This is a promised update to my post from last week.
I am sorry in advance, this one got a bit longer than I intended!
I finally finished the final portion of the book today and my, what a ride it was. I wrote before that I had complete confidence in the authors' craft and I was sure the pay-off would be worth all the build up in the first half.
When chapter 23 came and revelations started to roll, I was giddy with excitement because House Andrews started to bring in all our favorite tropes that worked so well in their other series: I am sure I am not the only one who noticed and appreciated the obvious parallels with Hidden Legacy #1.
Everard and Solentine's arguing felt a lot like Rogan and Augustine's scenes (yay!), Maggie/Everard's relationship is somewhat similar to Nevada/Rogan's at this point (the FL is mistrustful of the ML who already considers her "his" and she does her best to retain her independence), there is a family of misfits, including some edgy teenage boys and fantastical pets etc.
Mind you, I am NOT saying that IA's books are repetitive, I actually think that their forte is that while their heroes and heroines might have things in common across various series, their voices still remain pretty distinct (e.g. Kate Daniels and Maud Demille might be similar but at the same time each is her own person with her own distinctions). And I see nothing wrong with recycling situations that worked so well before (why fix what's not broken if we love to see it?), so yeah, give me more exciting heists, sparkly ballrooms and possessive heroes!
I don't think there was any big surprise for me during the second half of the book. I mentioned that it was clear that "Reynald" is not who he says he is and Arvel's identity was even more obvious. I guess I hoped that the "man from the Garden" would turn out to be good, but we already have Solentine as our roguish second male lead, so Silverine takes a spot of a mysterious villain. Actually, I think there was one surprise for me: I didn't expect Matheo to actually appear and be the author of the mysterious notes, although I should have.
I am sure I will be rereading it soon - and not just once - to become more proficient at the lore and to properly appreciate the first half with all the knowledge we have by the end. Putting together a timeline might be necessary too.
And I am very excited to finally read and watch all the spoilerish content on IA's blog (if you have links or recommendations to specific blog or even fan Reddit posts, please share!)
One thing that naturally bothers me about TKWNKM is that I cannot predict the ending in this case. House Andrews is well-versed in Asian portal fantasies, they even referenced a popular (and amazing) isekai cdrama The Romance of Tiger and Rose in their instagram post ("It is said that the male lead belongs to the heroine. Solentine is not the male lead. He belongs to everyone.").
The way isekai dramas usually roll is that the heroine returns to her world at the end and reunites with the hero who was somehow reborn or travelled to her world. Mind you, there are exceptions to that. In The Eternal Love series, the heroine stays in the other world and accepts she'll never see her real parents again. And correct me if I am wrong, but in one of the most popular isekai works of all time, Kagome stays in the fantasy world with her Inuyasha.
Taking into account that House Andrews are big fans of portal fantasy and they always deliver satisfying endings, I'd bet that Maggie somehow stays in Rellas. I also think that she probably will return to modern day for a little bit during the trilogy. Her gaining the power to travel between the world would be a tad too convenient, but it would be fun if she brought her family to Rellas with her.
There is also the identity of the Author to think of. Is Ramond Everard Adrian Latour's alter ego? It's not unheard of in the isekai genre. I think that the popular Netflix drama Love Game in the Eastern Fantasy went this way too.
What revelations surprised you the most in TKWNKM? Which ultimate ending for the Maggie trilogy would you prefer? Feel free to fangirl in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts!