theredhead210 's review for:

Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon, Critical Role

4.0

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I've been a Critter since 2018. I was watching live when Matt's amazing improvisation in a made-up bookshop created Tusk Love. Now, seven years later, it's an actual book that you can read and purchase.

For those of you who aren't Critters and have no idea what I'm talking about, this book is still for you. It's very approachable and not tied to Critical Role at all, except that this story exists in the same world.

I went into this book with 0 expectations or preconceptions. I didn't read reviews (or even the synopsis) before starting it. And I think that was the best choice.

I've been rather burnt out by romantasy lately and haven't been able to find anything to bring me out of this reading slump. Tusk Love did it. It was equal parts fun, sweet, and rich with detail. The characters and worldbuilding were great (though sometimes they felt like parts taken from an encyclopedia and pasted into the story), I was still glad they appeared. There were of course, the tropes (

Spoiler

Grumpy/sunshine, only 1 bed, etc

) but I found myself smiling rather than rolling my eyes, perhaps because they were done in a slightly meta way. It felt like the author was saying "heh, watch this," rather than taking it too seriously and treating readers like idiots who've never read before.

The only issues that I had with this book were plot-based. There were several moments when I felt like the story was going in one direction, and the tension builds, and then it just ... dissipates. Maybe because this book is more of a "cozy" romantasy than I thought it was, and the stakes were never supposed to be high. If not, it felt like wasted opportunities. Apart from that, and a few moments of cheese, it was cute and worth the read. I might even reread it sometime, which, for me, is glowing praise.