This is a spoiler-free review! Reader discretion is advised - for a list of complete content warnings, you can visit the author's website.
Emilie's family has thrown her into an arranged marriage to a widowed king in order to gain his favor, and even thought that is simply not what she wants for her life, she wants to make the most of the situation. When she arrives to meet Cyrus, her future husband, there is more to him and the kingdom than meets the eye - his brother, Ladon, poses an unruly bump in the road for her as she attempts to acclimate to being a future queen. The world building threw me off in the beginning chapters - I could not get a firm grasp of how modern the fantasy world was - they have kingdoms but also devices. In my mind, I was picturing a more technologically advanced kingdom in The Priory of the Orange Tree.
Cyrus is in his early forties.. potential age gap alert!! I know he is not the enemy in our enemies-to-lovers, but I have to say I was hooked on him for a bit. He is really only present for the first third of the book and then sprinkled throughout, but he is a character that I enjoyed and definitely added to Emilie's character development. Ladon... he reminds me so much of Rowan from the Throne of Glass series, and his attitude shift regarding Emilie is so gradual as they are in each other's presence more throughout the book.
The trauma Emilie and Ladon go through in this book truly had me jaw on the floor - I did not expect the amount of hardship they would endure. Mays does a great job of diving into both of their minds as they make sense of everything that is done to them, and with dual perspective chapters, we see how they feel internally and how they watch each other deal with it in their own ways. Reyna is such an evil character, but she is fleshed out in the most intense way that we do nothing but root against her since her introduction - I have not felt this type of anger towards a character in such a long time.
Emilie and Ladon's characterizations and perspectives really grab the reader and pull them in - you see the constant struggle they both go through, and while they have very different views on the world and on the situation they are in, they pair very well together. I do not think they would have been able to accomplish what they did in this book without being so differently from one another, they balanced each other out very well. I was shocked by the things they were put through, and the author was able to address their different reactions and how they coped very well - you could tell that a lot of care was taken when creating these characters.
I devoured this book - it reads so well and the pacing never leaves you wanting to set it down. This book was intense in more ways than one, but it was handled with a lot of grace. The relationship between Ladon and Emilie was just entrancing, and I could not help but love them since the moment they first met each other. The fantasy aspect of this book is not overwhelming, and it is easy to follow without overpowering the story. I will absolutely be finishing this duet, I just have to know how everything ends. For fans of The Divine and the Cursed by J.E. Reed, this is the perfect next read for you!
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