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madelinel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Waaayyy too violent for me. The only character I liked was Lancelet and she was barely in the story. Would not classify as a romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Sexual harassment
daniellereadslikealot_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Arthurian legend, but make it fae? Count me in! I really enjoyed this book! I love reinterpretations of Camelot and all its main players and I especially love ones about Morgan. I thought the way she was written here was pretty fantastic. She was strong, but also had her vulnerabilities that made her relatable and complex. The court at Camelot was incredibly intriguing and I am 100% here for King Arthur as a ruthless king. I also really loved how Merlin, Lancelet, Kaye and Galahad were interpreted. Draven, I took some time warming up to and I’m still not fully there, but I’m very interested to see where his story goes. I did think it slightly dragged in the middle, but not so much so that I lost interest. The ending confused me slightly, but I think book two will clear it up. Overall, I very much enjoyed this fae fantasy twist on Arthurian legend and can’t wait to read the rest!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Child abuse
lilybonilla's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5⭐️/5⭐️
That this was a solid book and a pretty fun read. I think the authors twist on King Author was interesting and entertaining. This is a VERY slow burn enemies to lovers with little spice, but I’m excited to see the development of the main characters relationship in the next book.
I loved the story building in the book. The author took a lot of time to explain and give proper backstory for this fantasy world. I think the downside to this was that it made the book feel a little slow paced. The plot does move along and is entertaining, but I think the first book lays down a lot of ground work for the rest of the series which is why it feels slow.
One thing I really liked about this book is the characters themselves. The way they were written invoked a lot of emotion. I deeply hated a lot of characters and also really loved others. Each character had depth and a purpose. Until the end, I didn’t know who to trust and believe. I also loved how diverse the characters were!
Overall, it’s a pretty solid book and I’m already planning on reading the next book! Happy reading🫶
That this was a solid book and a pretty fun read. I think the authors twist on King Author was interesting and entertaining. This is a VERY slow burn enemies to lovers with little spice, but I’m excited to see the development of the main characters relationship in the next book.
I loved the story building in the book. The author took a lot of time to explain and give proper backstory for this fantasy world. I think the downside to this was that it made the book feel a little slow paced. The plot does move along and is entertaining, but I think the first book lays down a lot of ground work for the rest of the series which is why it feels slow.
One thing I really liked about this book is the characters themselves. The way they were written invoked a lot of emotion. I deeply hated a lot of characters and also really loved others. Each character had depth and a purpose. Until the end, I didn’t know who to trust and believe. I also loved how diverse the characters were!
Overall, it’s a pretty solid book and I’m already planning on reading the next book! Happy reading🫶
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Death of parent
frog4earth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
3.75
For a first print run, this first book in Briar Boleyn’s new ‘Blood of a Fae’ series is incredibly well done. There were noticeable grammatical errors/spelling errors that did take me out of the story in the beginning… but as the story went on and continued to pull me further in, they became a LOT less noticeable. I will also say that unfortunately, for me, Vesper’s character twist/plot twist was quite predictable. He was too good to be true 😫. On the flip side though, I still felt so much shock/anger/betrayal for Morgan when we found out what Vesper had wanted all along. I also didn’t predict that he worked for the King, so that all very well made up for the predictability of Vesper’s twist! Waiting on books 2 and 3 to arrive on Friday — I can’t wait, I think it will only go up from here!!!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death, Gore, and Sexual assault
Minor: Homophobia and Sexual content
mileapo's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment
quirksoflife's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
An easy to read book but the ending did leave me wanting more - it did feel like we were missing crucial information for context at the very end (as in, last few pages end) to make it really pop. That being said, I devoured this book within a few hours.
The romance part of the book was a major plot piece, and we’re certainly left with plenty of cliffhangers and unresolved tendrils of plot so the book does read a bit as a great prologue to the second book in the series.
Looking forward to seeing where this all goes…
Thank you to NetGalley for access in return for providing an honest review.
The romance part of the book was a major plot piece, and we’re certainly left with plenty of cliffhangers and unresolved tendrils of plot so the book does read a bit as a great prologue to the second book in the series.
Looking forward to seeing where this all goes…
Thank you to NetGalley for access in return for providing an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death, Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
viselik's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I found the book quite enjoyable, and it was a quick read. I read it in about 4ish hours. I found the retelling of the story of Excalibur and King Arthur an excellent spin on the story, filled with fae and a believable world! I'm pretty interested to see where this story will go and the story of Morgan (who I totally did not call Morgana more than once).
The relationship between Morgan and Darven was interesting. Still, I did not see a spark of romantic tension between them, which was fine as I got so interested in the world and the story of the fae I forgot this was a romantasy (romance fantasy) book.
Without going into spoiler territory, I enjoyed how Arthur was in this! I loved seeing his arc and change throughout the book, which also helped me like Darven as an excellent comparison.
