Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by rachcannoli
Dark Restraint by Katee Robert
4.5
Ariadne has put her life into the hands of the Olympians, the very people her father Minos and co are trying to destroy, because she fears her father more. Minos's #1 enforcer, Asterion, known to all others as the Minotaur, doesn't know if he should be more angry at Ariadne for trying to run from him or that she didn't trust him to help her. He pretends to follow Minos's order to have her murdered, but instead reaches out to her for his own reasons. Meanwhile, there's a ticking clock before the barrier, Olympus's only protection, will be brought down and all hell breaks loose. Will Ariadne be able to escape unscathed? Made all the more complicated when she realizes the man she didn't trust enough to tell her plans is also the one always trying to protect her.
We're back baby!! FINALLY another good DARK OLYMPUS entry, I've been DYING over here! Who's surprised that the general consensus of this book was underwhelming meanwhile I LOVED it??? This is like freaking RADIANT SIN all over again, the gen pop has no taste. While I'm infuriated this book is probably the shortest entry in this dang series (barely eeking out 300 pages?!! WTF KR??), there has been enough build up to these two that I find their dynamic works really well and the overarching plot is sooooooooooooo good! I'm also SO relieved to be back with just a two person couple, it's so much simpler and allows the excellent DARK OLYMPUS plot, 7 freaking books in the making, time to shine!
I personally really enjoy Ariadne and Minotaur's dynamic as well. He's a bit possessive, but tbh literally EVERYONE in this series is and he at least has reason to be so since they're in such a dangerous situation from the get-go. Also their first scene?!! Hot, hot, hot and every scene afterwards follows! I find it so refreshing that she's a virgin and a plus size girl, and like a REAL plus sized girl too, they never mention a flat stomach and he called her ass 'big' and discusses curves and stretch marks, genuinely, chef’s kiss. It's also funny, silly, while also actually tense and suspenseful, it felt like there were real stakes and since the central couple didn't need to fall in love, they just had to accept their already held those feelings, it was a far fresher with a more exciting dynamic. The next entry is perfectly teed up in this finale as well and I'm just as excited about that one! I'm ecstatic that we're finally back to the quality I remember and that I know KR is capable of. This reminded me a lot of the best of her WV books, it's a bit too short and I would've liked more time, but what we got was really good and I had a great time! Mad we have to wait AGES for the next one, but I'm relieved we're back to good stories again! Don't listen to the haters, I loved this one!
If I had to rank the DO series so far, not including novellas, this is what it'd be, from fav to least:
Radiant Sin
Electric Idol
Dark Restraint
Neon Gods
Wicked Beauty
Midnight Ruin
Cruel Seduction
Do with that what you will lol.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
I am SO glad that this was just as good as that first sex scene teaser! So this first scene was at the end of book 6, MIDNIGHT RUIN, and I was FANNING myself! As a plus sized girlie, I will always be so grateful for representation, especially since in this series we haven't seen that since book 2 (Cassandra in book 4 is more midsize IMO), so it's an absolute joy to get the representation. And a virgin with agency who likes sex and has done everything but have penetrative sex?! Freaking love to see it!! I also loved the later reveal that, in a way, Asterion (yes I will continue to refer to him as such because calling him the Minotaur is stupid and just makes me think of a half bull and I'm really not about the bestiality angle lol, I get it for myth-inspiration, but he is full human in this story so I will use his real name) is also a virgin. He was abused and clearly traded sex to get by, even at such a young age which was heartbreaking since he came to Minos at like 15/16, but Ariadne says he's allowed to claim his choices and body and I love the idea that their first time was both of theirs. It added great emotion and heft to their relationship. I don't know what these comments are talking about not liking their dynamic, I really enjoyed these two.
Sure a lot of the work was built off page, but there was plenty of teasing of their relationship in the previous books, especially in RADIANT SIN and MIDNIGHT RUIN, so it didn't feel insta-lovey at all. It's clear they have a long history together and I loved that while Asterion scares Ariadne, she's always reciprocated his feelings. For one, their backstory of her finding him when he's homeless and giving him her expensive gloves and from that moment he was in love with her/vowed to find her and marry her one day?! Adorable. Their moment in the maze?! HOT AF!! Also it kind of makes sense he'd choose now to finally make his move on her since living together he didn't wish to rush her, but then at the RAIDANT SIN party, Minos is dangling a marriage to Ariadne as a prize and Asterion is like, mm no fuck that. I love that he gives her ample opportunities to say no, but she doesn't stop him. It feels taboo and dirty and a little dangerous, but it's also hot and clear she wants this, so the consent is no question. Also ngl, it's hot he cums inside her, what can I say? And it kind of makes sense since it's his first real time and with the girl he's obsessed with, natural that he'd get overexcited and quite literally blow his load.
PLUS this explains the twist last book/the reason she turns to the Olympians in the first place, girl was pregnant. NGL, glad she has an abortion and glad she has it off page/in the time jump, it's not super relevant to her current plot/could’ve bogged down a fun time. I'm glad she has ZERO regrets with it despite still being in love with Asterion and not opposed to having children with him someday, but she wasn't ready at the time which is 100% enough of a reason for me. I appreciate she makes it clear she got on birth control after, but even with that he makes an effort to be very conscious with protection in every scene going forward, love that. Also he never ONCE guilts her or is upset that she had the abortion, he's far more upset that she didn't feel she could turn to him or trust him to help her and that he wasn't there for her. I love that he beats himself up for this fact because it's his own fault for not making it explicitly clear how he felt earlier on.
Part of the deal Ariadne makes is they betroth her to an Olympian and Hera picks Dionysus. Dude I LOVE Dionysus!!! He is fucking HILARIOUS this book! He's always been more of a joker character, I think he's clearly gay (unsure if there's even a little bi in him as of now), and has always wished to remain a bachelor, but is being strongarmed into this betrothal. Of course, as a little queer angel he has zero interest in pushing his advantage with Ariadne and since he's not a legacy title (his position isn't passed down by children like Hades or Zeus) there's no push for him to have heirs. But I adore how protective he is of Ariadne as soon as they're betrothed and how underestimated his intelligence is. Like he drugs Asterion with truth serum to gauge what he actually wants with her and proves that he's five steps ahead of him with protecting himself and later Ariadne, it's awesome, I love him. If there was anyone to be in a forced marriage with, unless you're looking for the sexy outcome, he is the PERFECT choice and I hope we get more of him. TBH I don't know if he'll ever get a book of his own in the future, but I do hope we see more, he was incredible here.
So glad to get a little bit of Psyche too! She takes Aridane shopping for clothes as a fellow plus sized girlie, and I loved to see her. Another interesting set up for the future as well, Hera (Callisto Dimitriou, the scariest sibling of Psyche, Persephone, and Eurydice) tries to make deals to protect the Olympians, but to also kill her hubby Zeus, apparently they still haven't warmed to each other lol. But she's also apparently pregnant, and since we know Zeus is a legacy title and she could rule as queen regent, she's currently cool with him being bumped off. She's savage AF, but tbh I'm DYING for their book and getting to watch them inevitably fall in love. Especially after how hot their novella is?! Gimme gimme, please I'm dying here! Having to wait until book 9 is cruel!! But I love how scheming and cold blooded she is, it's awesome. Similarly, we get more of Hermes here back to her own craziness, tbh kind of missed her and her morally gray self too. She does some cold blooded murder, how fun, and wants to bring the barrier down in her own time for whatever the heck her reasons are, but also helps Asterion and Ariadne escape. She's truly an enigma and her book will be the last book of the series, also it looks like she has two 'redacted' partners, I'm incredibly curious to see what that means. I feel like I assumed one of them would be Circe, but now I'm truly lost unless one is Dionysus, but I just don't know if I foresee that, especially since I think he’s gay?? Truly who knows, but I'm quite curious. Also Minos is dead!! Ariadne killed him while trying to protect her man and brother (I'll get back to Icarus at the end) and good fucking riddance, I'm so glad Ariadne was the one to do it! The fact he's her real father and has done nothing but treat her and her bro like pawns at best and GARBAGE at worst, calling them useless and straight up putting a hit out on her as soon as she dared to disobey him. He even wanted to marry her off AGAIN to some other sick fucker, god only knows what they'd do with her, like ew, hate that guy! Serves him right for being a greedy, power hungry asshole, I'm so glad he's dead. Icarus is way sadder about it than he ever should be whereas I'm glad Ariadne is only in mild shock, because she's obviously never killed before, but doesn't regret it at all, what a rockstar.
