A review by jinjan
The High Mountain Court by A.K. Mulford

4.0

This book is a really fun fantasy romance! It scratched the itch without being overly tropey or cringey.

Remy & Hale have great chemistry & I liked that Mulford didn't for an enemies-to-lovers situation. I really loved Bri, Telhan, & Carys as well & am excited to follow some of them in future novels. And while I never felt particularly attached to any of these characters, they all felt fully realized.

The setting is seemingly queer normative, which is a huge thumbs up from me. The book is predictable & one of the big mysteries is alluded to in like the 2nd chapter (Remy's identity). But its done in a way that feels like the other characters are in on the secret - like they all kinda suspect who she really is but are all cool to let her think she's lying to them. And I appreciated that this never really gets in the way of Remy & Hale's relationship.

Towards the end, Mulford started to lose me. I didn't love how the final battle went down,
especially with the way that Raffiel dies. I just don't get, why go through the trouble of writing him in just to kill him off in the same scene?.
I also noticed that Remy & Hale's dialogue slightly changes to be more formal once
Remy casts off her human form
which I really hated. It makes no sense! Otherwise, I liked the ending & was actually pleasantly surprised by how it all went down.

Up until the 85% mark I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue on in the series. While I like Remy & Hale, neither of them had character arcs that I found all that intriguing - maybe if we had gotten some POV from Hale. But now that I know who the couple is in the next book, I think that relationship dynamic will be much more up my alley.