Review by lindsaymck - Fearless

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lindsaymck 's review for:

Fearless by Lauren Roberts

adventurous dark funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

There was a lot going on in this book with a political marriage creating an even more forbidden love, another set of life-threatening trials, and family drama up the wazoo. I still found it very entertaining and it made Paedyn and Kai’s love shine that much brighter through all the chaos around them.

Spoilers incoming…

I think Paedyn and Kai stay who they are throughout all the books and I can’t tell how I feel about that. I like their consistency, but I don’t think they experienced a lot of growth other than growing into being one half of the whole they become. She is always a badass who rises to every challenge and claims her own power, while Kai is always down bad for her and torn between duty and love. Do I think that their relationship is revolutionary? No. But I do think that it was refreshingly sweet to go back to a YA level of spice with lotssssss of yearning and stolen moments and flirty banter. Their pet names for one another and the ‘I want you forever, but can’t have you’ dilemma with “you’re my inevitable” on repeat got a liiiiiittle old, but every romantic word out of Kai’s mouth and written in his letters still had me rooting for them. It never felt like Paedyn and Kai wouldn’t get to end up together - no matter what happened or how high the stakes got - because of how many times we are reminded of their *inevitability* throughout the book! It is less of a hinted bit of foreshadowing and more like a neon sign.

Things I liked…

Pae going back into her Trials brought back a structure I really enjoyed from book one. That sense of adventure was lacking for me in Reckless and it felt like the heart of this book’s plot and something to build the wedding and plague plots around.
I liked going to Izram across the Shallows in the second trial and getting to see, albeit briefly, another kingdom and ruler. Their queen was super mysterious and I would love to learn more about her - how did she know the roses were laced with plague?!
I liked the moment ‘five years later’ that revealed Blair was still alive. She didn’t quite get/deserve a redemption arc, but she earned just a little pity in her face-melt scene. I thought it was being hinted that her and Lenny were getting close… but oh, well.
The epilogue gave us a happily ever after for Kai and Pae- a loving marriage between successful rulers (and a baby girl named after Kit who is the perfect blend of their features included) and I do love a happy ending.

Things that aren’t sitting well…

I do not love that Kai is the one who delivers the killing blow to Kitt. Honestly, this man has been through enough AND I thought he’d be more aware of when to hold back because Kitt made that same mistake during sparring only days earlier.
The Plague Part II was already killing Kitt, but I found his entire arc to be a real character assassination. I predicted from the start that it would be Kai and Paedyn ruling Ilya in the end, but making Kitt the deranged villain to get there was kind of unnecessary, in my opinion. Kitt being SO possessive over Kai’s love was a bit of a puzzle considering his last words were then telling Kai that now he and Paedyn should go ahead and love each other 🤨. Kitt being that sick in the head for so long made this last wish a bit too unbelievable for me - this clarity felt too little too late.
It’s nice that Kai is honoring and preserving Kitt’s legacy by making sure he is remembered as Ilya’s greatest king, but like… was he thoughhhhh? He literally did nothing except dump food out of his window, drown in grief and daddy issues, and keep Paedyn at arm’s length while hoping the trials got rid of her so Kai would be all his again. OH, that’s right… he almost killed half the population of the entire world AND himself soooooooo yeah.
I liked the way Kitt saw his father’s flaws and started to rule without putting himself in his shadow BUT I would’ve loved to see Kitt, Kai, and Paedyn face the truth of all the drama together and come out of it on the other side. Because of Kitt’s demise, we never get closure for all of the family tea that is spilled and it makes me question why such a tangled web was woven only for Kitt to go out in the one way that hurts the most and gives no closure. I want to know if/how they would’ve broken the marriage and if Kitt and Pae would’ve grown close as half-siblings one day 😔.
What happened to Kai’s mom?! We never hear from her again after all the dirty laundry gets aired out. Did she know about the king killing Ava with the plague? Maybe if she learned that, she might actually have realized wasting away because you have nothing left to live for after your murderously single-minded husband died is STUPID. She was determined to die because he died and you’re telling me that knowledge about Ava wouldn’t have changed her mind to find the will to live again?! She was giving Padme in the Revenge of the Sith energy in an even more pathetic and drawn-out way.
I would’ve loved the book more without the new plague plot and Kitt’s madness. I wanted more page time in the end for Kitt, Kai, and Pae to actually follow through with uniting the Elites, Mundanes, and Ordinaries of Ilya. Even if it was just Paedyn and Kai ruling somehow (and maybe Kitt became the Enforcer to gain that sense of accomplishment and pride he was always seeking), the ending felt rushed without a real look into this couple as King and Queen!
One final thing about the plague… how the fudge does no one else catch it from Kitt?! If he sent laced roses to Izram that were apparently going to spread through their entire country, how is Kitt not contagious? Is the plague airborne? How does it spread? How does Paedyn not catch it when she kisses him at the wedding? The plague is used as a plot device, but is underdeveloped and overly relied upon to get rid of Kitt and clear the way for Pae and Kai to be together when the family drama was about to do that anyway!!! It felt like only ONE of the big reveals was needed - either Pae and Kitt being half siblings OR Kitt giving himself the plague and trying to conquer all the kingdoms with it - but not both. I liked the family drama plot much more than the plague plot.

DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON MAK. Makoto deserved SO much better. I mean, at least he finally made it back into the series after Powerful, but all we get is ONE scene where he meets Paedyn at the fort and then he is the one trying to kill her in the third trial?! Her lack of interest in Mak beyond the fort scene made her thoughts about Adena feel like empty reminders of emotional motivation. Why wouldn’t Pae have tried to connect with Mak more to learn new things about Adena and share memories of her with him?????? If I were Pae and met Mak I would cherish him for every way we could remember and continue to love Adena together. I’d also have used my queenly influence to help him in any way I could. She doesn’t think about him again until she sees him dead on a table. So disappointing. I wanted more scenes with Mak and Paedyn - letting her learn what he and Adena meant to one another, how happy they made each other, and sharing what they loved and cherish most about her. But NO! Baffling choice to have him go out that way. He had such potential to help Paedyn and Kai make Ilya better than ever before - a place where nobody has to struggle and suffer like Paedyn and Adena had - but instead he was reduced to simply dying to meet Adena again. Then Adena and Mak are the unnamed sources of light in Kitt’s afterlife??? Puzzling.

Memorable moments…

Kai: “I thought I’d known torment until it wrapped around her finger. 💍 No, torment is tangible, and it gleams atop her tanned skin.” “I’ll be forced to spend my days at her service but never at her side. In her shadow but never truly seen. In love with a girl I’d have bowed to long before she became my queen.” 😣
FINALLY “the boy from Loot” is mentioned!!! Bring on Makoto!!! JK they get one scene in peace remembering Adena and then it ends in disaster.
Kai: “If you leave, I will follow. If you stay, I will bow. Because there has never been a moment when you did not own the only piece of me that mattered - loving you made me matter.” 💀😍
All I pictured in the second trial was the kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest 🦑
“No part of you will go unloved.” 🥹 Kai and Pae together under the willow tree the night before the wedding🔥
Paedyn and Kai’s notes! Kai: “When I thank the Plague, it is not for the power it has gifted me, but for the privilege of you. Nothing makes me stronger than the weakness that is you, Paedyn Gray.”
“A queen now stands where a thief once had - brave, benevolent, and brutal. She stands victorious.” The crowd bowing to Paedyn like it does for the 4 hobbits in Return of the King 👏🏼

Kai and Pae were always going to be the highlight of this book, but they really delivered and it is worth reading for them. They had no miscommunication, no denial, no lying - they were always open and honest and raw with their emotions for one another. They were both stuck between duty and love but cut always the tension of that powerful sexual chemistry and frustration at a future of forced proximity spent apart with this perfect blend of playful teasing and confessions of forever love.

Content Warnings