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A review by citrus_seasalt
A Sky of Emerald Stars by A.K. Mulford
1.5
(Pronouns disclaimer!: Calla will be referred to with they/she pronouns, and Navin with he/him, although he is canonically agender—this is because those are the only pronouns used on-page for him, though I don’t know if that will change for book 3.) (I also wrote this review from 12-4am. It’s a mess.)
The Golden Court is a series I’ve never liked, nor expected to, and I still find myself crawling back to whichever audiobook app I’m using to listen to its nonsense. (Billy, I hope that made you giggle.) It’s consistently dramatic, clichéd as all get out but with a splash of queerness, and the characterizations are rarely consistent, with the sole silver lining being that I can always count on it to be fun. (If it manages to be actually hot at times, that’s a bonus.) Still, I thought from a few of the reviews that I’d give this a higher rating than its predecessor, but despite the story being arguably more cohesive and less fluffy, I’m giving it the exact same rating. It’s a decision that mostly has to do with our new protagonist, Sadie.
If you saw my review for AROGB, you’ll know that I found Sadie oddly endearing, and she became a gradual favorite of mine. I didn’t count on my opinion staying the same for book two, as soon as the blurb and cover were revealed. I feel like her impulsivity and reluctance to vulnerability were shown a bit in that book, but when I was in her head, I didn’t realize how much of her cues I’d missed until I realized just how volatile of a protagonist she is. While I support women’s wrongs, her penchant for violence was repetitive and gimmicky—more of a Tumblr textpost than a personality trait, she was petulant and obnoxious, and she eventually started to read as a cis and slightly more unhinged version of AROGB Calla. (But somehow even MORE like a Y/N archetype, too?!) Dishonorable mention of that one time where Sadie was disappointed by the lack of resistance from the Olmdere humans that used to be Sawyn’s rooks because she wanted to beat them up, and internally lamented over not getting the opportunity to “teach them a lesson with public hangings” WHAT😭
The Golden Court is a series I’ve never liked, nor expected to, and I still find myself crawling back to whichever audiobook app I’m using to listen to its nonsense. (Billy, I hope that made you giggle.) It’s consistently dramatic, clichéd as all get out but with a splash of queerness, and the characterizations are rarely consistent, with the sole silver lining being that I can always count on it to be fun. (If it manages to be actually hot at times, that’s a bonus.) Still, I thought from a few of the reviews that I’d give this a higher rating than its predecessor, but despite the story being arguably more cohesive and less fluffy, I’m giving it the exact same rating. It’s a decision that mostly has to do with our new protagonist, Sadie.
If you saw my review for AROGB, you’ll know that I found Sadie oddly endearing, and she became a gradual favorite of mine. I didn’t count on my opinion staying the same for book two, as soon as the blurb and cover were revealed. I feel like her impulsivity and reluctance to vulnerability were shown a bit in that book, but when I was in her head, I didn’t realize how much of her cues I’d missed until I realized just how volatile of a protagonist she is. While I support women’s wrongs, her penchant for violence was repetitive and gimmicky—more of a Tumblr textpost than a personality trait, she was petulant and obnoxious, and she eventually started to read as a cis and slightly more unhinged version of AROGB Calla. (But somehow even MORE like a Y/N archetype, too?!) Dishonorable mention of that one time where Sadie was disappointed by the lack of resistance from the Olmdere humans that used to be Sawyn’s rooks because she wanted to beat them up, and internally lamented over not getting the opportunity to “teach them a lesson with public hangings” WHAT😭
I thought it would've been easier, slicing my knife across a few more throats, making some examples with public hangings... which is why I was a soldier, and not a ruler.
(I should’ve counted the number of times Sadie dramatically called herself a soldier. Probably would’ve beaten AROGB’s 45 uses of “little fox” by a landslide.)
