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A review by beereina
The Forsaken King by Penelope Barsetti
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Listened via Audible
3.5🌶— mostly for frequency. Not super descriptive and mostly vanilla.
What an emotional rollercoaster. The story is compelling, the characters draw you in, and sometimes you want to punch them. There’s clearly some sort of magic at play but we haven’t gotten any clear explanations yet.
Think the best way to describe this story is Game of Thrones meets From Blood and Ash.
All the favorite tropes are there. 1 Bed, enemies to lovers, bodyguard, 1 horse, etc. While there were a lot of similarities to FBAA and GoT, it didn’t feel overly repetitive.
We have Ivory who is actually pretty annoying the first 60% of the book. She’s pretty good with a blade but she’s also entitled and pretty whiny. She loves to eat and hot baths are her jam. She felt a little 2 dimensional at first. But as her relationship with the characters around her grow… so does her personality. She gradually sounds less whiny if not still naive.
Mastodon is a lot more complex then we initially realize and I often felt bad for the decisions he was forced to make.
Queen Rolfe….She had serious ptsd and my heart ached for her. Despite her actions she was clearly so broken and I look forward to seeing how she evolves past her pain…. Or at least I hope she does.
There are battles, spice, dragons, warring kingdoms, blood drinking enemies, and a seemingly impossible foe. I can’t wait to dive into book
3.5🌶— mostly for frequency. Not super descriptive and mostly vanilla.
What an emotional rollercoaster. The story is compelling, the characters draw you in, and sometimes you want to punch them. There’s clearly some sort of magic at play but we haven’t gotten any clear explanations yet.
Think the best way to describe this story is Game of Thrones meets From Blood and Ash.
All the favorite tropes are there. 1 Bed, enemies to lovers, bodyguard, 1 horse, etc. While there were a lot of similarities to FBAA and GoT, it didn’t feel overly repetitive.
We have Ivory who is actually pretty annoying the first 60% of the book. She’s pretty good with a blade but she’s also entitled and pretty whiny. She loves to eat and hot baths are her jam. She felt a little 2 dimensional at first. But as her relationship with the characters around her grow… so does her personality. She gradually sounds less whiny if not still naive.
Mastodon is a lot more complex then we initially realize and I often felt bad for the decisions he was forced to make.
Queen Rolfe….She had serious ptsd and my heart ached for her. Despite her actions she was clearly so broken and I look forward to seeing how she evolves past her pain…. Or at least I hope she does.
There are battles, spice, dragons, warring kingdoms, blood drinking enemies, and a seemingly impossible foe. I can’t wait to dive into book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence
Moderate: Rape