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the shepherd king duology

Book Review: Shepherd King Duology, by Rachel Gillig

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I was given a paperback copy of Rachel Gillig‘s One Dark Window and then purchased a copy of the sequel Two Twisted Crowns.
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Elspeth needs a monster. The monster might be her.

Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder—she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.

But nothing comes for free, especially magic.

When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.

Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards—the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.

my review

I very much enjoyed this series, the second book slightly more than the first. The villains are a bit cliched, and the focus remains closely focused on the main characters, such that there is little sense of the rest of the people in the world. But the main characters are all interesting and engaging in their own way. I adored Nightmare and his genuine affection for Elspeth, but honestly, they all have qualities I appreciated (not least of which was the genuine familial love on display). The magic of the world is really interesting, the writing is easy to read, and the conclusion is satisfying. I’ll pick up another Gillig book, happily.

the shepherd king duology

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Series Review: The Shepherd King

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Book Review: The Melier, by Poppy Rhys

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I received a copy of Poppy Rhys‘ The Melier in a recent Renegade Romance book box.
the melier cover

Running for her life…

Lucia hijacks a stolen cargo ship only to find she’s not alone. A giant, beastly alien slave with no memory of his past is now her newest acquisition, and she has no idea what to do with him.

Stuck together for the foreseeable future on the journey back to her home planet, Lucia struggles with the decision to keep him close or risk letting him fall back into enemy hands.

Outrunning the pirates in pursuit, and her own desires, is shaping up to be an impossible task.

my review

Entertaining, but honestly, a structural mess in which the first third doesn’t match the last two thirds. I was frequently thrown for a loop when characters were suddenly setting off to do this or that with no explanation. Like, ‘Time to get ready for the party,’ and I, the reader, was like, ‘What party?’ The story wanders and feels plotless. At no point did I really feel Rhys had a plan for the story; everything feels random. By the end, I was still unsure if Lucia is meant to have one or two mates, for example.

the melier photoThere is an entirely pointless SA scene. It’s comparatively mild but absolutely extraneous. Leaving it out would have no effect on the outcome of the story. But even the consensual sex is disappointing. None (NONE) of the sex scenes have even a paragraph worth of foreplay. Sex is 100% just P-n-V. Boring.

I liked the characters, especially Soren and his brothers, and the family made for interesting side characters. But this was a pretty ‘meh’ read for me.

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Review: The Melier & The Melier: Homeworld by Poppy Rhys

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Book Review: Of Dragons and Cruelty, by Catherine Banks

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I purchased a copy of Catherine Banks‘ Of Dragons and Cruelty through Etst.

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She’s no avenging angel; she’s a Vengeance and she’s out for blood.

Fighting, sex, comradery, food, and drink; these are the things that the warrior women known as Vengeances enjoy.

While locked away for a minor crime, Jenecca’s kin are attacked and slaughtered before she can break free to rescue them.

She’s the last living Vengeance.

The only thing on her mind – in her very being – is revenge upon the man who murdered her sisters, but to enact her plan, she must travel to an entirely different dimension.

Turns out, she’s not so great at landings and finds herself right in the middle of a dragon shifter den.

Now, Jenecca must battle not only against the slayer of her kin, but against her heart and the ticking clock on her revenge.

Throw in the difficulties surrounding her when the men from her past rise up to seek revenge alongside her and seek her heart, and Jenneca might have more than she can handle.

Can she maintain her sanity? Or will it be too late for the last Vengeance?

my review

This honestly just isn’t good. It is neither plot nor character-driven. Nor is it something like erotica that would acceptably be void of plot and character growth. It just plops the reader down in a random world with random characters who are never truly introduced and then sets the main female character off doing random things and collecting random men (who happen to of dragons and cruelty photobasically be the only people she meets).

The reader gets no sense that there are any rules to the world or their magics. It’s inconsistent, and things often don’t make sense. The men are bland cardboard cutouts who fall in love on sight. The heroine feels like author-insert and is the prettiest, strongest, wittiest, etc., that every male wants. And she is, frankly, intolerable. I mean, really spoiled and unlikable. Overall, I only finished it because it was short, and I wanted to count it toward my reading goal.

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