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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-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
Read it for the romance, not the plot.
Radiance gives us one of the most refreshingly mature arranged marriages in fantasy romance. Ildiko and Brishen don’t start off in love, but they do start off kind. Their banter is charming, their affection grows naturally, and there’s no pointless miscommunication dragging things down. It’s soft. It’s sweet. It’s cuddly as hell. If you’re here for a feel-good, slow-burn romance between two people who genuinely like each other from the beginning? You’re going to love this.
But the plot?
Oof. There’s so much promise—political tension, racial divisions, courtly intrigue, magical danger—and almost none of it pays off. Everything that could’ve raised the stakes just…hangs in the background. The real action doesn’t show up until the epilogue, and by then it’s like the story remembered it had bigger things to do and went “oh crap, guess we should set up book two.”
It’s frustrating, because the potential is right there. Draven can clearly write the hell out of both character and atmosphere. I just wish the plot had been allowed to stand beside the romance instead of hiding behind it.
TL;DR: Loved the couple. Wanted more from the world they were in.
Radiance gives us one of the most refreshingly mature arranged marriages in fantasy romance. Ildiko and Brishen don’t start off in love, but they do start off kind. Their banter is charming, their affection grows naturally, and there’s no pointless miscommunication dragging things down. It’s soft. It’s sweet. It’s cuddly as hell. If you’re here for a feel-good, slow-burn romance between two people who genuinely like each other from the beginning? You’re going to love this.
But the plot?
Oof. There’s so much promise—political tension, racial divisions, courtly intrigue, magical danger—and almost none of it pays off. Everything that could’ve raised the stakes just…hangs in the background. The real action doesn’t show up until the epilogue, and by then it’s like the story remembered it had bigger things to do and went “oh crap, guess we should set up book two.”
It’s frustrating, because the potential is right there. Draven can clearly write the hell out of both character and atmosphere. I just wish the plot had been allowed to stand beside the romance instead of hiding behind it.
TL;DR: Loved the couple. Wanted more from the world they were in.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you're looking for a spicy book, don't look here. If you're looking for a mature slow burn romance with good communication between adults, definitely look here. This was a very enjoyable slower burn romance between the two main characters who start off as an arranged marriage from two very different cultures and start off not only amicable, but become lovers. This was a very enjoyable story. I am only giving it 4.5 stars because I was under the mistaken impression that the sexy scenes would be more descriptive. They are wonderfully crafted, but few and not very explicit. Only complaint.
Review TLDR: This is a must-read for all romantasy readers. Full stop. Don’t even bother reading the review. Just go get the damn book already.
Overall: But why, you ask? Because it’s the right combination of spice, character development, romance, and worldbuilding in a book that is less than 300 pages. In other words, it doesn’t take half of your life and all of your sanity to finish. Brishen and Ildiko are a delightful pair and their friends/family/enemies round out the book in the best possible way. It does end on a cliffhanger, but not one that makes you feel like you didn’t get an end to the first half of the story. I won’t lie; this is one of my favorite romantasy series and one I recommend to anyone who wants to get into the “monster-lover” subsection of the genre.
Spice Level: 3/5; Open door, with details, but this is not a smutty book. The romance is a slow-burn based primary on friendship and comradery first, love second. You’ll notice I didn’t include lust in there and there’s a good reason: these two are not of the same species and they are repugnant to each other physically (at first). It means no lusting until a firm relationship has already formed. That aside, their entire relationship is funny, charming, and heartwarming. Their first meeting should be required reading for anyone who wants to know what chemistry without sexuality ought to look like, for sure. Oh, and when the sex does come around, it’s very earned and satisfying (he he).
Pacing/Filler: This book is not an action thriller, by any means, and there are some sections that could use a little trimming (Brishen tends to wax philosophical about Ildiko’s finer personality traits, which gets a little repetitive), but the pacing is consistent overall. It’s a steady book from beginning to end, with moments of action interspersed with court drama and slice of life scenes. It’s a relatively short book, so the author keeps things moving along.
