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diana_raquel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse and Racism
Minor: Bullying, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
lady_smith's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, and War
Characters drink wine and alcohol frequently but rarely to excess and is appropriate to the medieval-esque setting. Repeated references to main character’s childhood experience withwardenred's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
All feathers and pretty song, little prince. Is there anything of substance to you?
I'm pretty sure I've read this book before, but it was about a decade ago and I was in the hospital at a time. So I didn't retain much apart from the vague sense of liking it a lot. Upon this re-read, I still found it more enjoyable than not, but there were also a number of things that frustrated me to no end, most of them related to Sarrica. Don't get me wrong, initial clashing is half the fun of arrange marriage romances, so I don't blame him for his initial reactions to Allen, but the reasoning behind them made me grind my teeth. This guy is supposed to be a ruler! Moreover, he's supposed to be an *excellent* ruler, as we're told a few times by a few different people. So how the hell does he not understand what politics are and why they're important? I can only conclude that his right hand man Lesto actually does even more than is shown in the book, and that's the only reason the empire isn't falling apart. Because. Seriously. "Oh, I'm a soldier, I don't understand these weird songbird ways" — dude. You're also a king. You don't have to be great at it, by all means, feel free to delegate, but completely devaluing diplomacy as a concept? How are you still on the throne, I can't even.
Then after a few days of being nagged at by his closest friends and observing Allen, he decides to conclude that maybe, just maybe what Allen's proficient at is useful, but then he decides Allen is probably a bad unsafe guy who's going to manipulate him with his diplomatic skills. Which I could actually dig very much if we were talking about a younger character less experienced in rulership and not quite able to trust his inner circle, but this is a man so far in his thirties he's closer to forty and he's got an exceptionally good support system.
Then he finally looks past the biased first impression and sees Allen... after Allen has been imprisoned and tortured, and after revelations about the darker parts of Allen's past come to light as well. It's like Allen had to suffer to deserve a chance from Sarrica, and don't get me wrong, hurt/comfort is my favorite guilty pleasure and I'm all about characters really earning their happy endings. But something about how this was handled just doesn't sit well with me.
But wait, I'm not done!There's also the subject of Sarrica's kids. He barely interacts with them at all. He notes at one point that he needs to have a serious conversation about them with Allen because he wouldn't marry someone who dislikes children / would be bad for his kids. They barely touch upon this subject. He hastens the marriage and leaves. Allen does bond with the kids, but it happens off-page and Sarrica isn't a part of it at all. I would treat it as a plot hole, but you know what, it's consistent with this guy's character.
Finally—and that's more a narrative thing than a character thing, admittedly—I disliked how the subject of Sarrica's widowhood was handled. I would have much preferred it if he'd had a genuinely good relationship with his first husband and genuinely grieved a real good thing he'd had, then genuinely let go step by step. It would create perhaps a more complicated situation, but a more interesting one, reminiscent of the one in The Wolf & the Sparrow by Isabelle Adler, an arranged marriage with a widowed MC that I genuinely loved. Instead, we've got the first husband's brothers stepping up to state that the relationship was actually falling apart and they would've separated anyway, and that Sarrica was just ignoring it. Perhaps it's just me, but it made Sarrica even less sympathetic, because it reestablished him as someone clinging to whatever notions he'd once got in his head and not seeing things for what they are—for years. If it was grief that got him that way—clinging to what was left of the familiar, then shaking himself out of it when he saw how his behavior led to someone he's beginning to care about getting seriously hurt—I would be inclined to be more forgiving. And I think that's perhaps the picture the author was trying to paint, but those details about the first marriage really ruined it. Also, I felt like they were included to "justify" Sarrica and Allen's relationship, like there's anything wrong with eventually letting go and continuing to live after a devastating loss. Or like you're only allowed one real love per lifetime and anything else doesn't count.
But, hey! All this venting aside, I was really intrigued by the non-romance part of the plot with all those multiple moving parts clearly paving the way to more exciting adventures later in the series. I loved the setting: how big and sprawling it is, the queernormness of it, the approach to languages. So often in fantasy everyone just speaks some form of Common Tongue, but here, the languages really matter and the polyglot interpreters are highly valued. It's an aspect I found incredibly interesting and absolutely ate up. I also loved the cast of supporting characters in its entirety, especially Lesto, Rene, Tara, and Jac. I got unreasonably invested in the secondary romance subplot. Allen was a sweetheart and so interesting to follow. So I'll definitely continue with the series, I'll just resolve to keep grinding my teeth whenever Sarrica appears on the page. :D
I'm pretty sure I've read this book before, but it was about a decade ago and I was in the hospital at a time. So I didn't retain much apart from the vague sense of liking it a lot. Upon this re-read, I still found it more enjoyable than not, but there were also a number of things that frustrated me to no end, most of them related to Sarrica. Don't get me wrong, initial clashing is half the fun of arrange marriage romances, so I don't blame him for his initial reactions to Allen, but the reasoning behind them made me grind my teeth. This guy is supposed to be a ruler! Moreover, he's supposed to be an *excellent* ruler, as we're told a few times by a few different people. So how the hell does he not understand what politics are and why they're important? I can only conclude that his right hand man Lesto actually does even more than is shown in the book, and that's the only reason the empire isn't falling apart. Because. Seriously. "Oh, I'm a soldier, I don't understand these weird songbird ways" — dude. You're also a king. You don't have to be great at it, by all means, feel free to delegate, but completely devaluing diplomacy as a concept? How are you still on the throne, I can't even.
Then after a few days of being nagged at by his closest friends and observing Allen, he decides to conclude that maybe, just maybe what Allen's proficient at is useful, but then he decides Allen is probably a bad unsafe guy who's going to manipulate him with his diplomatic skills. Which I could actually dig very much if we were talking about a younger character less experienced in rulership and not quite able to trust his inner circle, but this is a man so far in his thirties he's closer to forty and he's got an exceptionally good support system.
Then he finally looks past the biased first impression and sees Allen... after Allen has been imprisoned and tortured, and after revelations about the darker parts of Allen's past come to light as well. It's like Allen had to suffer to deserve a chance from Sarrica, and don't get me wrong, hurt/comfort is my favorite guilty pleasure and I'm all about characters really earning their happy endings. But something about how this was handled just doesn't sit well with me.
But wait, I'm not done!
Finally—and that's more a narrative thing than a character thing, admittedly—I disliked how the subject of Sarrica's widowhood was handled. I would have much preferred it if he'd had a genuinely good relationship with his first husband and genuinely grieved a real good thing he'd had, then genuinely let go step by step. It would create perhaps a more complicated situation, but a more interesting one, reminiscent of the one in The Wolf & the Sparrow by Isabelle Adler, an arranged marriage with a widowed MC that I genuinely loved. Instead, we've got the first husband's brothers stepping up to state that the relationship was actually falling apart and they would've separated anyway, and that Sarrica was just ignoring it. Perhaps it's just me, but it made Sarrica even less sympathetic, because it reestablished him as someone clinging to whatever notions he'd once got in his head and not seeing things for what they are—for years. If it was grief that got him that way—clinging to what was left of the familiar, then shaking himself out of it when he saw how his behavior led to someone he's beginning to care about getting seriously hurt—I would be inclined to be more forgiving. And I think that's perhaps the picture the author was trying to paint, but those details about the first marriage really ruined it. Also, I felt like they were included to "justify" Sarrica and Allen's relationship, like there's anything wrong with eventually letting go and continuing to live after a devastating loss. Or like you're only allowed one real love per lifetime and anything else doesn't count.
But, hey! All this venting aside, I was really intrigued by the non-romance part of the plot with all those multiple moving parts clearly paving the way to more exciting adventures later in the series. I loved the setting: how big and sprawling it is, the queernormness of it, the approach to languages. So often in fantasy everyone just speaks some form of Common Tongue, but here, the languages really matter and the polyglot interpreters are highly valued. It's an aspect I found incredibly interesting and absolutely ate up. I also loved the cast of supporting characters in its entirety, especially Lesto, Rene, Tara, and Jac. I got unreasonably invested in the secondary romance subplot. Allen was a sweetheart and so interesting to follow. So I'll definitely continue with the series, I'll just resolve to keep grinding my teeth whenever Sarrica appears on the page. :D
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Physical abuse and Torture
Minor: Alcohol
softcartilage's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm ended up much more fond of this book than I expected, considering I'm pretty sure I've been putting off reading it for a few years for no real reason. As nice as it would have been to read it sooner, I feel like now was as fantastic a time to do so as any.
I know that I've seen people both wish more time was spent on the worldbuilding of the novel and the romance. The worldbuilding I do agree with, though not that some people felt the queernorm aspects lacked description. If anything, that's very often the appeal of queernorm and very casual mentions of aspec and trans characters (as well as polyamorous characters, gods bless, I was ridiculously excited about that) and the ways in which the world is shaped to fit the needs of them is absolutely amazing.
It's not that I wouldn't like knowing more but that the way in which I'd like to know more is more I'd also love to read an in-universe history book going over sexuality and gender, not the book itself to address it. I think the saying is "everyone knows what a horse is", if the way that queerness was such a normal and accepted part of the world required detailed explanation, it wouldn't be treating it as normal.
The romance I agree with more but I was very happy with how the romance played out. Other than I have very little patience of extended miscommunication and wallowing, though this did not try my patience anywhere near as much as most books where miscommunication plays a key part.
I feel like the focus given to other characters and making them solid and detailed, as well as the focus on the main couple as individuals, was a good trade-off to having more romance. Plenty of romances don't do that and suffer for it. I was a little sad that it ended when it did, though I do know it's a good place to end things.
As for the characters, I deeply adore almost all of them we spend much time with and am a little sad we don't spend more time on Sarrica's children. It makes sense given the plot but still.
Rene and Tara are my favorite in the novel by far because I am legally obligated to like a side character the most and both of them are precious beyond words.
Honestly, if anything, I'm most sad we didn't get more detail on linguistic and cultural differences considering how important they are to the story. Compared to other novel I love where translation plays a vital role, this felt relatively light on that somehow.
Overall, I enjoyed this enough to read the entire thing instead of sleeping and gave myself a horrible migraine partway through that I had to push through to get to the end.I see you, Sarrica. Chronic headache gang.
I very much recommend checking it out if it at all interests you.
I know that I've seen people both wish more time was spent on the worldbuilding of the novel and the romance. The worldbuilding I do agree with, though not that some people felt the queernorm aspects lacked description. If anything, that's very often the appeal of queernorm and very casual mentions of aspec and trans characters (as well as polyamorous characters, gods bless, I was ridiculously excited about that) and the ways in which the world is shaped to fit the needs of them is absolutely amazing.
It's not that I wouldn't like knowing more but that the way in which I'd like to know more is more I'd also love to read an in-universe history book going over sexuality and gender, not the book itself to address it. I think the saying is "everyone knows what a horse is", if the way that queerness was such a normal and accepted part of the world required detailed explanation, it wouldn't be treating it as normal.
The romance I agree with more but I was very happy with how the romance played out. Other than I have very little patience of extended miscommunication and wallowing, though this did not try my patience anywhere near as much as most books where miscommunication plays a key part.
I feel like the focus given to other characters and making them solid and detailed, as well as the focus on the main couple as individuals, was a good trade-off to having more romance. Plenty of romances don't do that and suffer for it. I was a little sad that it ended when it did, though I do know it's a good place to end things.
As for the characters, I deeply adore almost all of them we spend much time with and am a little sad we don't spend more time on Sarrica's children. It makes sense given the plot but still.
Rene and Tara are my favorite in the novel by far because I am legally obligated to like a side character the most and both of them are precious beyond words.
Honestly, if anything, I'm most sad we didn't get more detail on linguistic and cultural differences considering how important they are to the story. Compared to other novel I love where translation plays a vital role, this felt relatively light on that somehow.
Overall, I enjoyed this enough to read the entire thing instead of sleeping and gave myself a horrible migraine partway through that I had to push through to get to the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and War
Moderate: Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Physical abuse and Alcohol
clar_ph's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse and Grief
diana_raquel's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
"Nobody who loved a hawk would be drawn to a songbird, especially not a damaged one."
I discover this book and the series in one list that listed fantasy books with LGBT+ characters. I confess, that I didn't know what to expect, but I was positively surprised. And although I could find the use of some tropes, I think that this book used these tropes in an imaginative way, and created a well-developed love story that contains action, humor, and romance in a balanced dosage. The characters, as the worldbuilding, are well-developed and interesting.
One of the things that I found interesting is the approach to gender and sex in this book. By letting people choose their identities and treating them accordingly, I think that this book created a truly equal society. That doesn't mean that society doesn't have its problems, but those problems aren't directly related to gender and sex. Isn't this interesting?
Overall, I really liked this story and will read the other books in the series. So, if you are looking for a LGBT+ fantasy story I strongly recommend this one.
I discover this book and the series in one list that listed fantasy books with LGBT+ characters. I confess, that I didn't know what to expect, but I was positively surprised. And although I could find the use of some tropes, I think that this book used these tropes in an imaginative way, and created a well-developed love story that contains action, humor, and romance in a balanced dosage. The characters, as the worldbuilding, are well-developed and interesting.
One of the things that I found interesting is the approach to gender and sex in this book. By letting people choose their identities and treating them accordingly, I think that this book created a truly equal society. That doesn't mean that society doesn't have its problems, but those problems aren't directly related to gender and sex. Isn't this interesting?
Overall, I really liked this story and will read the other books in the series. So, if you are looking for a LGBT+ fantasy story I strongly recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: War
Minor: Pregnancy
lady_moon's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Rep: achillean MC, achillean MC with migraine, achillean side characters, sapphic side characters, polyamorios side character, nonbinary side character, ace (only mentioned) side character, BIPOC side characters, queer-normative world
I fucking devored this, omg 😩 I didn't go in the book looking for this but THE POLITICS!! I fucking loved it, it was magnificent - there isn't anything as satisfying as a political fantasy. Allen is a new favorite character, I do wish the whole series to have been about him and Sarrica
Also, the title 🥺🥺🥺 There is no one that deserves the title golden tongue more than Allen
I fucking devored this, omg 😩 I didn't go in the book looking for this but THE POLITICS!! I fucking loved it, it was magnificent - there isn't anything as satisfying as a political fantasy. Allen is a new favorite character, I do wish the whole series to have been about him and Sarrica
Also, the title 🥺🥺🥺 There is no one that deserves the title golden tongue more than Allen
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Torture, Blood, and Grief
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
centrifugepolitics's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Physical abuse and Torture
Minor: Grief
bookishtabby's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse
Moderate: Grief