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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
IM HANGING OFF THE BIGGEST CLIFF WITH THAT ENDING WOW!!! I love these characters with my entire heart and shit just hit the fan and you're telling me I need to wait until this summer for the next book?!
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
I didn't read the first book, and so there are a couple of parts that did not fully make sense. However, with not having the first book, this was a great book. I loved the relationships and the characters. I want to know what happens next as there was such a huge reveal at the end of the book. I couldn't put this book down it was just so good.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you NetGalley and House Valor Books Inc for the audiobook ARC. I absolutely loved reading Bow Before the Elf queen and was super excited to get to listen to Long Live the Elf Queen as lately I’ve been able to prioritize audiobooks more than ebooks.
I was looking forward to this story so incredibly much. And I will admit it took a little bit to get used to the narrators voices. Once I did, I really enjoyed them though. So with that, here’s my thoughts. I tried to avoid any outright spoilers but there are a few more vague ones in here so read at your own risk.
Piper definitely stole the show here. And the addition of dragon shifters was *chef’s kiss*. At first I was skeptical of them, but man they really were great. There were some really great plot twists and I loved the nod to a crew of female sailors and fighting a female villain. Hell yeah girl power! We also got to know more about a few of the Raven’s and Thane’s family which was very helpful additional context as the story moves along. The intrigue of the Black Mage had me constantly wondering and theorizing what might come next, and I was so far from correct on my theories. The last 15% of the book was basically perfect. If the entire book was as amazing as that was, this would have been 10 million stars. It took while, but it really went out with a bang.
Overall, this story was a case where the second in the series fell a bit short to how incredible the first one was. Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoyed it and am thoroughly looking forward to the next one. But this wasn’t as big of a hit for me.
I think my biggest issue is how radically the characters seemed to change after their time apart. Thane became a constant trope of touch her and I’ll kill you, which I do love, but not on repeat. Layala became a bit weak and completely dependent on Thane to save the day. One of the things I loved about the first story is how Layala found her strength and earned her respect. I understand trauma changes things, but it was hard for me to take these characters I loved so much and spend most of the book having to wonder how they ended up here - only for then to suddenly get back to normal bad assery. Layala’s weakness wasn’t explored or explained as much as I’d have liked nor was her return to strength set up, it was a bit more suddenly she’s awesome again. Thane lacked the dimension he had in the first book.
I still adore this story and am really looking forward to the next installment, especially after that cliffhanger. And hopefully with more information it will make some of the behavior or background in this book make a bit more sense!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
No
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Thank you to House Valor Books and Netgalley for an ALC.
THAT CLIFFHANGER Y’ALL.
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
I don’t really mind cliffhangers, even if they cause me high amounts of stress. And this book definitely ended with a wild one that I LOVEEEE. I have no clue where this will go and why and you better believe I’ll be picking up the next book.
Audiobook thoughts: As an ALC wanted to touch base here too. I did love that within this dual narration any feminine characters were by one actor and the male characters by the other. It gave a real life conversation tone to it and made for a positive listening experiences. What I didn’t love was a few of the side characters voices. They were kind of hard to listen to and was grateful when their roles became more minimal so they didn’t show up as often.
Back to the general bookish thoughts. I really like this romance. Luckily there wasn’t a long separation here and we got to see Layala and Thane work together as a couple (my favorite for fantasy romances). There’s just the right amount of spice that works well within the plot and the story moves forward in interesting ways. I liked all of the dragons that showed up. There’s a good amount of action and I’m intrigued by the antagonists and figuring out who belongs on what side.
Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: a little strong
- Romance: 2 brief/vague open + mild innuendo
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: near death experiences, weapons violence, magical and physical violence, loss of loved ones, battle themes
THAT CLIFFHANGER Y’ALL.
BLOG || INSTAGRAM
I don’t really mind cliffhangers, even if they cause me high amounts of stress. And this book definitely ended with a wild one that I LOVEEEE. I have no clue where this will go and why and you better believe I’ll be picking up the next book.
Audiobook thoughts: As an ALC wanted to touch base here too. I did love that within this dual narration any feminine characters were by one actor and the male characters by the other. It gave a real life conversation tone to it and made for a positive listening experiences. What I didn’t love was a few of the side characters voices. They were kind of hard to listen to and was grateful when their roles became more minimal so they didn’t show up as often.
Back to the general bookish thoughts. I really like this romance. Luckily there wasn’t a long separation here and we got to see Layala and Thane work together as a couple (my favorite for fantasy romances). There’s just the right amount of spice that works well within the plot and the story moves forward in interesting ways. I liked all of the dragons that showed up. There’s a good amount of action and I’m intrigued by the antagonists and figuring out who belongs on what side.
Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: a little strong
- Romance: 2 brief/vague open + mild innuendo
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: near death experiences, weapons violence, magical and physical violence, loss of loved ones, battle themes
adventurous
funny
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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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