Character Development: Let’s talk turkey: these two are not your typical romantasy heroes – Ildiko is a soft noblewoman who doesn’t even pretend to know how to use a sharp surface against her enemies. Brishen is a warrior through and through, but doesn’t use his abilities to intimidate her in any way. I think their largest moments of growth come from trying to see the world through each other’s eyes; Ildiko learns to evaluate a home for its martial properties, for example. This is the same lady who was raised to be a court flower, so it’s an interesting show of her adaptability and willingness to learn new things. Brishen, by contrast, doesn’t know the first thing about the beauty of aesthetics (he can’t even name the local flowers!) and has to defer to Ildiko…until he decides to learn. And did I mention that at no point do these two ever threaten, harass, or harm one another? Their only insults are given in a humorous way, to make the other person laugh. If you want maturity, complexity, and respectability in your FMC and MMC, these two are here for you.
Side characters? Oh yes, I have to stop gushing for a moment about Brishen and Ildiko…ok, how’s this? Brishen’s cousin Anhuset could have easily been the little sister trope – but she’s a better warrior than him and the first person he asks for any task that needs doing. She also shows growth by overcoming a clear prejudice against humans and comes to respect Ildiko for her unique strengths (even offers to train her, even though that was mostly a joke). Sereovek is a close friend of Brishen, a human lord who technically lives in the enemy kingdom but values Brishen’s honor over his king’s dumbassery any day. Also, I think he has a crush on Anhuset…But the scene stealer is Secmis, Queen of the Kai and all-around champion of the Evil Mommy competition. She’s just so…awful. The worst. She’s literally the worst, y’all. Nine times out of ten if something bad has happened, it’s because she did it. And while it would have been easy to make her a caricature of pure evil, she doesn’t come off that way – mostly because everyone around her acknowledges that she’s a total bitch and tries to pretend she doesn’t exist. As they should.
World Building: This world has many unique elements in it, but overall it is still your standard fantasy setting. Swords, horses, candlelight, tunics, and more are the familiar bits. The unfamiliar comes from the new race that the author has created: the Kai. These are tall, lithe, almost cat-like beings that have razor blades for claws and fangs that will slice through anything. Also, they are blue. Well, technically Ildiko describes their skin color as “corpse-like,” but yeah; mostly blue-ish. For those who play D&D, they seem to look like Drow…if Drow were Teiflings and not Elves. I enjoyed there not being any Fae or vampires in this book, but that’s because this book is older and missed those trends, I think. Still, the Kai are not standard-issue by any means and I think you will enjoy learning about them. The mortum lights in particular are a beautiful and singular concept that highlights the differences between the Kai and humans without bashing the reader over the head with it.
As for the world itself, we learn that there are humans and there are the Kai – and for most of history the two did not mix. The catalyst for the book, and the majority of the conflict, is the Kai nation choosing to marry into one of the human realms for trade reasons. Naturally, this pisses off all the other human kingdoms. If you’ve placed Axis & Allies, this should not come as a huge shock. There is some magic in the world but it is limited in its scope and seems to be beyond human reach. If anything, magic seems to be dying (and having read the second book, you should know that this may not be a big deal in Radiance, but it is in the sequel). We learn about the trade and the martial capabilities of each kingdom, as well as some court intrigue, but not so much that it gets boring or stomps on the pacing.
There are only two world building inconsistencies that I noticed: Ildiko’s knowledge of the Kai language and the color of the Kai race’s eyes. In some scenes Ildiko’s language skills are spotty, in others it’s flawless. It really seems to depend on what the author needs her to be able to do at that moment. Not a huge deal, but if you’ve studied a language, you know it takes more than a few weeks to go from “Huh?” to bantering with an Evil Queen who hates your guts and can only express it with her words. As for the eyes, sometimes they are pearly and other times they are shades of yellow. If that were because of the lighting, the author probably would have said so. But since she didn’t, and she keeps using the word “nacreous,” I’m calling it out. And lastly, there is considerable potato slander in this novel and I will not have it. Long live the tasty, tasty potato!
Obvious Errors an Author/Editor Should Have Caught: This is a self-published novel and it shows. The grammar mistakes are the biggest problem with this book by far: sometimes punctuation is missing, sometimes words are in the wrong verb/noun tense, and she seems to fucking hate the Oxford comma with the same passion I will spend defending it. Every now and again you will notice a mistake that an editor would have caught, but nothing that pulled me out of the narrative for long. The author also has a love of less common words that probably could have been replaced for readability – “nacreous,” “hericide,” and “lambert” are all used. For those who don’t have time to Google, they mean “pearly,” “Lord-killer,” and “shining.” These things aside, the writing itself is top-notch. The sentence structure is varied, the use of adjectives is balanced, and the paragraphs are never walls of text.
Bechdel Test Survivor: Yes, easily. There is an even entire scene of Ildiko and her ladies declaring war on a scorpion when no men are mentioned, at least until Brishen shows up. But even then the conversation doesn’t talk about him at all.
Content Warnings: Torture, death of a child, implications of incest, and narcissistic mother. Dear lord, I hate that bitch.
Is the FMC/MMC Unfaithful: Not on your life. Besides, Ildiko is surrounded by people who think she looks like a mollusk. And the few humans in the book think Brishen looks like a dead cat. Who are they gonna mess around with anyway?
If You Like This, I Recommend: Traitor’s Son by Melissa Cave for the respectful, slow-burn arranged marriage, or One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig for the tension-filled world building.
Overall: But why, you ask? Because it’s the right combination of spice, character development, romance, and worldbuilding in a book that is less than 300 pages. In other words, it doesn’t take half of your life and all of your sanity to finish. Brishen and Ildiko are a delightful pair and their friends/family/enemies round out the book in the best possible way. It does end on a cliffhanger, but not one that makes you feel like you didn’t get an end to the first half of the story. I won’t lie; this is one of my favorite romantasy series and one I recommend to anyone who wants to get into the “monster-lover” subsection of the genre.
Spice Level: 3/5; Open door, with details, but this is not a smutty book. The romance is a slow-burn based primary on friendship and comradery first, love second. You’ll notice I didn’t include lust in there and there’s a good reason: these two are not of the same species and they are repugnant to each other physically (at first). It means no lusting until a firm relationship has already formed. That aside, their entire relationship is funny, charming, and heartwarming. Their first meeting should be required reading for anyone who wants to know what chemistry without sexuality ought to look like, for sure. Oh, and when the sex does come around, it’s very earned and satisfying (he he).
Pacing/Filler: This book is not an action thriller, by any means, and there are some sections that could use a little trimming (Brishen tends to wax philosophical about Ildiko’s finer personality traits, which gets a little repetitive), but the pacing is consistent overall. It’s a steady book from beginning to end, with moments of action interspersed with court drama and slice of life scenes. It’s a relatively short book, so the author keeps things moving along.
Character Development: Let’s talk turkey: these two are not your typical romantasy heroes – Ildiko is a soft noblewoman who doesn’t even pretend to know how to use a sharp surface against her enemies. Brishen is a warrior through and through, but doesn’t use his abilities to intimidate her in any way. I think their largest moments of growth come from trying to see the world through each other’s eyes; Ildiko learns to evaluate a home for its martial properties, for example. This is the same lady who was raised to be a court flower, so it’s an interesting show of her adaptability and willingness to learn new things. Brishen, by contrast, doesn’t know the first thing about the beauty of aesthetics (he can’t even name the local flowers!) and has to defer to Ildiko…until he decides to learn. And did I mention that at no point do these two ever threaten, harass, or harm one another? Their only insults are given in a humorous way, to make the other person laugh. If you want maturity, complexity, and respectability in your FMC and MMC, these two are here for you.
Side characters? Oh yes, I have to stop gushing for a moment about Brishen and Ildiko…ok, how’s this? Brishen’s cousin Anhuset could have easily been the little sister trope – but she’s a better warrior than him and the first person he asks for any task that needs doing. She also shows growth by overcoming a clear prejudice against humans and comes to respect Ildiko for her unique strengths (even offers to train her, even though that was mostly a joke). Sereovek is a close friend of Brishen, a human lord who technically lives in the enemy kingdom but values Brishen’s honor over his king’s dumbassery any day. Also, I think he has a crush on Anhuset…But the scene stealer is Secmis, Queen of the Kai and all-around champion of the Evil Mommy competition. She’s just so…awful. The worst. She’s literally the worst, y’all. Nine times out of ten if something bad has happened, it’s because she did it. And while it would have been easy to make her a caricature of pure evil, she doesn’t come off that way – mostly because everyone around her acknowledges that she’s a total bitch and tries to pretend she doesn’t exist. As they should.
