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A review by toggle_fow
Dragons and Demons by Kel Kade
5.0
WE'RE BACK BAYBEEEEEE
My best boy, the legendary hypercompetent idiot, my favorite Mary Sue! The nineteen year old king of a thousand lands! Lord of assassins, spies, demons, mages, armies, and everyone fortunate enough to lay eyes upon his exquisite and constantly-described frame!
*drumroll* It's REZKIN and... after the hideously shameful Lon Leresh episode of which we shall never again speak... WE ARE BACK.
Anyway, I was nervous about this. We had the whole Lon Leresh thing. We had the whole Frisha fracas. We had the long, long wait between books. Even so, my trust in this series' stupid, self-indulgent glory is such that I paid REAL PEOPLE MONEY for this book. And I was not disappointed.
**Spoilers Begin Here**
In this installment, Rezkin's latest acquisition is... ELVES.
Like? If I had any doubts, they were brutally stomped to death in the first few chapters. This was the exact feverish, late-night, cackling in glee, binge-reading experience I want from this series. It was so good. So much fun. What an awesome throwback to simpler, stupider times.
HOWEVER. Like I said... the ending.
I'm not complaining about it, but boy it threw me for a LOOP and I am nervous.
I hope the next book comes quicker than this one did, but regardless? No matter how slow it comes I am Rezkin's hopeless, devoted slave.
My best boy, the legendary hypercompetent idiot, my favorite Mary Sue! The nineteen year old king of a thousand lands! Lord of assassins, spies, demons, mages, armies, and everyone fortunate enough to lay eyes upon his exquisite and constantly-described frame!
*drumroll* It's REZKIN and... after the hideously shameful Lon Leresh episode of which we shall never again speak... WE ARE BACK.
Anyway, I was nervous about this. We had the whole Lon Leresh thing. We had the whole Frisha fracas. We had the long, long wait between books. Even so, my trust in this series' stupid, self-indulgent glory is such that I paid REAL PEOPLE MONEY for this book. And I was not disappointed.
**Spoilers Begin Here**
In this installment, Rezkin's latest acquisition is... ELVES.
1) On a related note, we get some answers on Rezkin's mysterious power. Wesson isn't there to see it, but he I'm sure would be satisfied to discover that there IS a reason Rezkin can do "impossible" things yet claims not to be a mage.
2) In a minor plot twist, the elves DON'T like Rezkin. They think he's a bastard aberration, actually.
3) In a less surprising twist, some elves come to like Rezkin. There is a slight romance subplot set up, which is not my favorite. Kinda awkward. Reminds me of Eragon and the elf lady he went insane over. THERE'S EVEN A PART where Rezkin uses his power foolishly and horribly screws up a poor innocent, like Eragon did to that baby that one time.
4) Frisha subplot! It's bad! I'm very afraid, but at the same time hopeful that this is Frisha's BIG CHANCE to finally get in on moving the plot forward and getting some personal growth! We'll see!
5) Okay. The dichotomy that's set up with the elves' power and Rezkin's emotional suppression is very intriguing and also nail-biting. What is the way forward for him? He was making so much good progress and I can SEE the person he is working on becoming... but now what? Where do we go from here?!?
6) Tam!!!!!!!! I'm so happy to have him back! What a guy. Truly he has come so far.
7) There's an awesome part where Rezkin goes into a town to shake down the local criminal underworld as the Raven, and the local criminal underworld is weirdly unimpressed. Like, whomst? The Raven? Why? Isn't he from like... some far away place? Rezkin is nonplussed at his reception and it's great. I love this subversion of what we all have come to expect.
8) I love Wesson. The worldbuilding answers we got regarding him were great. I like his Lon Lereshi wife a LOT less, unsurprisingly. I'm hoping she is on the road to becoming a more complex person, but if other female characters' development can be used as any kind of a map, it's likely to be a long journey.
9) THE ENDING
Like? If I had any doubts, they were brutally stomped to death in the first few chapters. This was the exact feverish, late-night, cackling in glee, binge-reading experience I want from this series. It was so good. So much fun. What an awesome throwback to simpler, stupider times.
HOWEVER. Like I said... the ending.
I'm not complaining about it, but boy it threw me for a LOOP and I am nervous.
I hope the next book comes quicker than this one did, but regardless? No matter how slow it comes I am Rezkin's hopeless, devoted slave.