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theboricuabookworm's review
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
If Lor doesn't want to be Nadir's, I happily will <3. In all seriousness I haven't devoured a fantasy in so so long and the way that I am flying through these? In deep despair that I don't have book three already? Am gonna be thinking about them (<3) for a long time? I am back in my fantasy era and no one can tell me anything.
Back to my point about being Nadir's. I have deep respect for Lor for looking at *all that* and still being "no I am mine and mine alone". Feminism did not leave her body when she saw his. I am estressed about them going back to Aphelion but it'll be fine. Right?? Also Gabriel's POV is coming up and I am READY.
Back to my point about being Nadir's. I have deep respect for Lor for looking at *all that* and still being "no I am mine and mine alone". Feminism did not leave her body when she saw his. I am estressed about them going back to Aphelion but it'll be fine. Right?? Also Gabriel's POV is coming up and I am READY.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Vomit
jadeandherbunny's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
tense
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? Yes
4.25
This book has been a great time for me. It was certainly better than TOTSQ. Lor was a bit insufferable at the start but she evolved in a very satisfying way. I love Nadir, he might be one of my rare book boyfriends if the sequel is going to be as good as this book. I love that he knows his wrongs and I think he might try to not replicate them next. Also love that he is a feminist despite his nature. Only down side to the book is that the writing at times is unrealistic. Like Lor, a woman that has been in prison most of the time, has a complex vocabulary. At times I had to look up the words she uses even if she has not read a single book (or at least she didn't say so) in her life. Her vocab is even larger than people living in castles! Like only Lor uses words like "surreptitious" or "anti-climatic". Oh and also Lor has been a bit homophobic towards her sister and Amya
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Torture, Child abuse, Grief, Violence, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and War
Moderate: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
I loved this follow up to Trial of the Sun Queen, where we spend time in the Aurora Kingdom with the Aurora Prince, Nadir, and Lor is finally reunited with her siblings from Nostraza! Nadir spends the entire book pretending that Lor is just another random hookup that he is keeping in his area of the court, hiding her true identity from his father because of his elusiveness surrounding his motivations to find Lor in the first book.
Most of the book is spent in character and romance exploration between Lor and Nadir, as Lor wrestles with what Atlas tried to do to her with the bond in the last book. They decide “it’s just sex, right?” and play around with the idea of actually hooking up, but denying that there’s anything beyond this sexual tension. I actually really enjoy that setup because at least they’re acknowledging their attraction, and now are just avoiding their romantic feelings hahaha. It’s very entertaining!
I forgot that these people are fae and that they can fly, so when Nadir flew with Lor in his arms, I giggled because I forgot this is fantasy because there has been such a huge focus on the romance, which I am a sucker for. But then!!!! Big big big spoiler omg Lor’s magic awakens! ahhhhhh then I remembered ‘yup, this is *fantasy*, not just romance, buckle UP!’ I appreciated how she discovered it & am interested to see how she will learn to control it in the next book!
A lot of the plot movement happens in the last 15% of the book, with another ending that entices readers to get oh so excited for the next book!
Honorable mention to some sapphic romance developing between the side characters Amya (Nadir’s younger sister) & Willow (Lor’s sister, can’t remember if she’s younger or older lol forgive me!)
steam rating: 3 or 4/5 — it’s a lot steamier than the first book because Nadir and Lor’s tension is so much better than her and the Sun King’s!!!!! You also get a BJ scene from Nadir’s POV if you sign up for NJT’s newsletter👀 uhhhhh done and done ✅ 🤭
see content warnings below — a lot of Nadir’s mom’s backstory really got to me, so fucking sad & she deserves better 😭
I loved this follow up to Trial of the Sun Queen, where we spend time in the Aurora Kingdom with the Aurora Prince, Nadir, and Lor is finally reunited with her siblings from Nostraza! Nadir spends the entire book pretending that Lor is just another random hookup that he is keeping in his area of the court, hiding her true identity from his father because of his elusiveness surrounding his motivations to find Lor in the first book.
Most of the book is spent in character and romance exploration between Lor and Nadir, as Lor wrestles with what Atlas tried to do to her with the bond in the last book. They decide “it’s just sex, right?” and play around with the idea of actually hooking up, but denying that there’s anything beyond this sexual tension. I actually really enjoy that setup because at least they’re acknowledging their attraction, and now are just avoiding their romantic feelings hahaha. It’s very entertaining!
