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cakins28's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The first in the Blood of a Fae series by Briar Boleyn, this novel follows Morgan Pendragon, sister to King Arthur, as she discovers her true identity and the power that comes with it. Morgan, first born child of King Uther, is stripped of her right to inherit the throne of Camelot when her younger half-brother, Arthur, is born. Despite this fact, she never holds any ill-will toward her brother. She grows up alongside him, loving him and trying to protect him from their drunk, power mad, abusive father. In the end, though, it’s not enough to stop Arthur from becoming a bigger tyrant than even their father was.
Narcissistic, power mad, Arthur is paranoid of everyone and everything around him, including his older sister. But this is more than a simple sibling rivalry - Morgan is part-Fae, making her a social and political outcast, even in her own family. When food in Camelot becomes scarce, and the civilians begin to get restless, Arthur decides that he has to rely on his sister to retrieve the legendary sword, Excalibur.
Embarking on a quest, in the middle of the night, with the captain of the Royal Guard, Kairos Draven and a rather detestable mercenary named Whitehorn, Morgan steps into the great unknown and will discover her true power and identity.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars based on the following:
- The world building was exceptional. While the geographical and political terrain of the kingdom aren’t terribly complicated, the world of Queen of Roses is just complicated enough to hold interest. Each area within the kingdom has it’s own distinct features. The fact that the world is much larger than Morgan originally believes it to be is an important detail that makes the political aspects of the book much more intriguing.
- The characterization in the first half of the book is excellent, and the characters act exactly within their characterizations throughout. There is never a moment when I thought “I can’t believe that character did that!” The choices made by each character fit precisely within the boundaries of how you expect the characters to act.
- Despite the fact that it is a romance novel, the adventure and fantasy were much stronger than the romance was. Of course, there’s romantic, and even sexual, tension between Morgan and Draven, but it isn’t such a huge part of the story that it detracts from the rest of the plot. The love triangle is short-lived, which makes it much more bearable. Morgan’s naivety makes the love-triangle and subsequent betrayal much more believable.
- The fact that the twists were predictable does take away from the story somewhat. I do enjoy being right when my predictions come true, but I would still like some surprises to remain surprises.
I predicted Arthur turning on another nation very early on. I predicted the reality of who Draven was, I predicted that Morgan was more powerful than anyone realized, I predicted that the medicine she was taking was actually meant to subdue her power. All of those “twists” were glaringly obvious from the outset of the novel. F-boy (whose name I genuinely can’t remember) got his comeuppance too quickly. I genuinely hated him, and assumed that he would be going with Draven and Morgan on their quest. His death came to early in the book. He definitely deserved what he got, but we had just been introduced to the stakes of Morgan’s success/failure. Removing him from the equation before she set out for her quest removes some of her personal interest in the success of the quest.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
soniajoy98's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Drug use, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Slavery, Kidnapping, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic