Review by thebooseller - Of Blood and Aether

thebooseller 's review for:

Of Blood and Aether by Harper Hawthorne

3.75

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

An intriguing start to what will allegedly be a 5-book series, with magic, found/chosen family, neurospicy characters, and delightful (if delayed) spice

With a good editor (and copyeditor—yes, those are two different jobs), this book has a lot of potential

🔥: slow
🌶 : 2.75 out of 5
📚: Book 1 of an incomplete series

The magic system is complex but not unbearably so, and the characters are endearing as hell. My biggest gripes were that the book felt under-edited and poorly copyedited. The FMC/MMC's arc could benefit from substantive editing, and I flagged dozens (if not more) of technical errors.

I can appreciate a good slow burn, but this one felt too slow. I don't think it's a pacing issue because the author times and landed her plot points well. I just think a good chunk of the "burn" could be pared down to leave more room for their romantic feelings to evolve. That would have made the ending even more devastating.

As it is, though, I'm disappointed that I have to wait for book 2.* Kieran better show the fuck up for Arken after

pulling his little "hurt her for her own good" bullshit

. And his anger at her for

not telling him about her multi-arcana abilities

landed flat considering the fact that he's been concealing—and continues to hide—his entire history. It's not as if Arken knows

the full prophecy, even if she suspects what she does know is about her, or that she has a counterpart in it

. Kieran's rage is misdirected, even if the misdirection is an obvious plot point to cloud his judgment and to make him feel justified in his efforts to stay away from her. It would have felt more earned if he'd shared more with Arken. Instead of driving her away now that he has the full picture, he should be communicating with her to figure out how to move forward together.

Read if you:
🗡 are looking for (undiagnosed) autistic/neurodivergent** rep
🗡 love a shadow daddy
🗡 are looking for disability rep (a partially blind MC)
🗡 like interesting magic systems and magic-school stories
🗡 enjoy D/S dynamics

Beware:
🚩moderate on-page child abuse
🚩 child abduction
🚩 child abandonment
🚩 miscommunication trope
🚩 blood magic (no blood drinking/sharing)
🚩 Dom/Sub scenes with shadow bondage

*I work in book publishing, so I know the waiting game and why it exists well. Book 1 only came out in April 2024!

**I make no claims of the author's intent regarding neurodivergent representation. Arken just read autistic to me, and it was nice to be able to relate to her.

Content Warnings