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A review by iam
Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
Super fun and highly entertaining romantasy with a Minotaur MMC and a fun cave adventuring/training plotline!
Content warnings include: sex on-page, marriage of convenience, sex on-page, blackmail, attempted murder, corpses, misogyny; Mentions of: gambling addiction, xenophobia, sexual harassment.
I mainly bought this because I really wanted to buy a book in an Indie Bookstore I went to, and this looked pretty, plus I still have fond memories of the last Minotaur romance I read, Morning Glory Milking Farm. I also never read anything by this author before (though I have Ice Planet Barbarians on my TBR) so I went in pretty much blind.
For a book that doesn't take itself too seriously, this actually had a lot of plot. There is the main romance plot hook, the Conquest Moon, an event that happens every 5 years that is basically a mating phase for Minotaurs where they go sex-crazy for a day. This ties in with Aspeth, the FMC, the noble heir of a broke holder family (read: fancy lords) who in an attempt to safe the family wants to join the Artificeer Guild, who look for magical Artifacts in underground ruins. In order to join, she needs a Chaperone, and Hawk, a Minotaur working for the Guild, needs a group to train and someone to spend the Conquest Moon with, so they strike a marriage of convenience.
The way the convenience marriage was proposed was hilarious. Aspeth is a pretty stereotypical sheltered rich lady who is very naive, but at the same time she is very practical and pragmatic, which leads to a lot of funny situations and situational comedy. It never veered into overdramatic sitcom vibes, instead staying grounded and very, very fun. Particularly juxtaposed with Hawk's POV who doesn't always know what the heck Aspeth is thinking (or doing) it creates a lot of very fun situations and I had a lot of good laughs.
The other big plot is Aspeth and her merry band of five, the group of Guild students training to become Artificers. The entire group is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the characters. I wish they had gotten a but more attention here and there, but that's par of the course - and with more books in the series there is a good chance at least one of them is going to get their own book in the future.
Both of these main plots have various subplots that each are fun and integrated well. There's Magpie, Aspeth's idol who is supposed to train the Five, but mysteriously absent; there's Aspeth's past as a holder heir which she is trying to keep secret; there's Hawk desperately trying to educate Aspeth about what's going to happen during the Conquest Moon, and while Aspeth isn't opposed, she is also a bit scattered. And so many more.
It's written in an easy and accessible way that flows nicely. There are plenty of emotional ups and downs and I was pretty invested in it. The worldbuilding isn't super deep, but it's clear the author put a lot of thought into it, and the world feels alive and believeable. I could have done with a bit less sexism, and more details about the non-human people of this world, but overall this was an interesting setting.
The ending was very fun and satisfying too, though there were a few details I wasn't a fan of (how all the plot point converged at the end) and some details at the end felt off to me (Aspeth's emotional reaction to the consequences), but overal, I had a great time from beginning to end.
Content warnings include: sex on-page, marriage of convenience, sex on-page, blackmail, attempted murder, corpses, misogyny; Mentions of: gambling addiction, xenophobia, sexual harassment.
I mainly bought this because I really wanted to buy a book in an Indie Bookstore I went to, and this looked pretty, plus I still have fond memories of the last Minotaur romance I read, Morning Glory Milking Farm. I also never read anything by this author before (though I have Ice Planet Barbarians on my TBR) so I went in pretty much blind.
For a book that doesn't take itself too seriously, this actually had a lot of plot. There is the main romance plot hook, the Conquest Moon, an event that happens every 5 years that is basically a mating phase for Minotaurs where they go sex-crazy for a day. This ties in with Aspeth, the FMC, the noble heir of a broke holder family (read: fancy lords) who in an attempt to safe the family wants to join the Artificeer Guild, who look for magical Artifacts in underground ruins. In order to join, she needs a Chaperone, and Hawk, a Minotaur working for the Guild, needs a group to train and someone to spend the Conquest Moon with, so they strike a marriage of convenience.
The way the convenience marriage was proposed was hilarious. Aspeth is a pretty stereotypical sheltered rich lady who is very naive, but at the same time she is very practical and pragmatic, which leads to a lot of funny situations and situational comedy. It never veered into overdramatic sitcom vibes, instead staying grounded and very, very fun. Particularly juxtaposed with Hawk's POV who doesn't always know what the heck Aspeth is thinking (or doing) it creates a lot of very fun situations and I had a lot of good laughs.
The other big plot is Aspeth and her merry band of five, the group of Guild students training to become Artificers. The entire group is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the characters. I wish they had gotten a but more attention here and there, but that's par of the course - and with more books in the series there is a good chance at least one of them is going to get their own book in the future.
Both of these main plots have various subplots that each are fun and integrated well. There's Magpie, Aspeth's idol who is supposed to train the Five, but mysteriously absent; there's Aspeth's past as a holder heir which she is trying to keep secret; there's Hawk desperately trying to educate Aspeth about what's going to happen during the Conquest Moon, and while Aspeth isn't opposed, she is also a bit scattered. And so many more.
It's written in an easy and accessible way that flows nicely. There are plenty of emotional ups and downs and I was pretty invested in it. The worldbuilding isn't super deep, but it's clear the author put a lot of thought into it, and the world feels alive and believeable. I could have done with a bit less sexism, and more details about the non-human people of this world, but overall this was an interesting setting.
The ending was very fun and satisfying too, though there were a few details I wasn't a fan of (how all the plot point converged at the end) and some details at the end felt off to me (Aspeth's emotional reaction to the consequences), but overal, I had a great time from beginning to end.