World Building: This world has many unique elements in it, but overall it is still your standard fantasy setting. Swords, horses, candlelight, tunics, and more are the familiar bits. The unfamiliar comes from the new race that the author has created: the Kai. These are tall, lithe, almost cat-like beings that have razor blades for claws and fangs that will slice through anything. Also, they are blue. Well, technically Ildiko describes their skin color as “corpse-like,” but yeah; mostly blue-ish. For those who play D&D, they seem to look like Drow…if Drow were Teiflings and not Elves. I enjoyed there not being any Fae or vampires in this book, but that’s because this book is older and missed those trends, I think. Still, the Kai are not standard-issue by any means and I think you will enjoy learning about them. The mortum lights in particular are a beautiful and singular concept that highlights the differences between the Kai and humans without bashing the reader over the head with it.
As for the world itself, we learn that there are humans and there are the Kai – and for most of history the two did not mix. The catalyst for the book, and the majority of the conflict, is the Kai nation choosing to marry into one of the human realms for trade reasons. Naturally, this pisses off all the other human kingdoms. If you’ve placed Axis & Allies, this should not come as a huge shock. There is some magic in the world but it is limited in its scope and seems to be beyond human reach. If anything, magic seems to be dying (and having read the second book, you should know that this may not be a big deal in Radiance, but it is in the sequel). We learn about the trade and the martial capabilities of each kingdom, as well as some court intrigue, but not so much that it gets boring or stomps on the pacing.
There are only two world building inconsistencies that I noticed: Ildiko’s knowledge of the Kai language and the color of the Kai race’s eyes. In some scenes Ildiko’s language skills are spotty, in others it’s flawless. It really seems to depend on what the author needs her to be able to do at that moment. Not a huge deal, but if you’ve studied a language, you know it takes more than a few weeks to go from “Huh?” to bantering with an Evil Queen who hates your guts and can only express it with her words. As for the eyes, sometimes they are pearly and other times they are shades of yellow. If that were because of the lighting, the author probably would have said so. But since she didn’t, and she keeps using the word “nacreous,” I’m calling it out. And lastly, there is considerable potato slander in this novel and I will not have it. Long live the tasty, tasty potato!
Obvious Errors an Author/Editor Should Have Caught: This is a self-published novel and it shows. The grammar mistakes are the biggest problem with this book by far: sometimes punctuation is missing, sometimes words are in the wrong verb/noun tense, and she seems to fucking hate the Oxford comma with the same passion I will spend defending it. Every now and again you will notice a mistake that an editor would have caught, but nothing that pulled me out of the narrative for long. The author also has a love of less common words that probably could have been replaced for readability – “nacreous,” “hericide,” and “lambert” are all used. For those who don’t have time to Google, they mean “pearly,” “Lord-killer,” and “shining.” These things aside, the writing itself is top-notch. The sentence structure is varied, the use of adjectives is balanced, and the paragraphs are never walls of text.
Bechdel Test Survivor: Yes, easily. There is an even entire scene of Ildiko and her ladies declaring war on a scorpion when no men are mentioned, at least until Brishen shows up. But even then the conversation doesn’t talk about him at all.
Content Warnings: Torture, death of a child, implications of incest, and narcissistic mother. Dear lord, I hate that bitch.
Is the FMC/MMC Unfaithful: Not on your life. Besides, Ildiko is surrounded by people who think she looks like a mollusk. And the few humans in the book think Brishen looks like a dead cat. Who are they gonna mess around with anyway?
If You Like This, I Recommend: Traitor’s Son by Melissa Cave for the respectful, slow-burn arranged marriage, or One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig for the tension-filled world building.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Yes! This was fun!!! I’m not compelled to read its next instalments but the epilogue was tempting.