There was a lot of classic KR wording that irks me. We're back to the 'if I were a better man' schtick, shut up it's so annoying, you're not...it's ok, we like it. BUT in this case, Asterion is clearly not a good dude, so fair, but his love for Ariadne is genuine. He's your classic hitman, villainous, I'll burn the world down for my one person, and tbh, it's hot and it works for me! Also, cracks me up the amount of times he was like 'why do people always assume I'm going to murder them?!" Dude, that's literally what you do, what do you mean?! So funny. Ariadne said 'that's a joke' way too much as well, as in, I shouldn't feel this way or I thought our situation was this, but that's a joke etc, it was way too overused. Same with the, I should say no etc. Like girl, you want the sexy, lightly murderous, bad boy...own it. And for the most part she really does! She's seen who Asterion was from the get-go, but to be fair her father is even worse, so she's kind of surrounded by this behavior and Asterion has consistently proven he has her best intentions at heart. I kind of love that he knows her so well he has spare clothes in his apartment, which is really just his old clothes, for her when she's at his place, he knows her food/coffee order, he knows when she's uncomfortable, and knows when to push or when to stop, sexually and otherwise, it's hot. I'm also all for a man taking charge and I'm sorry, their dynamic is sexy! It’s good!! When they do it in the changing room and he spins her around so she can see in the mirror?! Also when he moves her to be on top so she can control her pleasure?! THEY'RE HOT!! And did I mention how obsessed this man is with her curves?! ACTUAL CURVES! I love that he's also a big ass dude, so he still makes her feel small, truly yes yes yes yes!!! I can't fully picture him, he's described as 'light brown' skin and 'long dark red hair' and I understand this is in an attempt to invoke the beast he's based off of, but it's hard to imagine. Also the art at the front of the book depicts a hot guy with shaggier curls, not long, and I prefer that, more akin to Jamie from Outlander, so Imma stick with that image. Yeah, these two really worked for me, I can't lie. Sure, he's possessive, very 'she's mine', but again, every dude is in these books and I don't mind a little possession as long as it's not unhealthy. In this case, it's CLEARLY reciprocated and is most of the reason she makes it out alive. I also love the idea that he's done everything in his power to get to her but has wanted it to happen organically so he's been slowly trying to form a bond with her and only felt forced to act because of Minos offering her up on a platter, and even after that he doesn't approach her again until she runs because he's worried their first time scared her off. This book is short, but these two have some of the better developed romance in this series, idk what these haters are smoking...it works and it's good.
Also the plot?!?! YESSSS! This shit is TENSE!!! There are multiple moments where Ariadne's on the run and the tension is palpable! My heart was racing! There's a ton of casual murder and while there're not of consequence other than Minos, it still felt like there was genuine stakes and that our leads were in actual danger despite it being a romance. I love the intrigue of this world, I love the crumbling power dynamics, gimme gimme more! This overarching plot is so fun!
Which leads me to the set up of our next book! A large reason Ariadne makes the marriage deal with Hera, other than for her own life, a safe abortion, and to spare Asterion, is to also spare the life of her brother. Ariadne and Icarus are genuinely close and love each other. He's a bit similar to Orpheus, kind of a weak twink, BUT he's not an asshole and actually fights for what he cares about from the get go, unlike that useless moron. He genuinely loves his sister and is devastated he feels like he did nothing to help her, he even escapes and goes against Minos to get to her and she implores Asterion that if they're escaping Icarus is coming too. To the point where Asterion also saves his life several times. He stands up to their dad, even steps away from Ariadne in hopes if he were to shoot it'd hit him and not her, leaving his sis open to take out their dad. He's shockingly sadder about Minos's death than I expected, which didn't really make sense to me, but I mean, it is their dad no matter how horrible he is and it seems he spent a ton of his existence trying to be worthy, so I guess it's just complicated. But he proves himself again when they're caught by Poseidon. I honestly feared they were stuffed and this would end in a to be continued, which it kind of does for Icarus, but not our main romance. Icarus takes Poseidon at gunpoint and then sacrifices himself so his sister can escape, promising he'll find her and remains as an Olympian hostage. The epilogue even perfectly queues up his dynamic with Poseidon by Icarus nervously flirting with his captor and Poseidon blushing from shock. TBH I love that we're getting a fully queer book in this series, I didn't see it coming, and I already really enjoy their dynamic and this set up, so I'm quite pumped! I don't love the captor/prisoner/Stockholm syndrome-y trope this may go down, but KR's pulled it off before with her Jafar and Hook books in her WICKED VILLAINS series, so I'm interested to see where we go, excited again for another two person romance, and the next is another with Zeus/Hera!!! I think we're truly on the upswing guys, I'm so pumped!!!
