Scan barcode
bea1745's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
njh_books's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It's a thick book, about 500 pages, yet it never really dragged for me. Some parts were slower than others but there was never really a point in the novel where I was begging for it to get on with it.
I quite enjoyed Harry and Iain, and they both grew on me as they grew up as well. Sometimes they were both idiots with each other, but they seemed to generally figure it out. Glad Iain got his revenge.
Alys is a rockstar as well and I enjoyed her wit and keeping Harry in check. While this is a MLM novel, Alys could be ace--her distain for the process to get pregnant to the point she basically does some medieval process of IUI and that she desires a courtly love, not a physical/sexual one, speaks of that potential.
The dynamic between Harry, Iain, and Alys I would've loved to see more of, simply because the last scene was killer and the three of them seem to balance each other out well. Liked the ending where the protagonist, the lover, and the best friend all can get along and live in harmony.
Some fav quotes/scenes that may have made me giggle:
"The aide scrunches his face in discomfort. ‘Those are the private royal gardens, Sir Harry. We do not look towards them nor do we reach into them, unless we have a very great desire to lose our hand.'
Harry's face reddens in embarrassment as he is led away from the bench, probably never to be allowed near it again.
'Are you worried the King overheard your prayer?' the aide asks.
'No. I prayed in English,’ Harry says.
'Pfft,' the aide snorts. ‘Then God did not hear it either, for He does not speak the vulgar tongue.'"(474)
"Alys finds the chest containing the scarves and ribbons. Her brow furrows. ‘lain, why on earth do any of us need so much haberdashery? I, for one, have no intention of ever going to court again.’
‘Well,’ lain whispers, in his rough, ruined voice, 'you're going to go through a lot of ribbons, because every time that great Sassenach idiot rides into a tournament he's going to need a favour.'
‘Oh lord,’ Harry groans. 'You're teaming up on me?’
And two bright, mischievous brunets look at him and grin. 'Who, us?' says Alys, her face innocent.
‘We'd never,’ purrs lain." (505-506)
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence
Minor: Sexism and Excrement
quinnyquinnquinn's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
wildatheart1339's review
4.5
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexism, Vomit, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Classism
pitsikakku's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Confinement, Homophobia, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment
menomica's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
He knows now the word for the soaring feeling he gets in his chest every time he looks at his squire. He knows now the name of the song his body sings when he touches his friend. It is love. And it is impossible.
Once you know and understand that this book was originally a stucky fanfic everything clicks. Like once you see and accept that it’s a repackaged
That being said, I would argue this book does manage to stand on its own. Like for me at least I enjoyed watching
Idk I liked it. Wouldn’t be mad if there was a sequel 🤷🏾♀️.
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
mallorypen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
What I loved:
- Harry’s abrupt transition from naive boy hoping for glory and riches with war, to disillusioned participant in horrific acts of war, to unwilling jailor, to a man so desperately In love that it changed the rest of the course of his life. His ability to cling to chivalry, even during his darkest years of depression, make him such a good man and worthy of the love he receives.
- Ian’s rage and fire - from his capture, to his transition from captive to member of Harry’s household, his journey from doomed pawn to master of his own fate as the Knight of Death. His knowledge of courtly politics, his inability to back down, and his intense jealousy balance his character so well into a compelling character and unwilling hero.
- The machinations of Montague and his cronies … and how thoroughly Ian takes them all down.
- The medieval courtly GOODNESS … this felt like all the best parts of A Knight’s Tale but infused with the research and delivery of a historian. I died at Ian and Harry’s joust, and Ian throwing away the win at the last moment -!
- The Yearning™️ intermixed with the most compelling political intrigue. I’m starting to think that dangerous political machinations as a B plot to a fantastically steamy romance is exactly my brand of storytelling.
- The smut was absolutely on fire. I don’t think I’ve blushed so hard listening to or reading anything else this year. “I only bow to one man” hnnnnnng.
- The narrator did a great job … Scottish accent notwithstanding.
- Elise and Annie. Does this book pass the Bechdel test? Not in the slightest. Are Annie the Straight Aly and Elise the Asexual Badass still great characters? Obviously.
I didn’t love how Harry turned to war to drown out his pain after he thought Ian was dead, but it made narrative sense. It also got Harry to France, so he could be in Ian’s path once again. The ending also wrapped everything up neatly and in a lot less time than the rest of the plot, leaving it feeling a bit like an afterthought. That said, the ending was happy, the chivalrous were handsome, strong and true, and Ian got to meet his “niblings” and I am suffused with joy imagining the love of the household.
… We will also forgive the untimely death of Star. Why are these authors killing all these horses lately???
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and War
myarae's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War
marioncromb's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This was one of those unputdownable, breeze-through reads for me, very readable prose, characters i cared about, interesting historical setting, captivating romance. But i had one big problem with it.
For me, there were just far too many sex scenes. This was maybe slightly balanced out for me by having a canon asexual side character, but only slightly, as they are a side character and their asexuality almost just seemed like more of a plot device not to get in the way of the main couple. And the sex scenes were very idealised and explicit, basically just porn:
To give you an idea of how much. This is a book of four roughly equal quarters:
First quarter: plot: a young knight tries to befriend his prisoner
Second quarter: basically just porn, just so much porn
Third quarter: mostly porn, some plot
Last quarter: thankfully back to mostly plot and only some porn
For a 500+ page book, its a lot of porn. But if you like that sort of thing definitely give it a go because i found it very enjoyable otherwise
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
mal_eficent's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Originally this was a Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes Alternate Universe fanfic. Harry was Steve. Iain was Bucky. There are a couple of other direct replacements that my sister remembered (the two Peters mentioned were Peter Parker and Peter Quill, Robbie was Rumlow, for example) but as someone who never read the original I didn't really notice that specific characters were supposed to be Marvel characters and it never drew me out of the story. It was just a fun thing to talk to my sister about while reading a story she enjoyed. That said, I think there are some things that have stuck around from the fanfic.
Even for historical romance, the pacing and way information introduced still felt like a long fanfic. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there were long portions of just day to day life being described in quick succession that dragged the pacing down. Plus there was the odd dramatic twist that led nowhere, introduced characters that were barely seen again, and did nothing to advance the story which felt like they were supposed to be just easter eggs for fans in the original. Seeing your favourite superhero show up in a fic is great, having the serial numbers of that moment filed off in a novel makes it feel unimportant.
While it was well written and Harry was a delightful point of view character, I was far more invested in the historical tidbits and the little bits of politics we got throughout the story. Traditional historical fiction just kind of expects readers to know facts, whereas Campi went the extra mile to make sure we know how tournaments work, the intricacies of who speaks what language when, and even the whole history of the wars leading up to current events. I enjoyed that, as it's not an era I'm familiar with.
There are quite a few consent issues with the romance, if this is something you don't want in your historical romance. It's centred more around a power imbalance between the two, and less force, but there are a few moments were even I was wincing a little, and I wasn't invested in the romance at all.
They also face a lot of homophobia which, given the power of the church at the time, makes sense yet still isn't nice to read, especially if that's a trigger for you as well. No one but the villains has these opinions, but there's a lot of it.
If you like self published historical romance, or just this era of historical fiction, give this a chance! It was fun, well written, and there's some steamy scenes if you like that sort of thing.
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder
Moderate: Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent