ALL THE STARS. ALL OF THEM. WARNING, THIS REVIEW IS GOING TO BE SCREAMING AT YOU TO READ THIS FUCKING BOOK!!
Ok no more caps, just please I know this book literally came out yesterday but I strongly urge everyone who is fed up with romantasy books to read this one. It's the yearning in this book that made me start squealing like a middle school girl just discovering the romance genre for the very first time again. The emotional whallop in this book really packed a punch, I was like oh another marriage of convenience book with Elemental magic ugh been there done that. Then you throw a fire king with a very clearly autistic younger sister who is very dangerous, a princess who has literally been a captive by her own overbearing brother and an assassin from the hunters guild that has the saddest backstory I have read in a long time and you get fucking MAGIC. This book deals with tropes and triggers in just a way that completely makes sense for the world they are currently in. King Ky is the definition of a MAN. A strong soldier who for sure has PTSD from too much war and his honeyed accent that thralls not just the princess but also the assasin.
Princess Jory is so sheltered and innocent that it made me think I wasn't going to like her but I loved her tenacity and her willingness to be reckless and join in and help every chance she got even without proper training.
Assasin Asher is a victim of his surroundings, and has lead a hard and sad life, Jory being the only good thing in his life until Ky showed up and showed him that he can be safe with him as well.
Final Thoughts: I need more Brigid! More please I need that sequel like yesterday. I literally was screaming at the end that I need the second book like yesterday. Actual tears were spilled when I closed the cover. I had to force myself to stop at 230am so I could get some sleep for today and as soon as my eyes opened I got right back to reading. It's been so long Brigid since I have felt like this about a book. every time I read your books I feel like this and I am so lucky to be alive to read your writing. Please everyone read this.
Please know there are a lot of trigger warnings in here, mainly big ones are situations involving sexual abuse, trauma, ptsd, and themes of faith, trust, survival, and hope.
Spoiler Section Beware!
Ok so these are my next day sit on it thoughts about this books. I have a book hangover now thanks to thos book. I feel changed in some special way, and honestly Defy The Night did that to me as well, and again with A Curse So Dark and Lonely. Brigid knows how to write in this old medievalish fantasy worlds characters that feel so genuine and real. Her characters, her plots, her worldbuilding is so advanced and yet consumable in such a YA and Adult way at the same time, I feel like she captured the essence of what my brain feels like. In my mind I still love and enjoy everything I did as a young adult but my body and my life is changing so much because I am an adult now, mind you I'm only 29 but the way people talk they make 30 feel like its the end of the line. But this book makes me realize that you can live in whatever life you want as long as you strive for it and you have an amazing found family to back you up along the way. Found family along with a very hot throuple in here really made the story so much better. The relationship dynamic in here starts off slow and just slowly builds up to something spectacular. King Ky is so hot when it comes to the way he handles Asher, knowing that the poor man has been made a slave and that he was sexually abused and that makes any and all touch a threat, and Brigid handled that so well. And how Asher can look right back at Ky and see someone he can really relate too because of his war related PTSD. That and it kind of made me upset to think that Jory just never asked questions about the slavery comment she heard from tge castle staff. Jory really bothered me when I realized how sheltered she was, but in a very refreshing way, like yeah she's sheltered because her brother pretty much caged her in the castle. You get to see the more grittier side of being royalty without any real power because your a woman and that also hits home. Brigid brings some very real, very close to my heart issues into the light and adds a fantasy element to them that just feels so genuine and like it could literally be anyone who lives in these times. The world feels so solid, and the group travels for most of this book. Some people are going to say its slow and that stuff only gets good at the end, but tge whole journey was to flesh out her characters and you get to see all their trauma upfront and you witness how the dynamics are going to play out in the relationship between all of them. And Ky's soldiers that he brought with him really highlight some very important characteristics about Ky himself and where he is mentally. Like the scene in the inn where all of the soldiers jumped up ready to kill when that door blew open. They also helped relieve some of the tension in a lot of the scenes they had together and it felt really refreshing. Brigid definitely has her side characters well written because if this was a series where they were interconnected standalones then each soldier would get his own spin off book because those guys are literally that compelling. Like Nikko being all burned up from being a POW, and Garrett literally almost breaking his own neck to get Asher to stop choking him. These guys have some really bad PTSD and I love how it was handled. However I will say that I honestly thought that Nikko was dead for half a chapter and I seriously doubted that it was going to turn into Jory having to choose Ky over Asher at that point, but then of course surprise he's bot dead because Asher is actually a young softie who is like I am a trained murderer as long as the person is asleep. So in hindsight I should have realized that Nikko wasn't dead but God damn did I for a solid chapter. And I will admit this, each chapter from each point of view was great, usually there are some characters POVs that I just hate reading from but literally I would get to a new chapter and loved whoever pov we got. Like I said each character has their unique traits and trauma on display throughout the book and I just wanted to know everything. Plus there is the background stressor like Kys sister could be the reason that his lands are suffering but I mean come on what are they going to do if she really has a fit once she finds out Kys friends are his lovers. She is very clearly very high needs autistic and having that be the reason her magic is so dangerous and unpredictable was so clever because of course someone who cant regulate their own bodies won't be able to regulate their powers either. But I have a very strong feeling that everything is going to go to shit in book two and that Jory is somehow going to have to rescue the boys/world that they are in by discovering her powers that have been hidden inside herself. Like its very cliche trope that the girl actually has Powers when she thought she didn't but I love that it would be because she is free and strong and Ky and Asher help give her the step needed to become a magical version of herself. That and I was probably as dumb as her not realizing that Charlotte was the one giving away their position to the hunters along the way. I was like of course it was her, it wasn't any of Kys soldiers. It was so obvious and in my face yet I immediately shouted "It was Charlotte! Of course!" I don't know how she does it but I got a feeling that maybe Brigid Kemmerer is magic herself with how well she wrote this book took all tge themes and the awful stuff and made a really fantastic book that for sure is going to put me into a reading slump but I am perfectly okay with that because I got to read one of the best books I've read EVER in my life. This is for sure going on my favorites list and I need to own a special edition of this.
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