I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters and the world building were interesting and well-written, and the voice acting in the audio book was absolutely amazing. 
I loved the contrast of the queer-normative country with the more typically "medieval European"-esque one and how this was expressed and talked about in the text. (Loved the nonbinary representation btw!)
I knocked off a few points for how graphic the

sexual assault

was, I won't say it's existence wasn't important to further the conflict of the story but I felt it was in more detail than it needed to be to get the point across. Mind the trigger warnings!!!
And the plot was relatively interesting but a bit predictable, I guessed the twist pretty much as soon as the first attack happened & the MC was introduced to

the ML's sisters & the inheritance situation

but it wasn't disappointing. 
I loved the relationships between characters especially the platonic & familial ones, they were dynamic and felt so real. 
I ended up skipping the sex scenes so I can't really comment on them, because they always ended up playing when I was trying to eat in public (and I didn't bother to go back to them because I'm not terribly fond of having sex narrated to me in general 😅).

But overall the book was pretty enjoyable with a dynamic and rich world and characters with beautiful prose & audio narration but, it was a bit heavy handed and more explicit than needed with a few of the more 'traumatic' parts of the story (& the relationship was a bit rushed, but it's a romance book and that is typical of the genre so I can't complain too much on that), and the mystery was a bit predictable.

4.75 to 5 Stars.


I really liked this book, it really hit me right. There are darker themes but I think the trauma and healing was handled very well. I really loved watching our main character start to move forward, while getting wrapped up in the drama of his husband's home kingdom.

There's an arranged marriage (semi marriage of convenience, if convenience for the good of the two kingdoms counts) and murder mystery. Plus lots of underlying plots playing out. I enjoyed the pacing and writing and I really into the story the whole way. I will certainly be continuing and reading the next in the series.

(Content warnings, sorry if I missed a few on page SA/Rape, PTSD, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, some violence, some torture)

A wonderful husbands-to-friends-to-lovers 

This book was very compelling, but slightly hard to read. The trigger warnings should be paid close attention to as the book not only includes but focuses on hard topics. The friendship between Markel and Velasin was definitely my favorite part, although I’m always a fan of a gay arranged marriage. I did guess the plot twist/villain, but still thought it was fairly well done. I wish the ending felt less rushed, but overall an intriguing read.

I find the world of mouth reviews around these kinds of queer romantasies interesting. The audience usually loves them for their alleged wholesomeness but (in addition to this book actually containing very dark themes) I believe this wholesomeness would be seen as blandness in a straight book. The characters are unflawed and uninteresting, the world is divided into black and white good country vs bad country, and the villains are despicably evil and unforgivable. There is no real conflict and character development ranges between non-existent and subpar.

More importantly, would we accept the graphic rape in Chapter 2 if Vel were a woman? The tension it created could have easily been achieved through other means, and I think this book is held to a different standard for being queer. Rape is fine as long as it only hurts your poor gay babies; if it's done to a woman that's a cheap plot device. Granted, there is legitimacy to wanting to explore sexual assault without the trauma that can be associated with reading about it being inflicted on women, but double standards can and do exist around this topic.

But that said, I think this book does a poor job of exploring that trauma. While not every book needs to address this well (such as erotica with rape fantasy elements), this one should because it declares itself to be a journey of healing. And yet, his recovery receives a bafflingly light treatment. Is Vel's rape truly included to show the journey of recovery after sexual assault, or is it there for us to coo sadly over him and make puppy eyes when Cae affirms his boundaries? I think the fact he is able to overcome his trauma within a 5 day span due to the power of gay love answers the question. I felt like the characters were infantilised for the reader's benefit; transformed into paragons of victimhood and saviourism in a way which prohibited a more genuine exploration of how it changed Vel's psyche and how to move forward from that, or what it meant to Cae to try and support someone who's been assaulted. This is unfortunate, as I think Vel's initial reaction to his assault, and in particular his behaviour on the journey to Tithena, was authentic and compelling. 

This book was also at least 200 pages longer than it needed to be. Meadows is unfamiliar with the concept of Chekhov's gun: every element you introduce to the story should be relevant to the story; either for plot or character development purposes. Huge sections of the text are dedicated to matters that are never important, such as Vel's brothers, Cae's sister trying to conceive, and multiple world-building infodumps that, after a while, do nothing to enrich the world because they are all making an identical point: Tithena is egalitarian and Ralia is not.

Despite the extraordinary length, most of the book occurs over five days. There is so much action packed into such a short timeframe that we are reduced to tediously reading about characters walking from one place to another and deciding what they are going to do that day. No minute goes unaccounted for, and the book is more boring for it. A longer timeframe would also have given the characters some space to solve the mystery themselves. Instead, they make no meaningful progress and discover the villain by mere coincidence who proceeds to inform them of the plot.

I struggle to tell you what the over 500 pages are filled with. Certainly, many things happen to our characters but they don't drive any action themselves. Some of it, naturally, is dedicated to the romance, and to this book's credit I did feel it managed the balance between plot and romance well, even though I think it fumbled both of those elements individually. The romance is under-baked due to the compressed timeframe as well as a lack of characterisation, which Cae in particular suffers from. He could be replaced by any respectful man who is good with a knife to no real effect. As for the side characters, the less we say about them, the better - especially Vel's mute servant, Markel, whose only trait was extreme servility and who Vel never treated as a friend despite multiple claims they were. 

A beautiful queer fantasy all about healing with a healthy dollop of plot too. Very like Winter’s Orbit and Ocean’s Echo in terms of the plot taking the forefront over the romance sometimes BUT it was still very good. I love all the main characters so much. Check the trigger warnings!!!!!