I forgot that these people are fae and that they can fly, so when Nadir flew with Lor in his arms, I giggled because I forgot this is fantasy because there has been such a huge focus on the romance, which I am a sucker for. But then!!!! Big big big spoiler
A lot of the plot movement happens in the last 15% of the book, with another ending that entices readers to get oh so excited for the next book!
Honorable mention to some sapphic romance developing between the side characters Amya (Nadir’s younger sister) & Willow (Lor’s sister, can’t remember if she’s younger or older lol forgive me!)
steam rating: 3 or 4/5 — it’s a lot steamier than the first book because Nadir and Lor’s tension is so much better than her and the Sun King’s!!!!! You also get a BJ scene from Nadir’s POV if you sign up for NJT’s newsletter👀 uhhhhh done and done ✅ 🤭
see content warnings below — a lot of Nadir’s mom’s backstory really got to me, so fucking sad & she deserves better 😭
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Pregnancy, Violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Confinement
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
Minor: Sexual violence, Torture, and War
misswillacolyns's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, and Sexual assault
rachelglazer's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
While the bones of a good story were there, it feels like this book just missed the mark. It wasn't and descriptive and dynamic and I had hoped, and although we spend a lot of time with the main characters, they still don't feel very round. Entertaining, but not as strong as I wanted it to be based on the premise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Violence, War, and Pregnancy
xapoptosisx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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? Yes
4.75
I cannot wait for the next book omg. The flashback chapters in this book was so good and I hope we get more background on atlas in the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, War, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Cursing
Minor: Vomit and Rape
booksalacarte's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Rule Of the Aurora King- 3.75⭐️ 2.75🌶️
New Adult
High Romantasy
Romantic Fantasy
Multi POV
Bipoc
Flashbacks
Fae Courts
Magic
Politics
Feuding Kingdoms
Secrets
Slow Burn
🏳️🌈 Side Character Rep
Reluctant Allies to Lovers
Open Door Spicy Scenes
This was a great second book. I am so glad that the plot was so definitively different from the first book. There wasn’t any confusing first romance and second. Thankfully the FMC was fighting herself enough to know that she was growing from the person she was in the first book.
However, the pace did slow down quite a bit, and the stakes came down a peg or two. While not bad, it allowed the plot to get some breathing room that I feel was really necessary for the character arcs of the MC’s. But the hot and cold pendulum between the MC’s also got old really fast.
The world building was nice with the addition to the flashbacks, bringing a new POV into the fold. However, I didn’t find myself liking the characters in the flashback…
The magic system was laid out a little more, but I’m still at a loss as to what ANY of the high face’s powers actually are or how they manifest.
As far as individual character development goes, the blatant rage from the FMC died down, giving us a better look at Lor when she isn’t starving or afraid she is going to die. That’s probably really important. Nasir felt a bit too much like a doormat, which I can’t imagine anyone likes… I’ll be interested to see his continuing character arc in the next book now that he is a bit freer, in the same way Lor did in this book.
I didn’t love “Inmate” as a sexy nickname… especially since she told him many time to not call her that. They weren’t very good at keeping anything secret or under wraps… their fake dating was in fact terrible cover for their true purpose because there wasn’t a fake name or anything that they used. What kind of spy’s are they?!… bad ones.
But I still enjoyed myself and was drawn in, so I will be reading the next book in the series.
Thank you NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for an Advanced eReader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Sexual content
amanda_reads13's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Lor is taken to The Aurora and if forced to team up with The Aurora Prince to locate her crown.
After reading the first one, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue this series. I still feel like the author was trying to incorporate every possible trope in these books while mashing together the plot from a dozen popular books. Compared to the other fantasy books out there, this series felt kind of bland. The characters are flat and not well developed. The world building just isn't there. The dialogue is incredibly corny at points and the writing just feels like its lacking.
Lor and Nadir's relationship was giving me whiplash. She has trust issues and he is overly possessive. WE. GET. IT. It is thrown in our face every few pages. We know they are fated mates, that has been made pretty obvious. The fact that they have yet to figure that out is very frustrating. The inmate nickname is giving me the ick.
Lor became incredibly immature and made so many poor decisions. In the first book, she was obviously motivated by her desperation to save her siblings. In this one, her inner monologue was incredibly annoying.