3.5 stars.
While Radiance leans heavily on the romance sub genre, I was thrilled to read a book that starts with a reasonably healthy friends to lovers situation and not the stereotypical bad-boy-codependence-enemies-to-lovers-obsession type relationships these genre loves.
My qualm with this book is that the plot is very slow, and focuses more on the interpersonal relationships and less on events that occur.
While Radiance leans heavily on the romance sub genre, I was thrilled to read a book that starts with a reasonably healthy friends to lovers situation and not the stereotypical bad-boy-codependence-enemies-to-lovers-obsession type relationships these genre loves.
My qualm with this book is that the plot is very slow, and focuses more on the interpersonal relationships and less on events that occur.
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This was a very difficult book for me to rate. On the one hand, I found the book entirely entertaining. The premise was great, the world building fantastic, and the basis for the characters were very solid. As well, the author is obviously very talented and knows which words to use to paint the most vivid picture.
On the other hand, it’s very obviously a self-published book; there needs to be a lot of editing done regarding characters (traits, development, etc) and how the story is told. The author loves to introduce a scene, then describe an event that happened just previously through a flashback, then go back to the first scene. It’s very disorienting, especially because the flashbacks don’t serve any purpose. It would be better to just write the scenes as they happen. As well, many times throughout the book, a scene happens, then the other main character describes the just-concluded scene through their eyes. It doesn’t add anything to the story. The two main characters are also both Mary Sue’s/Gary Stu’s. It makes liking them very difficult. The main problem between the two of them at the beginning is that they find each other hideous - however, it’s immediately explained that they’re both considered extremely attractive by their own species. The FMC is somehow both forgotten in her family and knows all about court politics and maneuvering. She also somehow knows how to speak her new husband’s language fluently, without explanation. The MMC is the best husband right off the bat and is generally a great person, while the rest of his family is not. There were ample opportunities to write some character flaws in but the author choose to not. The love story between the two main characters is also not really believable. Right away, they trust each other, are very touchy-feely, and generally act in love. It’s very very weird considering their situation.
Overall, this is not a technically great book. There are lots to be improved upon. However, the author has talent and crafts a great story. I bet this book would be fantastic if there was an editor involved. Even still, I loved reading it and will continue the duology. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a love story with court politics and an interesting world, and for those willing to deal with frustrating pacing and characters.
On the other hand, it’s very obviously a self-published book; there needs to be a lot of editing done regarding characters (traits, development, etc) and how the story is told. The author loves to introduce a scene, then describe an event that happened just previously through a flashback, then go back to the first scene. It’s very disorienting, especially because the flashbacks don’t serve any purpose. It would be better to just write the scenes as they happen. As well, many times throughout the book, a scene happens, then the other main character describes the just-concluded scene through their eyes. It doesn’t add anything to the story. The two main characters are also both Mary Sue’s/Gary Stu’s. It makes liking them very difficult. The main problem between the two of them at the beginning is that they find each other hideous - however, it’s immediately explained that they’re both considered extremely attractive by their own species. The FMC is somehow both forgotten in her family and knows all about court politics and maneuvering. She also somehow knows how to speak her new husband’s language fluently, without explanation. The MMC is the best husband right off the bat and is generally a great person, while the rest of his family is not. There were ample opportunities to write some character flaws in but the author choose to not. The love story between the two main characters is also not really believable. Right away, they trust each other, are very touchy-feely, and generally act in love. It’s very very weird considering their situation.
Overall, this is not a technically great book. There are lots to be improved upon. However, the author has talent and crafts a great story. I bet this book would be fantastic if there was an editor involved. Even still, I loved reading it and will continue the duology. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a love story with court politics and an interesting world, and for those willing to deal with frustrating pacing and characters.
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I loved the two main characters because they were so positive, encouraging, and honest with each other. No miscommunication or misunderstanding tropes here 😌 they see the best in each other and are empathetic to each other’s needs…just so refreshing from the usual romance tropes.
It was so good!!! I loved the writing, the humor, and the story. I look forward to book two.