Hello everyone!
Oh I have books like THAT, don't you worry about it.
But the one I'll be talking about tonight isn't one of them.
See, Booksirens is the amazing online service that connects reviewers and authors, and I for one always thoroughly enjoy the books I pick from there.
This one was no exception in the reading department, though I'll admit that it leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to plot points.
HOWEVER.
You can pretty much read it in one or two sittings, and it's just a duology, combined with the first one, so why not give it a go, right?
The conclusion gets all concluded in King of Tricksters.
Because by now I think I've read a number of books written by S. L. Prater, and for the most part loved them, so it should be no secret that I'll probably be returning to the author's work as they get released of course.
But if we recap: in Court of Tricksters, Night, the Duke of the Lunar kingdom (eschewing the title king and unwilling to claim the empty throne) finds his mate in Rain, a shy forest witch who seems to be hiding a big secret, unable to remember it. He kidnaps her to woo her (classy) and between their back and forth, their mating bond does in fact snap into place, and she ends up stabbed nearly to death at the end.
Which is where King of Tricksters begins.
Rain is holding on for dear life so that she wouldn't just fade away, recognizing a dragon shifter is among the men who attacked her, meaning the Mountain kingdom is probably behind this, but luckily for her the tree she'd sent loving messages to in the first book alerts Night and he arrives just in time to get her.
After some ups and downs, they make it back to his estate where Rain then spends the foreseeable future recovering, while Night makes a difficult choice: because of pressure between both the Mountain and Tree kingdoms, he'll finally claim the Lunar throne, marry his soul mate, and position himself in this war they're about to begin.
Rain is all for this, but she also needs to get better before she can join him, so eventually, she finally gives in to what she hasn't wanted to see and her memory keeps dragging back up, and we get her full backstory.
See, she's the daughter of a goddess, and the Tree king, which makes her the current queen's sister, and she used to be the infamous warrior Row who gunned for the Dragon king because of what had happened, which is that he was furious the goddess left him for the Fae and so he waged war which tore the three kingdoms apart.
And in the end, Row was slowly killed by iron poisoning, surviving only because she gave up her memories and bonded with Bernard (the cute cat-form loving demon) to become a witch.
Now remembering how to heal and pouring her illness into the old oak on the estate, causing it to die while her strength returns, Rain is ready to take her place by Night's side, except there's one teeny, tiny little problem.
The Tree queen? She mind controlled Night way back when and had him kill his own uncle, so, you know, blood feud.
When this is all out in the open Night needs a hot second, his brother tries to offer divorce, and Night gets to negotiate with the Dragon king, which of course he doesn't actually do, but he's definitely cognizant of what exactly they're up against.
Meanwhile, Rain visits Sora Yaga, the Dragon witch in the forest who turns out to be her half-sister because she's the Dragon king's daughter and betrayed him back in the first war, but she's now neutral because her father keeps her mate imprisoned. The two women reach an uneasy sort of truce and try to figure out what might kill the Dragon king once and for all, eventually figuring the answer is in Baba Yaga's hoard, because she's the only known dragon to have killed another powerful dragon to begin with.
Naturally, this means Rain goes into the hoard and emerges with obsidian weapons and a tiny little sprite that Bernard somehow ends up adopting. She then becomes the cutest little annoyance for everyone, while they prepare for war together.
The one thing left (after Rain and Night finally consummate their marriage and come to an understanding that the past is in the past and they are mates before anything else) is to ally the Lunar and Tree kingdoms together so they can draw out the Dragon and attempt to kill the tyrant so they can all be free.
Well, this is AFTER, that is, Rain goes to settle a dispute on the estate of one of Night's mages where his brother fails, making a nice bloody spectacle of the would-be usurper of said estate and earning herself the title Bloody Queen of Night.
She then plots with Sora to at least get Night to listen to their plan, and Sora goes one step further to have Night and Isla, the Fae queen, to meet and talk, not that either one of them is happy about it. But a truce is reached (after Isla promises Night can be the one to end her life when the time comes in retribution for what she did to him) and the forces head on off to war.
As one can probably predict, the battle doesn't really go that well as Rain and Sora head on in to duel the Dragon king and Sora leaves with her mate - Rain's in a bit of a bind, Bernard is barely alive, but Sora returns after going around her oath to her father, and remember that little sprite minx that they got out of the hoard?
Well, they think she gets eaten by the huge ass dragon, when in reality, she just went there willingly so she can then dig her way out from inside.
That weapon they were looking for? Baba Yaga's familiar, the tiny sprite.
With the king dead, Sora is convinced to take the throne, and everyone can now return to a more peaceful existence, with Rain and Night settling in as king and queen together, their chosen family around them, and finally able to have their happily ever after.
Fin!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I'm so glad I came back for the second book in the Rain-Night duology, because I don't think I would have let my mind rest otherwise!
And overall, I liked it.
As a warning to other readers: the first half of the book is very slow. Nothing actually happens, and our heroine is basically down for the count, until she accepts the inevitable, bites the proverbial bullet, and MAKES the choice to heal, which in turn unearths those pesky memories that, if you'll remember, were NOT remembered and VERY well forgotten all through book one.
In doing so, we finally get to sink our teeth into the world-building, the inter-connections between all the characters, the trickery that reaches back hundreds of years, and the very simple fact that these books really need to be read right after another because the information, kept as it is to the last pages of the books, flows hard and fast once it starts.
I will say this, that Rain grew on me, particularly once she stopped being that timid little shy creature and actually started taking action and responsibility. I'm not particularly fond of the little trick she plays on Night, because I firmly believe his circumstances and hers are wildly and vastly different BUT she at least DOES something.
We get information on Sora, Yaga, Isla, everyone really, though I'll admit, with the book being as short as it is and everything filled mostly towards the last half, both the first and second in the duology could have benefited from slight expansions.
There's just SO MUCH in there and for a lot of it, we're supposed to simply understand, even after hearing it for the first time.
... I'm still trying to figure out how the Elves and Fae came about, how specifically the Vanir are mixed into this, and then I *think* I know how the Seelie and Unseelie and Lunar Fae were created (throw in Frey too and, well, you've got yourself a cluster). As you can see, there's a lot going on, and a lot of the information is dropped onto the reader with an expectation, I feel, that we're supposed to just KNOW. I'm not sure whether this has all been talked about before, if ALL the author's books are inter-connected - I didn't get that feeling when I started the first book of this one, but it would account for why we would supposed to be familiar with all of it, and as such, a warning might have been good to include.
That's my reason for giving this four stars. I like to think of myself as a pretty decent reader, but with all the terminology used so loosely and interchangeably, I struggled. I'm sure others have, too.
However I like the ending, and enjoyed the read enough that I was quite invested in the outcome. So for that, four out of five stars.
I'm so glad I came back for the second book in the Rain-Night duology, because I don't think I would have let my mind rest otherwise!
And overall, I liked it.
As a warning to other readers: the first half of the book is very slow. Nothing actually happens, and our heroine is basically down for the count, until she accepts the inevitable, bites the proverbial bullet, and MAKES the choice to heal, which in turn unearths those pesky memories that, if you'll remember, were NOT remembered and VERY well forgotten all through book one.
In doing so, we finally get to sink our teeth into the world-building, the inter-connections between all the characters, the trickery that reaches back hundreds of years, and the very simple fact that these books really need to be read right after another because the information, kept as it is to the last pages of the books, flows hard and fast once it starts.
I will say this, that Rain grew on me, particularly once she stopped being that timid little shy creature and actually started taking action and responsibility. I'm not particularly fond of the little trick she plays on Night, because I firmly believe his circumstances and hers are wildly and vastly different BUT she at least DOES something.
We get information on Sora, Yaga, Isla, everyone really, though I'll admit, with the book being as short as it is and everything filled mostly towards the last half, both the first and second in the duology could have benefited from slight expansions.
There's just SO MUCH in there and for a lot of it, we're supposed to simply understand, even after hearing it for the first time.
... I'm still trying to figure out how the Elves and Fae came about, how specifically the Vanir are mixed into this, and then I *think* I know how the Seelie and Unseelie and Lunar Fae were created (throw in Frey too and, well, you've got yourself a cluster). As you can see, there's a lot going on, and a lot of the information is dropped onto the reader with an expectation, I feel, that we're supposed to just KNOW. I'm not sure whether this has all been talked about before, if ALL the author's books are inter-connected - I didn't get that feeling when I started the first book of this one, but it would account for why we would supposed to be familiar with all of it, and as such, a warning might have been good to include.
That's my reason for giving this four stars. I like to think of myself as a pretty decent reader, but with all the terminology used so loosely and interchangeably, I struggled. I'm sure others have, too.
However I like the ending, and enjoyed the read enough that I was quite invested in the outcome. So for that, four out of five stars.
xx
*image not mine
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