I was very disappointed. I found the relationship between the two main characters compelling, but I found a lot about their and other characters' reactions to events so unrealistic that it took me out of the story. There are so many violent and threatening events in a short period of time and no one responds by locking doors or hiring/assigning additional guards to the targeted people. The characters, completely traumatized by one early event, seem almost immune to later violent happenings--they SAY they find it distressing to be attacked or find dead bodies, but they don't demonstrate it in their actions, they joke and flirt and laugh and have breakfasts and parties minutes after these horrible things happen, apparently unaffected. I just couldn't believe the characters unfortunately, as much as I wanted to be invested in their relationship, so that kind of ruined the book for me.

The grip this book had on me was UNREAL. I had a hankering for this sort of elaborate, slow-burn fantasy romance, and boy does A Strange and Stubborn Endurance deliver!!! It had such a fantastic mix of this slowly-developing, really heartfelt romance I was very invested in, along with such good political intrigue and scheming to keep things moving along nicely! I loved both Velasin and Caethari as characters, and it was so fun to see their different perspectives throughout (a shift which was handled well enough to feel natural and not disrupt the flow!), though I have to say Velasin wins out as my favorite; I just loved to see him diving into all of the family politics around him and constantly analyzing everything going on around him.

Of course, I have to mention the world-building here! This world felt so natural and expansive, even though we as the audience see just a small part of it. There really was this sense of an inter-connected web of politics and economics and culture underlying the whole world and it was just so fascinating to dig into! I can see how this might not be someone's thing, but I personally LOVED pausing for a moment (in natural dialogue) to explore the ways that like, horse-care or body-magic or things like that worked, it was all so interesting! And obviously one of the most fascinating aspects of this worldbuilding are the differences between Tithena and Ralia, and how Velasin handles moving from one culture to another. Not only did I feel like the exploration of Ralia's more conservative, homophobic culture vs Tithena being much more open and accepting give Velasin a lot of interesting stuff to grapple with, but it always felt natural, rather than forced. It's just interesting!

I was quite literally on the edge of my seat for much of this book--I am not exaggerating that I had to stand up and pace laps around my room while reading the ending segment, that's how excited about this book I was. The scheming, the yearning, the rich fantasy world!!!! It really has it all. To be honest, this really sets the bar for me of what a five-star read feels like.

That being said, I strongly encourage reading the trigger warnings present before the start of the book! I missed them when I was buying it, so I only read them very briefly before diving in right away. The triggering content is very early on, so once I reached that point, I did have to put the book down and come back later when I was more ready to read it. I'm keeping the following spoiler-free so it's still readable, but I'll include trigger warnings in this review overall. The beginning, in particular, is very dark and does not pull any punches in its depiction of the triggering topics. As someone who has not personally struggled with any of these things, I don't really feel like I'm the one to weigh in on the nuances of how they are handled, just that they are at least not fetishized (the bar is on the floor), and that Velasin's struggles early on do create a powerful arc of healing and building trust that I appreciated. It feels like it's not just there for shock factor and genuinely affects the rest of his time in the book in a realistic way. Though I am always going to have complex feelings on choosing to depict certain things on-page, I feel like it was overall handled well, but DO take these warnings seriously.

Ultimately, A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is one of my favorite books from this year so far--and maybe one of my new favorites overall!  I was genuinely SO hyped just from reading it and had to tell everyone who'd listen about it, which is always a good sign for a book. If you're really wanting a rich, yearning fantasy romance with a good amount of plot that you can really dig into, not to mention tons of great LGBT+ representation that's handled super thoughtfully and an otherwise diverse cast of characters, I highly recommend this one! Once the sequel is out (I didn't even realize this was a series initially!) I WILL be flipping my lid. 

 OFC it's ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved everything. All of it. No notes. These boys are my favorites. Especially Markel ❤️.

I'll probably write a more thorough review later 😆

EDIT: 3/8 "a more thorough review"

This book truly put me through all the emotions. I cried, raged, laughed, swooned, kicked my feet and squealed in giddy delight. I left this story with so much love for these characters.

A Strange and Stubborn Endurance is a queer political and romantic fantasy with the central themes of healing and the role the family plays in that journey.

This book does not start off in a happy place. The author lists content warnings for on-page SA, suicidal ideations, and self-harm; all of which should be taken very seriously. The first portion of this book is very emotionally taxing but well worth it.

This is the story of Velasin and Caethari as they are brought together in a political marriage meant to strengthen the trade agreements between their respective countries. But mysterious forces are acting against their marriage- escalating attacks both political and personal. Together, they are forced to trust one another as they figure out who would benefit from this failed alliance. A tenuous friendship develops and slowly blossoms into something more.

I adored the world-building and the depictions of gender identity and sexuality. I love a world that embraces the spectrum so thoroughly and lovingly. In that way, it very much reminds me of Winter’s Orbit.

The characters were brilliant and the dual POV was wonderful (I especially enjoyed that it didn’t jump chapter to chapter but instead happened in sections.) I think that really allowed the author to develop Velasin and Caethari so fully. And I don’t think I’ve ever adored a side character the way I adored Markel. His friendship with Velasin was so touching and honestly brought happy tears to my eyes on multiple occasions.

The overall mystery was very compelling, and I never felt drawn away from that storyline with the blossoming romance between Vel and Cae. Everything fit so well together. I did guess the villains, but I think that was just due to well-placed clues and characterizations rather than any fault in the storytelling.

Honestly, I could rave about this story for ages. I am so beyond excited to know that this has a sequel coming out this year. I cannot wait!

This book has potential it just doesn’t live up to. I really enjoyed the romance between the two main characters as well as the characters themselves. Velasin’s journey of acceptance and healing is also well handled and realistic. However, I went into this book expecting politics to play a much bigger role than they did. This book is more of a mystery than a political fantasy. I was disappointed that magic didn’t play a bigger role throughout the book as well. There were also times where the prose and dialogue felt clunky, awkward, and out of place. The occasional lecture-like dialogue from Velasin just seemed out of place with the style of the rest of the dialogue and came across as the author spoon feeding us her point. I found myself getting bored in parts and think this could’ve been shorter. There was a lot of mentions of the moons and religion which didn’t really go anywhere, along with mentions of Velasin’s siblings which served little to no point. I wish we had heard more about Riya and Laecia or other present side characters which would’ve been more relevant to the story. I personally also found the ending disappointing. Unsure if I will pick up the sequel to continue with the characters and romance and see if the promise of politics develops more.