I did like the new POV added. I feel like Serce was a pretty interesting and ruthless character. I would be more interested in her book.
Tropes: fated mates, enemies to lovers, one bed, forbidden, fantasy, age gap, touch her/you die, slow burn, found family, fake dating, hidden identity, kidnapper/captive, he falls first
After reading the first one, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue this series. I still feel like the author was trying to incorporate every possible trope in these books while mashing together the plot from a dozen popular books. Compared to the other fantasy books out there, this series felt kind of bland. The characters are flat and not well developed. The world building just isn't there. The dialogue is incredibly corny at points and the writing just feels like its lacking.
Lor and Nadir's relationship was giving me whiplash. She has trust issues and he is overly possessive. WE. GET. IT. It is thrown in our face every few pages. We know they are fated mates, that has been made pretty obvious. The fact that they have yet to figure that out is very frustrating. The inmate nickname is giving me the ick.
Lor became incredibly immature and made so many poor decisions. In the first book, she was obviously motivated by her desperation to save her siblings. In this one, her inner monologue was incredibly annoying.
I did like the new POV added. I feel like Serce was a pretty interesting and ruthless character. I would be more interested in her book.
Tropes: fated mates, enemies to lovers, one bed, forbidden, fantasy, age gap, touch her/you die, slow burn, found family, fake dating, hidden identity, kidnapper/captive, he falls first
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Grief, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, and Misogyny
bzliz's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Lor’s adventure continues as she finds herself locked away yet again, this time by the Aurora Prince Nadir and his companions. He wants information from her so he can bring down his evil father but she won’t share anything until her “friends” aka her siblings are safe from Nostraza. Nadir’s companions make it happen and Lor reluctantly admits she’s the heir to the destroyed land of Heart. She and Nadir team up to find the missing Heart crown and unlock her magic to claim her rightful place, but the Aurora King is never far behind.
This books had some really great spicy scenes if you like a lot of banter and reluctant attraction between two people who don’t understand why the other gets under their skin so much. There’s also a bonus chapter you can read if you sign up for the author’s newsletter of one of the spicy scenes told from Nadir’s perspective instead but honestly, you can skip it. It was really repetitive of the actual scene and didn’t give any further insight into his character.
Like this first book, we get chapters in Lor and Nadir’s perspectives- written in first person- but now we get Serce’s perspective almost 300 years in the past, written in third person and giving a glimpse into how Heart came to be destroyed. Serce and Wolf are pretty terrible people so it makes sense that Lor and Nadir would be their mirrors in the present day.
There are some references back to what the Mirror told Lor at the end of the Sun Queen trials but I really needed the reminders of what exactly it said. This is something I find frustrating about fantasy books; I can’t remember the exact words of this inanimate object to see how it lines up with what the characters are doing now! I also have to dock some points for the section at the Keep because all these two dummies had to do to avoid being found out was to give Lor a fake name. That section also had little to contribute plot-wise and served more as spicy fan service than anything of substance.
Despite my criticisms, I did really enjoy this and I’m excited for the third one when it comes out.
This books had some really great spicy scenes if you like a lot of banter and reluctant attraction between two people who don’t understand why the other gets under their skin so much. There’s also a bonus chapter you can read if you sign up for the author’s newsletter of one of the spicy scenes told from Nadir’s perspective instead but honestly, you can skip it. It was really repetitive of the actual scene and didn’t give any further insight into his character.
Like this first book, we get chapters in Lor and Nadir’s perspectives- written in first person- but now we get Serce’s perspective almost 300 years in the past, written in third person and giving a glimpse into how Heart came to be destroyed. Serce and Wolf are pretty terrible people so it makes sense that Lor and Nadir would be their mirrors in the present day.
There are some references back to what the Mirror told Lor at the end of the Sun Queen trials but I really needed the reminders of what exactly it said. This is something I find frustrating about fantasy books; I can’t remember the exact words of this inanimate object to see how it lines up with what the characters are doing now! I also have to dock some points for the section at the Keep because all these two dummies had to do to avoid being found out was to give Lor a fake name. That section also had little to contribute plot-wise and served more as spicy fan service than anything of substance.
Despite my criticisms, I did really enjoy this and I’m excited for the third one when it comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Violence
Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Pregnancy
kayceeisbookish's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content
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