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Book Review: The Last Dragon of the East, by Katrina Kwan

I believe I probably won a copy of Katrina Kwan‘s The Last Dragon of the East.

The Last Dragon of the East cover

At the spry young age of twenty-five, Sai has led a quiet life, keeping the family teahouse up and running—even if that means ignoring the past-due notices—and taking care of his ailing mother. But he has a not-so-secret gift that he’s parlayed into a side career: he was born with the ability to see the red threads of fate between soulmates, which lends itself nicely to matchmaking. Sai has thus far been content not to follow his own thread, the only one he’s ever seen that’s gray and fraying.

But Sai’s ordinary existence is about to be turned upside-down by a pair of shining dragon scales. When his mother’s doctor sells them to him, claiming them as a miracle cure, Sai is pretty sure he’s being scammed. When the medicine actually works—and the terrifying, ruthless emperor catches wind—Sai is thrust into the search for a dragon long thought extinct that will lead him into the throes of a brewing war and deep into foreign lands, facing down challenges both magical and mortal on an unexpected adventure. And for the very first time, as his own thread of fate begins to move, he may be able to solve the mystery of his Fated One on the other end of the line.

I didn’t love this. I wanted to. I mean, look at that cover! And I liked aspects of it. But that is the most I can muster to give it. I liked that it does flip some of the tropes. It’s her who survives through the ages while he is reborn. It’s her who is the supernaturally strong one. He’s the sunshine, and she’s the grump. I appreciate these things.

Unfortunately, I was bored with a lot of the book, and the writing is stilted in some places. Also, Kwan back-peddles some of their flipped scrips before the end. This left me with the impression that rather than being truly and thoughtfully transgressive, the author was instead just setting up an unsettled dynamic so that she could eventually set things right. This negated most of the meaningful impact for me. All in all, my most eloquent comment on The Last Dragon of the East is “Meh.”
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Book Review | The Last Dragon of the East

the shepherd king duology

Book Review: Shepherd King Duology, by Rachel Gillig

I was given a paperback copy of Rachel Gillig‘s One Dark Window and then purchased a copy of the sequel Two Twisted Crowns.
the shepherd king covers

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 Pale Court Duet, by Liv Zander

I picked up a copy of Liv Zander’s King of Flesh & Bone as an Amazon freebie and then purchased Queen of Rot & Pain.

pale court duology covers

Worse than a ruthless king… is a king obsessed.

Isolation, darkness, and rotting flesh,
Surrounds me, suffocates me,
But I am the vile ruler who controls it all.

I long for warmth,
Yet, all that I touch,
Is cold.

Then, she stumbles into my domain,
Lost and frightened,
Alone and confused.

And I terrify her even more.

She calls me the devil,
So I show her pleasure,
Like only the devil can.

I am the heat that stirs her flesh,
The longing that trembles her bone.

She begs her body to refuse,
To escape my embrace,
But I am her master,
The puppeteer of passion.
I am the King of Flesh and Bone.

Welcome to my court, little one.

My Reviews

King of Flesh and Bone:
I went into this one knowing it’s a dark romance, so I won’t do anything more than warn readers to check their triggers. The whole first half (more, really) is full-on non-con—not dub-con dressed up as non-con, but full-on non-consensual in every way. It’s not gratuitous, but it is what it is.

Having said all of that, once the relationship moved past that (which it does quite abruptly), I enjoyed the last half enough to purchase book two. I’ll grant that there really isn’t anything new and exciting. If you read any number of darkish romances, you’ll likely be able to predict the plot points. He’s not likable on the outside, but his internal monologue is. She has a backbone and seems bright enough, but I don’t feel like we got to really see her as much more than a victim until toward the end. Then the whole thing ended on a cliffhanger in the middle of what I would have otherwise called the third-act breakup.

pale court duet

Queen of Rot & Pain:

Well, I dragged myself through to the end of the series. I accepted, during book one, that rapey is the name of the game. It’s non-con-central over there. But by the end, you get a sense of Ada as a woman, respectably clawing out some agency in a bad situation, and Enosh starts to show his soft underbelly. (He really wants to be a sweet, loving guy.) So, when the book ended on a cliffhanger, I decided to continue to the end. Unfortunately, there’s the big misunderstanding trope, and Enosh goes right back to rapey, but this time, angry rapey. I mean, it’s a dark romance. It’s not like I’m on some high horse about this. It just got redundant and harder and harder to root for the characters. By the end I was kind of just shrugging at it all. it’s an entertaining enough read, but I’m kinda happy to be done with it, too.


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Recent Reads Reviews 📚 King of Flesh and Bone & Queen of Rot and Pain