Take a photo of a barcode or cover
katyanaish 's review for:
Pathfinder's Way
by T.A. White
There's a lot about this book that I liked, but I really struggled with Fallon. Nothing in this book, until the veeeeeerry end, sold whatever feelings Shea had for him. He treats her like his slave - one that he's going to abuse until she agrees to become his whore. It was so off-putting that I nearly quit at several points.
I don't particularly like him or his people - with the exception of Shea's friends - nor their casual cruelty. But the last 10% was solid, to me, and marked a bit of a turning point. So I'm going to read on and see where it goes.
****3.5****
Re-read Dec 2023
This series is a favorite, though I struggle a bit with the first book. This is fantasy romance, barbarian style - warlord/alpha MMC that begins by bulldozing the FMC quite a bit. The FMC is a very 3-dimensional badass, complete with flaws. She's used to expecting the worst from people, and has a long history of it (alluded to in this first book, but we get more detail later).
There are a lot of series that start out this way that I struggle with, but adore once we're over that first hurdle. Books where it is hard for me to justify because the guy is pretty toxic at first. There are two things that make it tolerable for me:
1 - it's fiction, so I can forgive stuff I wouldn't IRL as long as they don't cross any unforgivable lines (like, rape = immediate DNF for me)
2 - making some allowances for his culture. Fallon (the MMC) is a warlord in a culture of nomadic tribal people, which are organized into clans. The clans often war with each other, and so their "marriage" tradition (in quotes because they call it something else, but it amounts to the same thing - a beloved equal partner) is kidnapping your chosen mate from their clan and slowly winning their trust and loyalty. To be fair, that's not uncommon in highlander books either - it's kind of a common trope in clan-type medieval style books. And if you look at it from that perspective, Fallon's actions become a bit more understandable. He never hurts her - it isn't about hurting her, and in fact because the point is to win the trust of their chosen partner, the abduction is the beginning of a slow wooing and abuse would utterly undercut that. So I can live with it when that needle is carefully thread, as it is here.
Anyway, YMMV of course, but this series is a favorite for me.
I don't particularly like him or his people - with the exception of Shea's friends - nor their casual cruelty. But the last 10% was solid, to me, and marked a bit of a turning point. So I'm going to read on and see where it goes.
****3.5****
Re-read Dec 2023
This series is a favorite, though I struggle a bit with the first book. This is fantasy romance, barbarian style - warlord/alpha MMC that begins by bulldozing the FMC quite a bit. The FMC is a very 3-dimensional badass, complete with flaws. She's used to expecting the worst from people, and has a long history of it (alluded to in this first book, but we get more detail later).
There are a lot of series that start out this way that I struggle with, but adore once we're over that first hurdle. Books where it is hard for me to justify because the guy is pretty toxic at first. There are two things that make it tolerable for me:
1 - it's fiction, so I can forgive stuff I wouldn't IRL as long as they don't cross any unforgivable lines (like, rape = immediate DNF for me)
2 - making some allowances for his culture. Fallon (the MMC) is a warlord in a culture of nomadic tribal people, which are organized into clans. The clans often war with each other, and so their "marriage" tradition (in quotes because they call it something else, but it amounts to the same thing - a beloved equal partner) is kidnapping your chosen mate from their clan and slowly winning their trust and loyalty. To be fair, that's not uncommon in highlander books either - it's kind of a common trope in clan-type medieval style books. And if you look at it from that perspective, Fallon's actions become a bit more understandable. He never hurts her - it isn't about hurting her, and in fact because the point is to win the trust of their chosen partner, the abduction is the beginning of a slow wooing and abuse would utterly undercut that. So I can live with it when that needle is carefully thread, as it is here.
Anyway, YMMV of course, but this series is a favorite for me.