This was a breath of fresh air this series very much needed, I really had such a good time!! A fleshed out relationship AND exciting plot?! Heck yes, finally!!! I wish it were longer, I truly would never complain with more content and I do wish there was a bit more levels to the Minotaur's character, but she did a lot with a little and it all really worked for me. The spice was great and the story was a blast, I loved it, so glad we're back to form! Don't listen to the haters, it super worked for me and I recommend.
We're back baby!! FINALLY another good DARK OLYMPUS entry, I've been DYING over here! Who's surprised that the general consensus of this book was underwhelming meanwhile I LOVED it??? This is like freaking RADIANT SIN all over again, the gen pop has no taste. While I'm infuriated this book is probably the shortest entry in this dang series (barely eeking out 300 pages?!! WTF KR??), there has been enough build up to these two that I find their dynamic works really well and the overarching plot is sooooooooooooo good! I'm also SO relieved to be back with just a two person couple, it's so much simpler and allows the excellent DARK OLYMPUS plot, 7 freaking books in the making, time to shine!
I personally really enjoy Ariadne and Minotaur's dynamic as well. He's a bit possessive, but tbh literally EVERYONE in this series is and he at least has reason to be so since they're in such a dangerous situation from the get-go. Also their first scene?!! Hot, hot, hot and every scene afterwards follows! I find it so refreshing that she's a virgin and a plus size girl, and like a REAL plus sized girl too, they never mention a flat stomach and he called her ass 'big' and discusses curves and stretch marks, genuinely, chef’s kiss. It's also funny, silly, while also actually tense and suspenseful, it felt like there were real stakes and since the central couple didn't need to fall in love, they just had to accept their already held those feelings, it was a far fresher with a more exciting dynamic. The next entry is perfectly teed up in this finale as well and I'm just as excited about that one! I'm ecstatic that we're finally back to the quality I remember and that I know KR is capable of. This reminded me a lot of the best of her WV books, it's a bit too short and I would've liked more time, but what we got was really good and I had a great time! Mad we have to wait AGES for the next one, but I'm relieved we're back to good stories again! Don't listen to the haters, I loved this one!
If I had to rank the DO series so far, not including novellas, this is what it'd be, from fav to least:
Radiant Sin
Electric Idol
Dark Restraint
Neon Gods
Wicked Beauty
Midnight Ruin
Cruel Seduction
Do with that what you will lol.
SPOILERS FROM HERE ON
I am SO glad that this was just as good as that first sex scene teaser! So this first scene was at the end of book 6, MIDNIGHT RUIN, and I was FANNING myself! As a plus sized girlie, I will always be so grateful for representation, especially since in this series we haven't seen that since book 2 (Cassandra in book 4 is more midsize IMO), so it's an absolute joy to get the representation. And a virgin with agency who likes sex and has done everything but have penetrative sex?! Freaking love to see it!! I also loved the later reveal that, in a way, Asterion (yes I will continue to refer to him as such because calling him the Minotaur is stupid and just makes me think of a half bull and I'm really not about the bestiality angle lol, I get it for myth-inspiration, but he is full human in this story so I will use his real name) is also a virgin. He was abused and clearly traded sex to get by, even at such a young age which was heartbreaking since he came to Minos at like 15/16, but Ariadne says he's allowed to claim his choices and body and I love the idea that their first time was both of theirs. It added great emotion and heft to their relationship. I don't know what these comments are talking about not liking their dynamic, I really enjoyed these two.
Sure a lot of the work was built off page, but there was plenty of teasing of their relationship in the previous books, especially in RADIANT SIN and MIDNIGHT RUIN, so it didn't feel insta-lovey at all. It's clear they have a long history together and I loved that while Asterion scares Ariadne, she's always reciprocated his feelings. For one, their backstory of her finding him when he's homeless and giving him her expensive gloves and from that moment he was in love with her/vowed to find her and marry her one day?! Adorable. Their moment in the maze?! HOT AF!! Also it kind of makes sense he'd choose now to finally make his move on her since living together he didn't wish to rush her, but then at the RAIDANT SIN party, Minos is dangling a marriage to Ariadne as a prize and Asterion is like, mm no fuck that. I love that he gives her ample opportunities to say no, but she doesn't stop him. It feels taboo and dirty and a little dangerous, but it's also hot and clear she wants this, so the consent is no question. Also ngl, it's hot he cums inside her, what can I say? And it kind of makes sense since it's his first real time and with the girl he's obsessed with, natural that he'd get overexcited and quite literally blow his load.
