that combined with my favorite enemies to lovers trope it just doesn't work for me at all.
Would I mind a more thorough, slower development, if this was a full novel? Absolutely not! But the writing is so beautiful and effective on that small-scale scene level, sooo... Shorts. Give me a series of tiny shorts with fog of ambiguity between them instead of transitions. Yes, I'm surprised by this conclusion, too. :D
Anyway, the writing was absolutely lovely, the Brocéliande Forest came alive on the page, and I enjoyed the druid and witchcraft lore. I also feel the sapphic and genderfluid rep was well done.
nmcannon's review
adventurous
emotional
slow-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? No
5.0
As a huge medieval and Arthurian nerd, this series scratches an itch that long needed attending. Every sentence lit up my brain. I adored the twist, and the dichotomy of woodsy & fire imagery had me swooning. Gray can write whatever they want forever.
merlinagarance's review
4.0
I don't read novellas much so I am always frustrated because by the time I get into it the story ends. But this is a beautiful piece of writing, every sentence carefully crafted. I hope to find out more about the universe and characters in the next instalments
halexhandrha's review
1.0
Not a fan of the insta-love/power dynamic/age-gap given the possibility of them being technically related.
Also the duel was hotter than the actual smut.