To add, a couple of her story beats with Navin felt recycled from Calla and Grae’s dynamic: the “reluctant allies to lovers” dynamic where the MC repeatedly denies their feelings for the LI despite their evident pull to him (this was EXCRUCIATING by the way, literally the most clichéd “there’s no way I’d like a liar like him, with his beautiful eyes and perfect face!” energy good lord), forced proximity on a road trip (which, while not directly tied to the rescue mission, happens at the same time and isn’t totally unrelated), and, not as important but still funny to mention, banging before trying to bargain with a sketchy monarch. One key difference, though, was that around the halfway mark, the story gave a fuck about putting the “enemies” in “enemies to lovers” with the sanctuary plot, and while Navin’s writing still definitely had its issues, he didn’t feel as annoyingly perfect as Grae did. I guess it was also nice to see a more tender(?) love interest.
(HOWEVER. I HAVE TO MENTION, that one “I am not your captor” scene in the jail was stupid as fuck YOU WERE LITERALLY BEING THE TEXTBOOK DEFINITION OF A CAPTOR😭🙏GIRL…)
But I hated how the story tried to present Navin as a mysterious character in the first quarter. It’s done in the sloppiest way possible: Sadie’s thoughts, and even Navin himself, describe him as “having a lot of secrets”, but it’s barely elaborated on. Navin’s not even the only character this is done with, it’s an issue across both Sadie and Calla’s POVs, with multiple people! It didn’t create atmosphere at all, it just gave the impression that everyone was really shitty at being nonchalant.
(Oh my goodness, I don’t know where else to put it, but one last recycled story beat I noticed was the “when I started to question the wolf king once, I started questioning everything!! Is my entire life and purpose a lie?” internal dialogue! It didn’t last as long, but it was identical wording to Calla’s dilemma in AROGB and it pissed me off☠️)
Anyone who actually practices kink (I’m tragically bitchless) please feel free to reply with your thoughts on the BDSM, because while I didn’t hate how it was presented, I wasn’t super impressed with it either? I appreciated this being an example of mainstream romance with more realistic (if tame) kink rep, and it being ACTUALLY consensual, but it still felt a little under-negotiated in a fanfiction-y, “the characters can decipher what the other wants without talking much about it” way. And, while I know that Navin’s human-ness and Sadie’s wolfishness give their power dynamic a different context within the world of The Golden Court, it was very frustrating to read about how “revolutionary” it was for a woman to be submissive to a masculine-presenting person. It’s singlehandedly the most overrepresented dynamic in kinky fiction. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be written about, because I’m not shaming what people are into, and I was still pleasantly surprised to see it be relatively healthy, but I feel like the author should’ve at least considered how stereotypical the roles were.
(I also would’ve liked to see more acknowledgment of Navin being agender/genderqueer, I felt like that was barely talked about😞💔 I don’t think Sadie referred to him as a man again after the coming-out scene though, so that’s pretty cool)
TIME TO TALK ABOUT TWO CHARACTERS THAT WERE DONE EXTREMELY DIRTY, THOUGH: Calla and Ora. While Calla is listed on the summary alongside Sadie, they only have a fifth of the number of chapters she does. And their plot is super interesting, too! Navigating the gender politics of the wolf monarchies and being closeted for the sake of diplomacy, Briar being back in their life and Calla knowing they have the role she was raised to anticipate but never took on(also, she gets to know their found family!!), and a rescue mission gone awry! Why couldn’t we have focused on that more instead of Sadie’s contrived drama with Navin?! And whenever we did, we got clunky exposition on the shitshow the humans were experiencing, by bringing both the plot and Calla’s carriage to a screeching halt to have a tense conversation. Ugh. And ORA. LORD. There’s not a single moment in this book where they get to just be a character instead of a plot device, their kidnapping ISN’T EVEN ON PAGE. Most of their characterization is done through other characters!! I hated how little page time they got, especially with how pivotal they’re supposed to be to Calla in this point of her journey. It was absolutely diabolical.
I feel that’s a fuckton of time to talk about my issues with the book, I should probably get into things I liked, since I have a few. Firstly, I thought the songkeepers magic was defined a lot better than fairy magic, which was neat! I feel like the songkeepers and their societies had probably the most thought-out world building in the whole series. While it can still be outrageously powerful, it didn’t feel like it was bending any rules or providing a convenient last-minute tool for the characters. I feel like in a series like this one that’s kind of huge LOL.
I also thought the new dynamic of Calla and Grae’s relationship was cute! Maybe it’s from the lack of repetitive back-and-forth now that they’re an established relationship, or from them not being the centerpiece? (The one pro about the abysmal POV ratio is that you get a quarter of the wolf Wattpad shenanigans.) Regardless of how much shit I’ve talked about them both, how tropey their relationship is has made it saccharine sweet throughout the series, and seeing it be a part of their life as newlyweds makes it kind of satisfying in a way? Like aw! They’re growing up so fast! And, they kind of made me realize that I think AK Mulford’s smut quality has gotten slightly better since the first book? (That can be said abt Sadie’s POV too. Probably moreso, since there’s a bit more variety from her not being vanilla.)
I’m very curious about the scene where Ingrid asks if Calla asks “if they’re a wolf, or a sheep”. The question is transphobic as fuck within its context (which Calla was quick to notice), and I’m sure the purpose of the sheep metaphor was to be a basic way of showing how Calla was “disowning their wolf heritage” and aligning themself with weakness by taking on a human term. (And sheep are opposite to wolves, yada yada.) But I thought too much into it. There’s a quote from a negative Goodreads review for the first book that reads something like this(the punctuation is terrible, warning you in advance):
So many things were made focus that had absolutely nothing to do with the whole story and plot so I'm sorry but if you promise me a book about a world reigned by wolves that are shapeshifters and queens to a lost kingdom I couldn't care less about their persona dilemma over if they feel like a girl or a boy or a sheep for all that matter. I didn't pick up this book thinking I’d have to dear with so many themes that are not relatable to the main plot of this story.
That is probably a coincidence, but I immediately saw a parallel. Hearing Calla say a fuck you to the sheep metaphor/comparison was very satisfying!
And, some minor but still nice things: 1) I saw AK Mulford’s cover reveal for book 3, so I knew there’d be a sorcery resurgence, but I didn’t call who the sorceress would be! The choice in character was definitely more interesting. 2) I made a bingo for this book and one of the squares was an “I can’t lose you again!” moment, I fully expected it to be between one of the romances, but it was actually in a key moment of familial love?! Lovely surprise. 3) I thought Calla’s pronouns were only they/them based on a couple moments from AROGB, but I found out they were actually they/she, like the author! I rarely see nonbinary rep that uses multiple pronouns.
I’m still excited to read the third book. I feel like the slight cliffhanger, and the more dense plot, left me a lot less drained finishing the audiobook for book 2 than book 1. NOT looking forward to forced arranged marriages being a plot point once again though, seriously, can we give Briar a break?!
(P.S., I kept a “little fox” counter like last book, and my final total was 13.)
And, some minor but still nice things: 1) I saw AK Mulford’s cover reveal for book 3, so I knew there’d be a sorcery resurgence, but I didn’t call who the sorceress would be! The choice in character was definitely more interesting. 2) I made a bingo for this book and one of the squares was an “I can’t lose you again!” moment, I fully expected it to be between one of the romances, but it was actually in a key moment of familial love?! Lovely surprise. 3) I thought Calla’s pronouns were only they/them based on a couple moments from AROGB, but I found out they were actually they/she, like the author! I rarely see nonbinary rep that uses multiple pronouns.
I’m still excited to read the third book. I feel like the slight cliffhanger, and the more dense plot, left me a lot less drained finishing the audiobook for book 2 than book 1. NOT looking forward to forced arranged marriages being a plot point once again though, seriously, can we give Briar a break?!
(P.S., I kept a “little fox” counter like last book, and my final total was 13.)