I found the book quite enjoyable, and it was a quick read. I read it in about 4ish hours. I found the retelling of the story of Excalibur and King Arthur an excellent spin on the story, filled with fae and a believable world! I'm pretty interested to see where this story will go and the story of Morgan (who I totally did not call Morgana more than once).
The relationship between Morgan and Darven was interesting. Still, I did not see a spark of romantic tension between them, which was fine as I got so interested in the world and the story of the fae I forgot this was a romantasy (romance fantasy) book.
Without going into spoiler territory, I enjoyed how Arthur was in this! I loved seeing his arc and change throughout the book, which also helped me like Darven as an excellent comparison.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Kidnapping
bookrecs_bysara's review against another edition
4.75
Brief summary:
Morgan Pendragon, a shunned part fae princess, should have been queen. Instead after the death of her cruel father, the throne passed to her younger, equally cruel, human, brother who—with the kingdom on the brink of war—has sent her on an impossible quest to retrieve the fabled sword, Excalibur.
My thoughts:
This was a decently fast paced Arthurian retelling with a fae twist. The world building was well done, the backstory was believable, the family dynamic was pure chaos, and the action-packed hero’s journey perfectly cues up a sequel. This wasn’t a dark fantasy in the way I was expecting, and I think lovers of Throne of Glass or From Blood and Ash would enjoy this book. I didn’t love the emergence of a sort of love triangle and found the romance component a little lacking (this is where the book lost half a star)—but the ending leads me to think that will be remedied in the second book. The FMC was a bit timid/naive throughout the story, but that didn’t bother me as I think this is an intentional detail that will change as she grows throughout the series—stay tuned to see if my prediction is accurate. MMC was *chefs kiss* perfection, and I’m excited to see what’s next for him/them. And the ending…I think I’m going to start book 2 tomorrow because there’s no way I can walk away from that cliffhanger
content warning: references of sexual assault.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Morgan Pendragon, a shunned part fae princess, should have been queen. Instead after the death of her cruel father, the throne passed to her younger, equally cruel, human, brother who—with the kingdom on the brink of war—has sent her on an impossible quest to retrieve the fabled sword, Excalibur.
My thoughts:
This was a decently fast paced Arthurian retelling with a fae twist. The world building was well done, the backstory was believable, the family dynamic was pure chaos, and the action-packed hero’s journey perfectly cues up a sequel. This wasn’t a dark fantasy in the way I was expecting, and I think lovers of Throne of Glass or From Blood and Ash would enjoy this book. I didn’t love the emergence of a sort of love triangle and found the romance component a little lacking (this is where the book lost half a star)—but the ending leads me to think that will be remedied in the second book. The FMC was a bit timid/naive throughout the story, but that didn’t bother me as I think this is an intentional detail that will change as she grows throughout the series—stay tuned to see if my prediction is accurate. MMC was *chefs kiss* perfection, and I’m excited to see what’s next for him/them. And the ending…I think I’m going to start book 2 tomorrow because there’s no way I can walk away from that cliffhanger
content warning: references of sexual assault.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
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
lastblossom's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
tl;dr
An interesting take on Arthurian legend. Too dark for me, sadly.
Thoughts
I keep telling myself to give dark fantasy another chance, and I should stop telling myself that. My feelings on this book are split. On the plus side, some great twists on fae and Arthurian legend. The story had some great reveals, and I liked all the supporting friends. But it turns out I am tired of things being miserable always and at all times. While this doesn't go all the way into "gritty" territory, the storyline is definitely dark enough, with our MC constantly being kicked around from all directions (mostly from her really terrible brother), with barely a sliver of relief. At one point, I started to wonder why she was even still doing the quest, when she'd probably be better off just running away. Or perhaps using the time away to build that secret army her brother thinks she's got going on. But if you want a dark fantasy, this book absolutely fulfills the prompt. There's also a decent amount of spice, and a very slow burn romance (that looks like it won't really see completion until later installments), and I liked the world building.
Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.
An interesting take on Arthurian legend. Too dark for me, sadly.
Thoughts
I keep telling myself to give dark fantasy another chance, and I should stop telling myself that. My feelings on this book are split. On the plus side, some great twists on fae and Arthurian legend. The story had some great reveals, and I liked all the supporting friends. But it turns out I am tired of things being miserable always and at all times. While this doesn't go all the way into "gritty" territory, the storyline is definitely dark enough, with our MC constantly being kicked around from all directions (mostly from her really terrible brother), with barely a sliver of relief. At one point, I started to wonder why she was even still doing the quest, when she'd probably be better off just running away. Or perhaps using the time away to build that secret army her brother thinks she's got going on. But if you want a dark fantasy, this book absolutely fulfills the prompt. There's also a decent amount of spice, and a very slow burn romance (that looks like it won't really see completion until later installments), and I liked the world building.
Thank you to NetGalley and Starwater Press for a review copy. All thoughts in this review are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Xenophobia