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kdammann 's review for:
Of Blood and Aether
by Harper Hawthorne
The first 75% is basically a fantasy rom com. The story is slow, not much happens, but the two characters become great friends. The setting is easy to visualize and would be good for those new to fantasy. I enjoyed Arkens exploration of the new city and her fascination. I would’ve liked more development of the side characters. It felt like I was watching a highlight reel of what was happening and not experiencing it through the characters eyes. I was really disappointed in the regression of the MMC (Kieran - a shadow daddy) at the end. I’m not a fan of that particular trope - I’m going to push you away to protect you - that never works. The FMC (Arken) goes to this prestigious school to get answers about who she is, a goal that seems to get completely disregarded for the majority of the book, despite the fact that that was her main goal. This seemed to be mostly a set up book for the rest of the series, where the players are introduced and some things laid out, but overall not a lot happened from start to finish. The potential for a great story was there, but the book starts with a prophecy and by the end we really only know the key players of the prophecy (which we already knew in the beginning) and nothing else.