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A review by horrorbutch
To Wield The Darkest Night by Beau Van Dalen
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy by the author in exchange for a review.
Once again I've been lucky enough to receive an ARC of Beau Van Dalen's book and I just wanted to start this review out by saying that one of my favorite things about having had that pleasure multiple times is seeing how his writing evolves with each book. And that this is so far one of my favorites works I've read by him.
The story follows a closeted trans apothecary and a cursed knight on a mission. The main focus of the book is their character development, and you get to follow Sol finally feeling comfortable enough (and safe enough) to both come out and embrace his sexuality again after an assault in his past led to him locking it down and Yohan finally seeing himself as more than just the King's weapon to be wielded as he has been since he was young.
I will be talking about some spoilers in this paragaph, but it was also my absolutely favorite part of the story, so I need to include it: The way Sol's trauma is handled is one of the most beautiful things about this book. It is not something that magically disappears once Sol finally feels comfortable enough after he allows himself to fall in love again or even after he has sex and the story even slightly explores something that rings true for me as a person with trauma, but that is often underexplored in narratives (maybe because of the shame that surrounds it): Having nightmares about the person that you love being the one to hurt you. And it especially manages to handle this delicate topic in a way that avoids clichee melodrama in the morning after, which was just so incredibly great for me to read..
In addition to their character development, you also get really steamy (and caring) sex scenes bringing the best of trans erotica. I personally really enjoyed the magic strap that can cum when the wearer does, which was a great use of magic, but there are also a bunch of other sex scenes that were in turns sweet and in turns really hot and something both. Definitely a book for enjoyers of diverse and steamy romantasy.
I also enjoyed that women played an important role as side characters in this book and especially that Sol got to meet a trans woman seamstress, who he had known in his past, which was just a really lovely way to round out his character development at the end of the story.
If I have any criticisms, it's that I want to know more about what is happening to Mages in the King's town. While the fantasy aspects are some of the least fleshed out parts of this book, that is the one thing that never gets any sort of follow up. But who knows? Maybe there's a sequel following a different character who just moved to the town in the making? (Wishful thinking on my part perhaps, but hey, one can dream).
All in all, this is a book I can recommend to anybody who enjoys erotic romantasy with trans characters, likes characters dealing with and healing from trauma and especially to anybody who has read Beau Van Dalen's The Prince's Dearest Guards series and thought: "This is great, but I'd like a book that's longer."
Trigger warnings (also included in the book itself) are: violence, transphobia, misgendering of a transgender character (sometimes unintentional, sometimes in a more malicious manner), gender dysphoria, PTSD, flashbacks to sexual assault, trauma surrounding sexual assault including triggerpoints on the body, use of language describing genitalia during sex for a trans man, death of multiple minor characters, mentions of drug use, infidelity, pregnancy, execution and human trafficking.
Once again I've been lucky enough to receive an ARC of Beau Van Dalen's book and I just wanted to start this review out by saying that one of my favorite things about having had that pleasure multiple times is seeing how his writing evolves with each book. And that this is so far one of my favorites works I've read by him.
The story follows a closeted trans apothecary and a cursed knight on a mission. The main focus of the book is their character development, and you get to follow Sol finally feeling comfortable enough (and safe enough) to both come out and embrace his sexuality again after an assault in his past led to him locking it down and Yohan finally seeing himself as more than just the King's weapon to be wielded as he has been since he was young.
I will be talking about some spoilers in this paragaph, but it was also my absolutely favorite part of the story, so I need to include it:
In addition to their character development, you also get really steamy (and caring) sex scenes bringing the best of trans erotica. I personally really enjoyed the magic strap that can cum when the wearer does, which was a great use of magic, but there are also a bunch of other sex scenes that were in turns sweet and in turns really hot and something both. Definitely a book for enjoyers of diverse and steamy romantasy.
I also enjoyed that women played an important role as side characters in this book and especially that Sol got to meet a trans woman seamstress, who he had known in his past, which was just a really lovely way to round out his character development at the end of the story.
If I have any criticisms, it's that I want to know more about what is happening to Mages in the King's town. While the fantasy aspects are some of the least fleshed out parts of this book, that is the one thing that never gets any sort of follow up. But who knows? Maybe there's a sequel following a different character who just moved to the town in the making? (Wishful thinking on my part perhaps, but hey, one can dream).
All in all, this is a book I can recommend to anybody who enjoys erotic romantasy with trans characters, likes characters dealing with and healing from trauma and especially to anybody who has read Beau Van Dalen's The Prince's Dearest Guards series and thought: "This is great, but I'd like a book that's longer."
Trigger warnings (also included in the book itself) are: violence, transphobia, misgendering of a transgender character (sometimes unintentional, sometimes in a more malicious manner), gender dysphoria, PTSD, flashbacks to sexual assault, trauma surrounding sexual assault including triggerpoints on the body, use of language describing genitalia during sex for a trans man, death of multiple minor characters, mentions of drug use, infidelity, pregnancy, execution and human trafficking.