The strongest weapon a woman has at her disposal is that she is often underestimated," I answer with a small smile. "And I wield that all the time.” Not until I looked into a pair of fiery blue eyes and realized that perhaps burning was a painless thing.

My father believed that was bullshit, and I think no differently. But even if I had proof of the king lying through his teeth, it’s not as though a girl from the slums is in any position to be believed. He’s good at fighting, but so is every opponent in the Trials. Killing is no longer a measure of morality since murder has been recently romanticized by fantasy books, so, in what way is Kai a monster? Murder brings no consequence to the killer—not physically or emotionally—so why is murdering bad in this world? Because the book keeps on saying that people enjoy the Trials, even the Ordinary. So murder is glorified, deeming Kai a failed attempt at the whole morally grey trope.

Hobbies

Both the plot and writing were also pretty good!! 🫶🫶 I really enjoyed the writing style and how easy it was to read, it made the book FLY by. There were also some seriously gorgeous lines that had my jaw on the floor. it was really good writing for a debut!! 😍😍 The plot was very entertaining and fast-paced. There was minimal worldbuilding and it was very easy to understand, so this is a great book if you want to get into fantasy! 💜💜 I will say that this definitely gives Hunger Games vibes, but this is SO MUCH more. Everything was just ugh so good. I couldn't put it down, it was so fun and thrilling and just amazing. I polished it off it one sitting. His character was kinda giving Aaron Warner vibes because HE'S A FREAKING WIELDER (he can wield anyone's power if they are near) also MAJOR DADDY ISSUES 👺 Loved the banter and the flirty relationship between Padyn and Kai, was I worried I was heading into a love triangle between brothers… slightly but it’s fine. Be swept away by this bestselling, dagger-to-the-throat romantasy trilogy taking the world by storm.

Hide your feelings, hide your fear, and most importantly, hide behind your facade. No one can know, Paedy. Trust no one and nothing but your instincts.”I was tired. Tired of trying to be something I wasn't while no one knew what I was. So I decided to study the sky that night, spotting similarities between us. I was lonely in a way that I imagine the stars to be, observed by everyone yet too far to truly be seen. And for once, I wanted to be seen by someone." Not until I looked into a pair of sky-blue eyes and realized that perhaps falling was a peacful thing.

All this said, Lauren Roberts’s writing has the potential to be good. There were times when I enjoyed myself. For example, when Kai woke up with the note,

Table of Contents

Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice. We fall into the type of easy conversation that only comes after spending years surviving on the streets together, making it easy to interpret Adena’s garbled words around the pins pressed between her lips. I roll over, finally falling quiet as I watch her steady fingers and furrowed brow, too engrossed with her work to sleep.

I spin her if only to give myself some time to think. I'd never thought about what my favorite color was before It never seemed important. Not until I looked into a pair of ocean blue eyes and realized that perhaps drowning was a beautiful thing. Adena rolls her eyes at me, just as she does every night I make the same empty promise. “I’ll believe it when I feel it, Pae,” she singsongs.note: there are very minor punctuation/editing errors sprinkled here and there such as random quotation marks, missing em dashes in certain dialogues, extra periods, inconsistent ellipses formatting, and literally the name of the kingdom not being capitalized one time (as well as some contestants' last names). too many "!?" uses (okay that one is a me thing lol. why are we yelling so much??😺) A thrilling fantasy with the most delicious slow-burn romance' M.A. Kuzniar, bestselling author of Midnight in Everwood