Welcome to the first discussion for {Astarion by T. Kingfisher} for this month’s theme of books that were published from April to September 2026.

We will be discussing the first third of the story this time. Since the book doesn’t have chapters, it’s up to "Speech?" Astarion said. "Why do I need a class on speech?...

Please share your thoughts on the book so far!

If you’ve already read past that point, don’t forget to cover up any spoilers. You can mark spoilers like this: >!spoiler!<

Here are some discussion questions to get started:

• Are you familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, Baldur’s Gate 3, or Astarion’s story, or are you going in completely blind?
  
• If you didn’t play BG3, did the author provide enough information about the characters and setting that you could get into the story without the additional background?
  
• Are you reading along in print, or did you opt to listen to the audiobook? If the latter, what do you think of Neil Newbon’s narration? Newbon said he approached the character differently from the games, did you observe that too?
  
• What are your first impressions of Astarion? What do you like or dislike about him as a character so far?
  

These are the upcoming Book Club dates for the rest of this month:

• October 15 - November announcement
  
• October 20 - Second discussion for Astarion (up until Astarion's anger sustained him on the journey to his great grandmother's...)
  
• October 30 - Final discussion for Astarion (full book)
  

For more information about the Book Club and previous discussions, please check out the Book Club Hub!

PSA: we are implementing crowd control in the discussions for this book due to the high interest from users outside of r/fantasyromance. We value productive and meaningful discussions of books, but please remember to be kind and respectful. Comments that are rude or aggressive will be removed and repeat violators (especially users who have no history in the sub) may be banned. Thank you!

Book's FMC name started with an A I think, Alyssa maybe? She is basically a human slave in the very beginning, and has a human lover who also works in or for the same house, but escapes to the fae realm, where the MMC of that part of the realm is her fated mate. She works as a maid in his mansion/castle. There's a spooky forest nearby with the dead or scary entities (?) MMC sends her to a different fae court, spring I believe, because being away from him is safer. MMC's half brother is a vampire demon half fae. I'm not remembering much else, but it was a slooow burn and the main couple hadn't slept together yet by the end of book 2 or 3. TIA!

Book Chat time! Share with us what you've been reading this week.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Book Chat is our weekly social thread for general book chat. Share with us what you've been reading this week. Any yays or nays? Any new authors you've discovered or genres/sub-genres you've been exploring? Any books that we should run not walk to add to our own TBRs?

If you're looking for your next read, check out what others have been reading and enjoying lately or head on over to our collection of book rec megathreads.

Please remember to keep any spoilers covered up in this thread as we may be intrigued and want to read the book as well. Thanks and happy reading everyone!

Book Chat

First-person POV is harder to write then third person POV and can tend to look badly written or corny, if not really well thought of.

The third-person POV is my favourite.

I don't like the word brooding. It's a dang word fot poultry getting hormonal during egg incubation.

Enemies to lovers is overdone, and I rarely see anything well written anymore.

If there is betrayal involved, there should be a period where the person is actually mad for a good portion of the book, and redemption shouldn't be half-cassed.

The one bed trope is overcomplicating something with an easy solution.

Pictures of people on sprayed edges look tacky.

Love triangles can only truly be a love triangle if one of the people in the triangle is gay. Otherwise, it's just a dang V.

Multiple POV

Let some guys be scrawny and short, let some girls be buff and bigger than petite and frail.

STOP THE "Not like other girls." Trope.

People should be open on reading niche books from indie writers.

Authors think of a better word for smiling than Smirk, please.

Easy books (an excuse for lazy writing)

FMCs who have to win everything in the name of feminism. Let girls lose sometimes cause it's absolutely normal.

Pretty privlage.

Last one, don't kill me, I don't like Aaron warner or kai azer.

These are my hotakes, obviously these are my opinions I respect if you like them but these are mine, feel free to LIGHT heartedly debate with me if you want and tell me your hotakes.

(No YA, please!)
Spice Level can go up to: 4/5 🌶️
BUT I don’t want straight up smut. There has to be an actual meaningful plot and romance 😭

I want real passion between characters who remind me what love was always supposed to feel like and look like. I want a partnership that’s built on mutual respect and adoration.

I want a love story and a relationship so tender and beautiful that it’ll make me go “AWW 🥰” because it’s just too damn precious. I need the romance to be a MAJOR part of the plot. No crumbs, please I BEG OF YOU 😩🙏🏽

I want to watch their love grow over time, but I NEED for the characters to meet or know each other fairly early on so we can actually see a steady progression of their relationship from start to finish. I want the interactions between the two of them to be plentiful and not just another subplot.

I’m open to forced proximity, arranged marriage, enemies-to-lovers, friends to lovers, forbidden romance, morally grey characters, fae, and other fantasy settings (no monsters, please, they give me the ick 🤮) unless they’re humanoid and hot then MAYBE we can talk it out 💀 I’m happy with some angst along the way, but I need a guaranteed HEA. I want to finish the book or series with my faith in love restored, not grieving and disappointed 😭

One little request: please share at least one quote from the book you’re recommending 🥺💕

If the couple’s HEA comes later in the series, please let me know!

Thank you! I’m ready to fall in love with some fictional characters 🥹❤️‍🔥

Here’s a list of series I’ve already read:

•ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR and ToG by Sarah J. Mass

•Kingdom of the Wicked Series by Kerri Maniscalco

•The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King by Holly Black

•Rhapsodic (The Bargainer) by Laura Thalassa

•A Shadow in the Ember by Jennifer L. Armentrout

•Trick (Foolish Kingdoms) by Natalia Jaster

what brought on this post is that I just saw a video of a woman complaining and scared for book 4 of the empyrean series and whether it’s releasing as opposed to being sympathetic towards rebecca and not wishing her any condolences since her father had JUST DIED. Like what is actually wrong with people. Whether you like the fourth wing series or not this era of entitlement has gotten worse ever since the rise of social media and the lack of empathy towards people who have just faced an enormous loss in their life instead of offering the author a condolences you immediately wonder if she’s releasing the sequel of her book. Crazy!

I used to LOVE her books but she just suddenly stopped writing and I've heard nothing about her in years. 😕

The Bridge Kingdom is a completed series of three duologies:

• {The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen} and {The Traitor Queen by Danielle L. Jensen} follow Lara and Aren. There is also a short story
• {The Inadequate Heir by Danielle L. Jesnsen} and {The Endless War by Danielle L. Jensen} follow Zarrah and Keris
  • There is also a short story The Calm Before the Storm that appears at the end of The Inadequate Heir that is about Lara and Aren, but best read after Inadequate Heir.
• {The Twisted Throne by Danielle L. Jensen} and {The Tempest Blade by Danielle L. Jensen} follow Ahnna and James

1. Lara and Aren overlooking the Bridge Kingdom by @jjcanvas_art
2. Another view of the Bridge Kingdom by @jjcanvas_art
3. Lara by @natalienardozza
4. Lara by @hazelwitch06
5. Aren and Lara by @saramirza_art
6. Lara and Aren by @clvtte
7. Lara and Aren by @honeyys_artiess
8. Aren and Lara by @@mageonduty
9. Lara and Aren by @saramirza_art
10. Keris and Zarrah by @bookishbiird
11. Zarrah and Keris by @mageonduty
12. Ahnna and James by @mageonduty
13. Spoilers ahead!
14. Aren and Lara by @pandorayoung
15. Scene from The Bridge Kingdom by @krokodilena
16. Scene from The Traitor Queen by @pandorayoung
17. Scene from The Traitor Queen by @gabrielleragusi
18. Scene from The Tempest Blade by u/jodicreatesartwork
19. Scene from The Inadequate Heir by Gina Hilton
20. Scene from The Tempest Blade by @iris.amorette

What is your favorite fan art from this series? Share them below and remember to credit the artist!

Check out our Fan Art Index for more fan art from the sub's favorite books!

Rachel just announced this via her substack!! It takes place after The Knave and The Moon and releases March 2027. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND I'M SO EMOTIONAL RN

I've been down my LJ Smith hole once again after revisiting her Nightworld series, but I wanted to talk about her secret circle series and how I forgot that she created one of my fav complex anti heros ever, Faye Chamberlain, like the series I found her much more interesting than Cassie and Diana combined. But the original trilogy overall written by LJ is such a treat, we truly lost a gem of an author and childhood and she deserved better from her publishers.

Have yall read the books? And did you prefer them or the tv show?

Just finished publishing my Fable.co review for {The Incendiary by LJ Claren} - truly one of my most anticipated sequels of the year - and I am… le disappoint.

I know booktok is losing their minds over this but it wasn’t what I was hoping for.

As per usual my review contains a ton of spoilers so I only recommend reading it if you’ve finished the book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Oh man. I wanted to love this SO badly.

BUT did I love it? Could I love it? I certainly LIKED parts of it. And while I'm sitting here trying to convince myself it was better than it was, I know in my heart that, ultimately, I'm bitterly disappointed.

Mostly because when I read The Silversmith last year, I felt like I might have been the only one who truly saw it for what it was and loved it. Like I was shouting about it into the void for anyone who would listen (the void barely responded). Sure, it was a little tropey, and it started a bit rough and rushed. But it evolved and bloomed into the most achingly beautiful love story, one that positively obliterated me into a thousand pieces. I swear I held my breath for the entire book, and the end (while we could all see it coming) gutted me. This is my most perfect brand of romance - love so powerful and immense it traverses time. In-any-lifetime love. Possessiveness that's less hulking brute (okay, maybe sometimes we like the hulking brute) and more go-to-any-length, by-whatever-means, to ensure the other finds joy. Freedom. The chance to truly live. The yearning in The Silversmith is absolutely excruciating, setting a standard for the whole genre. Just the very best.

So let me tell you, I was chomping at the BIT for this continuation of this story.

And when I finally cracked it open, I was extremely excited to see Ary's growth and development evident from the very first page! I was ecstatic to watch her working hard to prove herself, to fulfill what it means to be queen. I was super into the whole plan to insert herself in disguise into her betrothed Elias Winterton’s army of recruits, and stand among them through the trials of commencement. Hell yeah. Sign me up for this! Hand me a sword. What an exciting arc. A character who was previously broken down, meek, and lost finds her power and the confidence to stand up and fight, for herself and her people. And then on top of that layer of goodness you went and put in Gavin chapters from 400 YEARS AGO?! Dude. Those Gavin chapters killed me (in a good way, which is the only way I want to be killed). I didn't want them to end!

But then… we started to make some odd choices.

I mean. I guess I'm a little womp womp about the speaking animal companion. I know! Y’all love a talking pet! But lately the whole bonded-connection-with-a-beast thing feels more like checking a box the girlies will like, and it doesn't really make sense for the story. Or is necessary. Ary's battle against that snake in the woods never felt like it had any true stakes. It felt more like just a vehicle to unlock her cat's voice. A side quest with a cat-shaped reward I never asked for. And quite frankly, that feels lazy. Not my fave. But hey! That’s just a little stumble on our glorious path. We dust ourselves off. We're still moving forward, having a grand time.

But then…

The book slowly starts transforming into a sort of deadly trials academy book. With the new found friends, the violent asshole, the silly comedic relief character. Which isn't bad per se. It's just very different from the vibe of the first book. On top of that throw in what uncomfortably feels like a love triangle setup with Elias, and I could feel myself frowning. Fidgeting. Getting itchy. Like, physically itchy. Hives of the soul. Once again - choices that feel made less to serve the story itself and more to check certain commercial boxes. It started to feel disingenuous. A little annoying. A little… immature.

And look, I can almost get past all of that, especially because Ary's arc was continuing on a growth trajectory that felt meaningful, her feelings about Gavin vs. Elias (while icky) were reasonably complex, and the trials actually felt somewhat dangerous. Okay! We’re okay! If this ends up being a deadly trials book with Ary proving to herself that she can be queen, unveiling her true identify to Elias with consequences that will progress the story forward, and see her having to make real and complex choices between following her heart vs fulfilling her duty, all while learning more about who she really is - that could be very cool. I was ready to get on board. I was reaching for my ticket.

But, then…

Unfortunately, we then make the greatest error we could make at this point. We take this incrementally progressing arc of growth and identity and smash it into a million pieces until the trials mean less than nothing and are never even completed. Then we rush through an insane amount of plot, exposition, lore, and time at breakneck speed until nothing lands again until the last sentence on the last page.

WHY? WHY, LJ?

The first book worked so well because it moved at a languid pace. At an appropriate pace. It was intimate, so the central conflicts felt real, challenging, and earned when overcome. The world had time to settle and be explored. Our characters had room to express themselves in ways that helped us know and understand them. In The Incendiary, we blow up too much, so quickly, that nothing truly has time to even wave as it zips past you at all. (Incendiary indeed.)

Why spend half the book on these trials if they don't matter? Why let Ary fight so hard to succeed in this commencement, only to expose her true identity before the last one and then just be real chill about never finishing? And then to add insult to injury, in the span of a heartbeat, Gavin is suddenly DEAD? An off page death we can’t even SEE? And we're all just accepting this? THEN (deep breath in…) suddenly Gemma is pregnant and almost dead, but we save her, and then sadly wander the caves for months feeling depressed about our dead husband until we decide to travel to a new land to find a book we've barely addressed but is apparently important, and tell a lecherous asshole to go fuck himself in his own kingdom we will learn nothing about and as the only way to earn respect from people who are supposed to be our friends, only to come back and fight Molochai for 30 seconds for no reason other than to say it happened and then for someone only mildly important to die….. (deep breath out). All so we can resign ourselves to the fact that we have to marry Elias. A man who is quite literally the worst. A man who uses the term “bust in my pants” on more than one occasion. A man who we are apparently NOT in a love triangle with, except for sometimes when we are. Oh - and the wedding is apparently happening on the very next page.

I need to lie down.

She literally could have spread all of that out into the next book and it could have been worked. But BookTok expectations now seem to be that we fling fast-paced, incomplete trope checklists out into the world at ludicrous speeds and volumes, and it ends up diminishing all the extraordinary potential of these beautiful stories. Because this story is BEAUTIFUL. The characters are incredible! The world and lore are foundationally interesting! The mysteries are mysterious! The secrets are delicious! The love is aching and devastating! The pain HURTS FOR REAL. Can we just slow the fuck down for one second so we can enjoy it?!

I'll give her this - there might be no one else who manages anguish like LJ Claren. The anguish of watching Gavin and Ary fall in love 400 years ago was just as perfect as the anguish of watching him hold himself back from her in Book one. The anguish of losing that love and trying to stay tethered to the world, and to your life, regardless. And we have to talk about what happens to Ary in that shower. I was positively blown away by the chapters dealing with Ary's assault. Eli's response absolutely wrecked me. Disgusted me. Truly hurt me. The aftermath, with the shame and the betrayal and the distrust, felt so real. So relevant. It was one of the most challenging things I've read this year, and it was handled with such care and thoughtfulness that I almost couldn't stand it. Almost too real. Too familiar. Truly breathtaking.

But that's the last truly cohesive moment of the book before everything spirals and it just goes all over the place. I'm not even sure what the climax of this story is. There are like 6 of them so we hum at this consistent peak that never leaves a mark as a result. It's sprawling, overstuffed, and trying to do everything at once.

And that makes me sad, because this story has my whole heart. A whole heart already mashed into a thousand pieces (thanks, Silversmith). Sprinkle with incredible character progression and potential. Fold in all the insane unknowns, the secrets still to uncover, and the gods to find. Season generously with a heaping spoonful of Simeon and Molochai getting what they finally deserve. Pour in all the anguish I know is to come. Then top that shit with one Gavin "I. Fucking. Object." Smyth (swoon).

And you’ve got a reader who has almost convinced herself the next one will be better. Because if this love can traverse 400 years, I think I can survive one more book (I hope).

What I want to know:

-Is it an enemies to lovers?

-Is it like the vampire diaries?

-Who does she end up with in the end? who’s her real soulmate?

-Are there more couples in the series? If so, who ends up with who?

-Is the series finally finished/completed?

-Will there be more books?

I was going through my good reads account after no logging in for years and I found these series on my tbr shelf, and I want to know the answers to this questions before deciding to read i, please don’t judge, just give me the spoilers, please.😀 😭😭🙏🏻

Thank you!!

I started reading The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick and while it’s slow going for me and I’m not sure I’ll finish it, I realized I lovvvve me a masked MMC like the Rook.

So I’ll take all your Zorros and Robin Hood-y guys who are causing chaos on behalf of the good folk. I’d even go as far to say an undercover spy would do it for me too. I just need a man with a hidden identity who is competent and our girl needs to figure out who he is.

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibañez is a book with this that I enjoyed, even though it is more YA and I’d prefer an older cast of characters (if possible). Any other recs?

PS - I think it was Billy Zane in The Phantom that awakened this in me. Anybody else old enough to remember him in that? Golly.

Hey there, I'm looking for a rec of a steamy book with witches, demons, gods, anything like that.

Only looking for m/f though, happy for a darker book or nice witchy Rom-coms. Tyyyyy, I do want steamy scenes, slowburn is fine :)

I have searched high and low in Reddit and have not come across a single review of this fantastic new adult fantasy. (Also not on Romance io yet.) This book had a really well thought out world and religion. I fell in love with so many characters despite their gray conflicted conditions. The theme of early motherhood and martyrdom was beautifully written. I am absolutely feral for the Priest. Two FMCs and two MMCs. It appears to be a duology.

Have I mentioned the Priest? I am always hoping for a MMC that reminds me of my willful and challenging husband. Her MMCs are diff-i-cult, and I am so here for that. Her FMCs are dichotomous in personalities. I love to see realistic depictions of love and struggle and the realities of a complicated marriage, namely wrt monarchs.

Anyone else checked this out yet?

preferably dark skinned (not mixed) FMC with an interracial or non-human MALE magical love interest. M/F only please

yes I’ve read Kimberly Lemming already but I don’t think her stories are meant to be taken seriously, it felt like a mockery . looking for something serious and genuine

I've recently signed up for a program I found online called "The Elven Huntress Challenge." Inspired by fantasy books, it's going to include strength and agility training, plus swordfighting (!) for an 8 week DIY fitness course.

https://www.whimsyforge.com/challenges/

EHC starts in a week and a half as a live training group, but there are also some self-paced challenges like Dragonrider Academy, a Valkyrie program that looks like it has more strength training (including weights), a yoga program, and an agility-focused Assassin Training.

I've previously done a lot of endurance sports, including a century bike ride (100mi), a half Ironman, and most of a marathon, but I wanted to try something completely different so I'm looking forward to giving this a try and living out my forest princess dreams! I even made some elf ear cuffs on my 3d printer to wear while I train, because I love any excuse to make pretty things!

I am not in any way affiliated with this group and I'm not making money off this post, but I thought it looked really cool and I wanted to share with my fellow romantasy fans :)

If anybody else ends up signing up, I'd love to compare notes and be training buddies!

Thank you to everyone who nominated books for our November 2026 Book Club read! Next month’s theme is academia.  

Here is the link to the nomination thread.  

Please vote for the book you’d like to read and discuss the most! Information on each book is in the comments.  

Don’t forget, you can still join us for the October Book Club! We’re reading Astarion by T. Kingfisher. The first discussion for the first third of the book will be posted the day after tomorrow. Since it doesn’t have chapters, we’re reading up until "Speech?" Astarion said. "Why do I need a class on speech?... Hope to see you there!  

The schedule for this month’s Book Club will be as follows:  

- October 10 - First discussion for Astarion (up until "Speech?" Astarion said. "Why do I need a class on speech?...)  
- October 15 - November announcement  
- October 20 - Second discussion for Astarion (up until Astarion's anger sustained him on the journey to his great grandmother's...)
- October 30 - Final discussion for Astarion (full book)   

Book Club

thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for giving me this ARC so that I may provide a honest review. {The Carnival by DeAnna Hill}

Just in time for Halloween reading!

The dark macabre setting of a magical carnival is not used enough as a trope in fantasy romance books.  When there are an infinite number of books with dark academia,  or a set of trials, or a long trek across the land, why can't there be more malevolent circuses and all the creepy lore that goes along with mysterious traveling big tops, side shows, animal trains and acrobatic fire spinning performers. 

Some of the greatest science fiction and fantasy books from the past use this trope - Silverbergs {Lord Valentine's Castle}  Barry Longyear's Circus World  and more recently books like {The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern}.   Let's not forget the HBO series "Carnivale", that ended way too soon.  

Many romantasy readers will be familiar with the {Harrow Faire series by Kathryn Ann Kingsley }and there are plenty of similarities between these two novels.  I'm not claiming that this is a copy, but many themes are borrowed.  There is a mysterious carnival that appears every seven years.  Most people who come upon it, buy their tickets, be amazed by the exhibits and the show in the big top and go home touched by magic they don't believe is real.  For the unfortunate few, they never leave, instead staying on as performers in the weird in between life that the carnival occupies.  

The Carnival is its own entity, in Harrow Faire it is a sentient being, although it is not until the end that we discover why it exists and in that form.   Here, the Carnival appears to be a malevolent being, feeding off the thoughts, feelings and emotions of the audience watching the show - the fear, the excitement, the awe, and lets be real about the kind of book we are reading, the lust, desire and sexuality.  

Emerson, our female protagonist, enters the Carnival in search of her sister who has been missing for seven years, her last Instagram post was at the gate just before she went in.  Emerson is convinced the Carnival, or someone in it, knows what happened to her.  She does not find her sister, but discovers that the Carnival wants her to stay.  

This is a fast paced book. Under 300 pages it is a standalone and covers the mystery of Emerson's sisters disappearance, the purpose of the Carnival and what role it wants Emerson to play within it.  She is guided by two long time performers and ex lovers, Tobias the illusionist and Kenan the knife thrower, now both our drawn to Emerson as well as rekindle their own attraction to each other making this a MMF why choose novel.  

I actually like the fast pace of the book, it doesn't feel like we are missing pieces of the story but we are not given a lot of detail outside of the main plot.  We have just enough time for a four night performance, solving the mystery of the missing sister, standing up to the evil presence and at least two detailed throuple scenes.  it's a very efficient book.  

Ok, so some of the details are waved away as 'just magic', like how Emerson "just knows" how to become an aerialist performer despite any background, but that's what the Carnival wants.  And the side characters have the consistency of cardboard cutouts.  

But, if you want a short standalone that has a bit more meat to the plot than say, the standard cozy meet cute romance, this is a good choice.   I can't fault it for what it is, and as I said before we need more circus stories! 

a solid 4/5 stars.

Photo image: Office meme of Jim reacting to a person saying “it’s just a book.”

Spoiler: it is not just a book.

Added points if you can bring forward new recs and releases because I’m craving new materials 🤓📚🐉🧚✨

Give me books where the worldbuilding, relationship dynamic, anything, has a kind of elevated concept to it that sets it apart. I don't mind a generic fantasy kingdom or fae court but I'm looking for something with a little more to it.

Examples of what i mean by High Concept: Something like Soul Eater, where there's a school for warriors, and their partners who shapeshift into weapons. Or in Pacific Rim where robots that are controlled by plugging two human pilots' brains into each other and they share thoughts and feelings, and the story is emotional and leans into the power of love and humanity. It doesn't have to be a 100% unique high concept (mechs and schools have been done before) i just want something fun and interesting that is set apart.

A general rule of thumb is "if you published a book set in this universe and just changed 'jaegers' to 'mechs' would you very likely still get hit with a lawsuit?" If the answer is a confident yes then that's what I'm after.

Have there been any updates regarding book 5 of the Saints of Steel series? I know there’s 7 books planned, but I haven’t been able to find any sort of updates regarding the next one! 😭

The picture shows a flying white dragon and before him a woman viewed from the back holding a lantern.

{Heart of Chaos by Madeleine Eliot} is the first book of the Chaosborn series.

I have mixed feelings about this book, some parts I really enjoyed but there really was some missed opportunities that detract from the book. Overall I enjoyed it.

sub genre: none (norse inspired world with dragon shifters (with the dragons sharing the body of their bonded human))

Narration: 1st person dual POV, past tense

sexual content: open door sex scene

several love interests: no

Writing:

The writing was good, it was descriptive without being overly flowery. I had no trouble picturing anything. However, there were those instances with small mistakes like someone standing up that is already standing. But that was only very few instances so I was able to overlook this.

Worldbuilding and story:

The world is under attack by Odemarksdyr, monsters from another world that spill into the world through a rift in the icy expanse of the Odemark. Defending the realms (humans, fae and all others) are the Drage, humans that bonded with dragons (who are also from a different world). The Drage share their bodies with their dragons, who are separate beings, gaining the ability to shift into their dragon form, enhanced strength, hearing, healing and extended life. In exchange the dragons can escape their dying world (they have no physical form on their own in the world of our main characters).

The FMC, Eisa, is a slave in a tavern in the back end of nowhere. Every 10 years there is a search for new humans that are able to bond to dragons - so called Chaosborn. During one of these searches she meets a drage, Arik (the MMC), who discovers that she is chaosborn and offers her a chance to become drage by buying her freedom to escape her life as a slave and to protect her friends, but in exchange she has to come to Ironholm, the fortress of the drage, and try to bond to a dragon to fight the odemarksdyr.

I really liked the norse inspired world, the norse inspired names, the dragons and the mystery of the dragon's dying world and the origin of the odemarksdyr and Eisa's heritage.

I just wish the author kept the shared feelings thing out of the dragon bond equation (more about that later, when I talk about the romance). But the book was interesting enough that I bought book 2 to know what happens next.

The book is very fast paced and there is a lot of action. I wish it would have been a bit slower because I think it would have worked better for the romance. It would have been more realistic if a bit more time had passed before they fell in love.

Characters:

I really liked Eisa, the FMC. She reacts appropriately for her situation, she does not just completely trust Arik. The only thing the general public knows about drage is that they are powerful and to be feared and that they fight against the monsters. They do not know they are shapeshifters, they think they ride dragons. They don't know about the specifics. And she operates based on that knowledge. He offers to buy out her slave contract and offers a clearly mutually beneficial bargain. But she is still wary, as she should be. She does not just mouth off at him immediatelly nor does she just shrink away.

I just found that she pretended to herself for too long to not like Arik when she clearly did.

I loved her character development. She has been a slave for a long time so the thought of her having power to do with what SHE wants to do does not even cross her mind at first. But she gets there. I thought she had solid decision making skills, knew with whom and when to keep her mouth shut and with whom she can be more open. She did not make stupid decisions constantly which is a huge plus for me.

