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A review by trizk
Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

"A king must know his own power intimately if he is to weild it to maximum effect, and he must understand the extent of the havoc it can wreak if he is to wield it responsibly." 

DNF @70%

The things I enjoyed:
  • The queer-normative world 
  • The lore surrounding fae and the overall worldbuilding. Everything that was given to us felt relevant and I enjoyed how it was interwoven into the plot. 
  • The politics
  • How unapollegetically black everything was
  • I usually hate dual pov, but I really enjoyed it here. The transitions felt smooth and even though this uses third person, the characters thought processes feel different and unique enough to them.
  • The clear communication between the two leads, I appreciated how they just got to the point instead of having miscommunication
  • Malachi and Kadeesha as characters and their interactions with their groups they worked closely with

What I wanted more of:
  • I strongly agree with another review I saw mentioning wanting more lore surrounding Kongamatos. I also would've liked more interactions between Zahzah and Kadeesha.
    While I understand the circumstances of the story had them seperated for a time, could their telepathy not work from such a distance?
    Overall, I wish the telepathic aspect was more touched upon.

The things I disliked:
  • There isn't anything wrong with smut scenes but the context surrounding them weren't it for me.
    Malachi and his Cadre (his group of soldiers he's close with) show up to Kadeeshas wedding in the beginning of the book and then watch as her father and at least two kids die. (Though they did save the other remaining two children)
    Yet she just can't help but sleep with him? 
  • Another issue is that outside of the smut scenes there really isn't any "romance". The two characters feel lust for eachother, but you don't get that slow descent into the small things they like about eachother outside of that. We get like 2-3 good conversations between them and that's it. Anything they noticed about eachother was chalked up to "This makes me feel horny" instead of anything about their personalities or as people who are starting to like eachother over the course of the book.
  • However, even with my critiques I still would've finished the book if it weren't for
    the suprise pregnancy trope popping up at 70%.
    I think that within the context of the story and the prophecy given (especially with the misogyny and control held over the fmc because of it) does the story a disservice and felt out of left field for me.
    What is the point for having the fmc not want to have people only seeing her as a womb/being obessed with her potential to have a baby, pointing out that the mmc doesn't want kids right now, and that fae have a certain time period they can get pregnant, if you were just going to include pregnancy anyway?
    I feel like it would've been better to have the characters mutually decide to do this (to make it so the prophecy is still real), have the prophecy be fake and just a tool of misogyny, or just have parts of it be fake and other parts real.

Overall, I think that anyone looking for a black romantasy book will enjoy this! Especially if romantasy is your favorite genre. I also think that people who enjoy smuttier books will like this one, and people who like court intrigue.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review!
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