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A review by upturnedroots
Fortuna Sworn by K.J. Sutton
4.0
Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.
There's a lot to love in Sutton's take on the politics of the fae, but it didn't quite reach 5-star status for me mostly because of some unevenness in character development and the super fast plot pacing. Now, I fully prefer plot-driven fantasy novels, but even for me I'm like DUDE, we don't even know what these characters look like yet. CHILL. By 60% into the book, we still don't know basic things like hair color for a lot of these characters so it's hard to visualize what's going on beyond the basic "the fae are eerie and beautiful."
All in all, I enjoyed the plot and that there were very clear rules, laws, and societal hierarchies in this world. I like the origin story of the fae and all the classes of creatures as this is what makes sense to me in determining the differences between Seelie and Unseelie factions and lore.
I'm glad that Sutton didn't shy away from the darker nature of these supernatural beings and especially the Unseelie court. I also liked that the world was diverse, and this is explicitly noted, the fae are actually specifically stated as being diverse, not just "tan or darker skinned," with different faiths, and religions, and practices.
Some spoilers for parts that bumped this to 4-stars for me and made me eager to start Book 2 which I bought immediately, and I already preordered Book 3 for my Kindle:
The parts with Oliver and her realizing Laurie is the Seelie King and no one else can see him was awesome and made me want to jump into the next book straight away, I kept thinking it might be Oliver that is important but maybe that becomes clearer in Book 2.
I thought the romance was the most uneven, I get that the whole arrangement was of a practical nature, so that scene in the bathtub was more cringe-y for me than anything else. I honestly think it would have been fine to keep the marriage a practical alliance and have no romance whatsoever, as that was a weaker point in the story for me.
There's a lot to love in Sutton's take on the politics of the fae, but it didn't quite reach 5-star status for me mostly because of some unevenness in character development and the super fast plot pacing. Now, I fully prefer plot-driven fantasy novels, but even for me I'm like DUDE, we don't even know what these characters look like yet. CHILL. By 60% into the book, we still don't know basic things like hair color for a lot of these characters so it's hard to visualize what's going on beyond the basic "the fae are eerie and beautiful."
All in all, I enjoyed the plot and that there were very clear rules, laws, and societal hierarchies in this world. I like the origin story of the fae and all the classes of creatures as this is what makes sense to me in determining the differences between Seelie and Unseelie factions and lore.
I'm glad that Sutton didn't shy away from the darker nature of these supernatural beings and especially the Unseelie court. I also liked that the world was diverse, and this is explicitly noted, the fae are actually specifically stated as being diverse, not just "tan or darker skinned," with different faiths, and religions, and practices.
Some spoilers for parts that bumped this to 4-stars for me and made me eager to start Book 2 which I bought immediately, and I already preordered Book 3 for my Kindle:
Spoiler
The interaction with the Leviathan and its death was dark and heartbreaking. The conflict Fortuna feels with recognizing its consciousness is something powerful and gives the kind of depth in character-building and humanity that I wanted to see more of in this book. I felt the same way in her interactions at the slave market and with the werewolf and Damon in some ways.The parts with Oliver and her realizing Laurie is the Seelie King and no one else can see him was awesome and made me want to jump into the next book straight away, I kept thinking it might be Oliver that is important but maybe that becomes clearer in Book 2.
I thought the romance was the most uneven, I get that the whole arrangement was of a practical nature, so that scene in the bathtub was more cringe-y for me than anything else. I honestly think it would have been fine to keep the marriage a practical alliance and have no romance whatsoever, as that was a weaker point in the story for me.