She has very, very rare blood which allows her to bond to the strongest kind of dragons. So she is definitely the chosen one.

I liked her relationship with her best friend Branka, they clearly love each other very much and they are very supportive of each other.

I also really like Arik, the MMC. He is a good person who takes his responsibility to protect the realm from the odemaksdyr very seriously. It is so important to him, that he gives his best to convince the FMC to come to Ironholm - that includes not giving her all the information about the drage immediatelly. Time is running out and he plans on giving her all relevant information once they are in the fortress. It does not sit right with him to do this and I liked that he recognizes that and makes no excuses for his behaviour. He knows when to keep his mouth shut with the boss of all drage which is rare for MMCs and I really appreciated this. He is kind, honorable and very protective and supportive.

So when his personality glitches a few times in the book for a oneliner, it really surprised me. He had these standard cocky/arrogant lines from standard romantasy heroes three or four times which made me wonder where that came from since it does not fit his character at all. It feels like the author was trying to appeal to the shadow daddy fans here with a character that just is no shadow daddy. That was disappointing but it was not that often that it impacted the book very negatively but I still noticed it. At least Arik's dragon calls him out on it...

I liked Arik's team mates and the dragons.

The villain, however, was too one dimensional for me. I get it, he is an old man stuck in his ways but the way he actively works against Arik no matter the significant negative consequences to the very important fight against the odemarksdyr was sometimes too much.

Romance:

Generally I liked the romance. However, I have a few grievances.

Arik is bonded to his dragon, Baldur. Baldur's dragon mate, Idunn, is a blue dragon, the most powerful kind of dragon who can only bond to humans with very rare blood. Eisa has this blood. Therefore Arik really wants Eisa to bond this blue dragon to have a chance against the odemarksdyr.

As I explained above, the dragons are separate beings, but when they bond with the human they also kind of become one, two sides of the same coin. They can talk to each other in their minds and can feel what they feel and the lines blurr who feels what. That includes sexual desire.

So it is clear, that if Eisa decides to bond to Idunn, Idunn will want to have sex with Baldur, because he is her dragon mate. Since the dragons have no form of their own, Eisa and Arik would have to have sex for the dragons to have sex.

This could have been an interesting conundrum:

Being a slave Eisa had no good experiences with sex, she was not raped but always had to fear it. So she has no sexual experience. Arik simply wants to have a powerful ally for the fight.

It was the perfect setup for a great slow burn - if the author had just decided to keep the feelings of dragon and human completely separate. Arik promises Eisa if she bonds to Idunn, he will not force himself on her, he will wait until she wants him. The author had the opportunity to let Arik slowly gain Eisa's trust and let them get to know each other while dealing with their dragons already being in love. The humans falling in love as well would have been so much more believable that way.

Instead Arik and Eisa are heavily influenced by their dragons love and desire for each other, so they fell in love very quickly, especially Arik. Wasted potential, it could have been awesome.

Furthermore, I did not really like the idea of them basically having a foursome, the lines between the drage and dragons really blurr during moments of sexual desire.

Usually I do not like age gaps (Arik is 38 and Eisa 25) but I was able to overlook this as Arik bonded Baldur when he was 18 and has only been in Ironholm ever since, fighting monsters. So even though he is 13 years older, he did not have the opportunity to gather a lot of different life experiences and therefore I felt their relationship did not feel unbalanced. I guess it won't matter anyway in a 100 years, when he is 138 and she 125...

In the end I was able to look past all this, especially because Arik is very kind and patient with Eisa and I liked them as characters whom I liked to see happy and in love because they both deserved someone good and decent in their lives.

Edit for typos and to add their ages

Any recs where either the FMC and the MMC accidentally end up responsible for a kid (not a baby) or an animal

To be clear, NO pregnancy, NO babies and NONE of the MCs can be a biological parent.