PLUS this explains the twist last book/the reason she turns to the Olympians in the first place, girl was pregnant. NGL, glad she has an abortion and glad she has it off page/in the time jump, it's not super relevant to her current plot/could’ve bogged down a fun time. I'm glad she has ZERO regrets with it despite still being in love with Asterion and not opposed to having children with him someday, but she wasn't ready at the time which is 100% enough of a reason for me. I appreciate she makes it clear she got on birth control after, but even with that he makes an effort to be very conscious with protection in every scene going forward, love that. Also he never ONCE guilts her or is upset that she had the abortion, he's far more upset that she didn't feel she could turn to him or trust him to help her and that he wasn't there for her. I love that he beats himself up for this fact because it's his own fault for not making it explicitly clear how he felt earlier on.
Part of the deal Ariadne makes is they betroth her to an Olympian and Hera picks Dionysus. Dude I LOVE Dionysus!!! He is fucking HILARIOUS this book! He's always been more of a joker character, I think he's clearly gay (unsure if there's even a little bi in him as of now), and has always wished to remain a bachelor, but is being strongarmed into this betrothal. Of course, as a little queer angel he has zero interest in pushing his advantage with Ariadne and since he's not a legacy title (his position isn't passed down by children like Hades or Zeus) there's no push for him to have heirs. But I adore how protective he is of Ariadne as soon as they're betrothed and how underestimated his intelligence is. Like he drugs Asterion with truth serum to gauge what he actually wants with her and proves that he's five steps ahead of him with protecting himself and later Ariadne, it's awesome, I love him. If there was anyone to be in a forced marriage with, unless you're looking for the sexy outcome, he is the PERFECT choice and I hope we get more of him. TBH I don't know if he'll ever get a book of his own in the future, but I do hope we see more, he was incredible here.
So glad to get a little bit of Psyche too! She takes Aridane shopping for clothes as a fellow plus sized girlie, and I loved to see her. Another interesting set up for the future as well, Hera (Callisto Dimitriou, the scariest sibling of Psyche, Persephone, and Eurydice) tries to make deals to protect the Olympians, but to also kill her hubby Zeus, apparently they still haven't warmed to each other lol. But she's also apparently pregnant, and since we know Zeus is a legacy title and she could rule as queen regent, she's currently cool with him being bumped off. She's savage AF, but tbh I'm DYING for their book and getting to watch them inevitably fall in love. Especially after how hot their novella is?! Gimme gimme, please I'm dying here! Having to wait until book 9 is cruel!! But I love how scheming and cold blooded she is, it's awesome. Similarly, we get more of Hermes here back to her own craziness, tbh kind of missed her and her morally gray self too. She does some cold blooded murder, how fun, and wants to bring the barrier down in her own time for whatever the heck her reasons are, but also helps Asterion and Ariadne escape. She's truly an enigma and her book will be the last book of the series, also it looks like she has two 'redacted' partners, I'm incredibly curious to see what that means. I feel like I assumed one of them would be Circe, but now I'm truly lost unless one is Dionysus, but I just don't know if I foresee that, especially since I think he’s gay?? Truly who knows, but I'm quite curious. Also Minos is dead!! Ariadne killed him while trying to protect her man and brother (I'll get back to Icarus at the end) and good fucking riddance, I'm so glad Ariadne was the one to do it! The fact he's her real father and has done nothing but treat her and her bro like pawns at best and GARBAGE at worst, calling them useless and straight up putting a hit out on her as soon as she dared to disobey him. He even wanted to marry her off AGAIN to some other sick fucker, god only knows what they'd do with her, like ew, hate that guy! Serves him right for being a greedy, power hungry asshole, I'm so glad he's dead. Icarus is way sadder about it than he ever should be whereas I'm glad Ariadne is only in mild shock, because she's obviously never killed before, but doesn't regret it at all, what a rockstar.
