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A review by icedpinecones
Court of the Undying Seasons by A.M. Strickland
4.0
Thank you to Hodderscape for providing me with an Arc for this iconic campy vampy book! As a queer woman myself I APPROVE!
One thing to get out of the way IMMEDIATELY is that the press information for this book sells it as a lot darker than it is, the next Sarah J Maas, sexy and alluring as vampires tend to be. Let me be clear: this book has no smut. It has sexual overtones throughout but no smut, if you see SJM and think "woo smut" no! I firmly believe that advertising books in this way can really damage an author by framing them to be something else that's already established and popular when this book is AMAZING and should be allowed to exist without being tagged onto another authors works when all that'll do is bring fans of SJM to be disappointed
Publicity ramble aside, onto the book! At 380 pages this was a quick read, I haven't double checked if its categorised as adult or YA but I would've loved this when I was a young adult & found it really easy to follow! I've been in a reading slump for quite a while and this was the perfect stepping stone to get back into books!
The story follows Fin, headstrong in hating vampires who (surprise surprise) ends up being turned into one over the course of her attendance at the vampire court schools. The book actually has a murder mystery plot begin and fully unfurl around the halfway point, leading to some decent twists and interesting plot lines that'll definitely keep you on a binge!
The book was wonderfully queer with representations of all kinds of people & I really enjoyed that being so well written & respected!
This book is for anyone who's into vampires, doesn't want to be reading outright smut but doesn't mind some steam, wants a decent read without the brain melting intensity of understanding a high fantasy world or an all out 600 page intense murder mystery!
One thing to get out of the way IMMEDIATELY is that the press information for this book sells it as a lot darker than it is, the next Sarah J Maas, sexy and alluring as vampires tend to be. Let me be clear: this book has no smut. It has sexual overtones throughout but no smut, if you see SJM and think "woo smut" no! I firmly believe that advertising books in this way can really damage an author by framing them to be something else that's already established and popular when this book is AMAZING and should be allowed to exist without being tagged onto another authors works when all that'll do is bring fans of SJM to be disappointed
Publicity ramble aside, onto the book! At 380 pages this was a quick read, I haven't double checked if its categorised as adult or YA but I would've loved this when I was a young adult & found it really easy to follow! I've been in a reading slump for quite a while and this was the perfect stepping stone to get back into books!
The story follows Fin, headstrong in hating vampires who (surprise surprise) ends up being turned into one over the course of her attendance at the vampire court schools. The book actually has a murder mystery plot begin and fully unfurl around the halfway point, leading to some decent twists and interesting plot lines that'll definitely keep you on a binge!
The book was wonderfully queer with representations of all kinds of people & I really enjoyed that being so well written & respected!
This book is for anyone who's into vampires, doesn't want to be reading outright smut but doesn't mind some steam, wants a decent read without the brain melting intensity of understanding a high fantasy world or an all out 600 page intense murder mystery!