There was a lot of classic KR wording that irks me. We're back to the 'if I were a better man' schtick, shut up it's so annoying, you're not...it's ok, we like it. BUT in this case, Asterion is clearly not a good dude, so fair, but his love for Ariadne is genuine. He's your classic hitman, villainous, I'll burn the world down for my one person, and tbh, it's hot and it works for me! Also, cracks me up the amount of times he was like 'why do people always assume I'm going to murder them?!" Dude, that's literally what you do, what do you mean?! So funny. Ariadne said 'that's a joke' way too much as well, as in, I shouldn't feel this way or I thought our situation was this, but that's a joke etc, it was way too overused. Same with the, I should say no etc. Like girl, you want the sexy, lightly murderous, bad boy...own it. And for the most part she really does! She's seen who Asterion was from the get-go, but to be fair her father is even worse, so she's kind of surrounded by this behavior and Asterion has consistently proven he has her best intentions at heart. I kind of love that he knows her so well he has spare clothes in his apartment, which is really just his old clothes, for her when she's at his place, he knows her food/coffee order, he knows when she's uncomfortable, and knows when to push or when to stop, sexually and otherwise, it's hot. I'm also all for a man taking charge and I'm sorry, their dynamic is sexy! It’s good!! When they do it in the changing room and he spins her around so she can see in the mirror?! Also when he moves her to be on top so she can control her pleasure?! THEY'RE HOT!! And did I mention how obsessed this man is with her curves?! ACTUAL CURVES! I love that he's also a big ass dude, so he still makes her feel small, truly yes yes yes yes!!! I can't fully picture him, he's described as 'light brown' skin and 'long dark red hair' and I understand this is in an attempt to invoke the beast he's based off of, but it's hard to imagine. Also the art at the front of the book depicts a hot guy with shaggier curls, not long, and I prefer that, more akin to Jamie from Outlander, so Imma stick with that image. Yeah, these two really worked for me, I can't lie. Sure, he's possessive, very 'she's mine', but again, every dude is in these books and I don't mind a little possession as long as it's not unhealthy. In this case, it's CLEARLY reciprocated and is most of the reason she makes it out alive. I also love the idea that he's done everything in his power to get to her but has wanted it to happen organically so he's been slowly trying to form a bond with her and only felt forced to act because of Minos offering her up on a platter, and even after that he doesn't approach her again until she runs because he's worried their first time scared her off. This book is short, but these two have some of the better developed romance in this series, idk what these haters are smoking...it works and it's good.
Also the plot?!?! YESSSS! This shit is TENSE!!! There are multiple moments where Ariadne's on the run and the tension is palpable! My heart was racing! There's a ton of casual murder and while there're not of consequence other than Minos, it still felt like there was genuine stakes and that our leads were in actual danger despite it being a romance. I love the intrigue of this world, I love the crumbling power dynamics, gimme gimme more! This overarching plot is so fun!
Which leads me to the set up of our next book! A large reason Ariadne makes the marriage deal with Hera, other than for her own life, a safe abortion, and to spare Asterion, is to also spare the life of her brother. Ariadne and Icarus are genuinely close and love each other. He's a bit similar to Orpheus, kind of a weak twink, BUT he's not an asshole and actually fights for what he cares about from the get go, unlike that useless moron. He genuinely loves his sister and is devastated he feels like he did nothing to help her, he even escapes and goes against Minos to get to her and she implores Asterion that if they're escaping Icarus is coming too. To the point where Asterion also saves his life several times. He stands up to their dad, even steps away from Ariadne in hopes if he were to shoot it'd hit him and not her, leaving his sis open to take out their dad. He's shockingly sadder about Minos's death than I expected, which didn't really make sense to me, but I mean, it is their dad no matter how horrible he is and it seems he spent a ton of his existence trying to be worthy, so I guess it's just complicated. But he proves himself again when they're caught by Poseidon. I honestly feared they were stuffed and this would end in a to be continued, which it kind of does for Icarus, but not our main romance. Icarus takes Poseidon at gunpoint and then sacrifices himself so his sister can escape, promising he'll find her and remains as an Olympian hostage. The epilogue even perfectly queues up his dynamic with Poseidon by Icarus nervously flirting with his captor and Poseidon blushing from shock. TBH I love that we're getting a fully queer book in this series, I didn't see it coming, and I already really enjoy their dynamic and this set up, so I'm quite pumped! I don't love the captor/prisoner/Stockholm syndrome-y trope this may go down, but KR's pulled it off before with her Jafar and Hook books in her WICKED VILLAINS series, so I'm interested to see where we go, excited again for another two person romance, and the next is another with Zeus/Hera!!! I think we're truly on the upswing guys, I'm so pumped!!!
This was a breath of fresh air this series very much needed, I really had such a good time!! A fleshed out relationship AND exciting plot?! Heck yes, finally!!! I wish it were longer, I truly would never complain with more content and I do wish there was a bit more levels to the Minotaur's character, but she did a lot with a little and it all really worked for me. The spice was great and the story was a blast, I loved it, so glad we're back to form! Don't listen to the haters, it super worked for me and I recommend.
Content Warnings
Minor: Abortion