4.5 ⭐s!
Oh well, hello ladies and gentlemen, I am back with another book review.
It was the first book I read by Laura Thalassa and I’m going to say that I am quite impressed with how much I liked this. I was hyped a little before I started reading it mainly because of bookstagram, and I expected something similar to Maas and I wasn’t wrong. This was a good masterpiece in its own way!
When I say masterpiece, do not expect something extra unique and unforgettable. This story is not something we’re new to as fantasy romance readers. But damn it was so refreshing and sweet, I believe it deserves this rate.
I imagined if G.A. Aiken and Maas’s books had a child, it would be this. The story is full of personal nightmares, memories that cling to you, tearing you apart with their claws, showing no mercy. It is about the past which follows you through your entire life, it is about things that you’re most eager to hide. We have a strong female character with a valid personality, a survivor of abuse. She built her entire life herself and I quite liked her because even though she had the sad trope of being indecisive (nothing new for adult fantasy readers again), the things she had done to protect herself and her life were quite nice.
It is about hope if you ask me, and a person’s own ideas about themselves.
I guess this is why I found this book so refreshing. Every character had their own issues, and the representation of these issues was incredibly well done by the author, it was refreshing to see strong beings wanting to throw off what has been pulling them down in the water. Our female lead is a siren, not like the ones we used to see, swimming in the depths of the ocean, calling out to sailors and drowning them. She looks like a human, she just has this supernatural side in her called glamour. She can use her voice to make people do whatever she pleases. I loved how unique this was (similar to the sirens in Wednesday), using her voice to do something good, to make wrong right after everything she had to endure in her life. She works with her best friend, making wrong right in her own way, taking information from people who did bad to someone innocent.
Our male lead though… deliciously written Desmond is something different. Comes from somewhere different. He is known as the Bargainer, the man who “helps” those who are in need, however, like every good thing comes with a price, and so do his services. He gives tattoos (or beads in a case lol) to those whom he helped and when the day comes, he arrives once again, ready to take his payment. He was shown as the big bad wolf in the book, bad to everyone except Calypso.
The chemistry between the two and the timeline shift with each chapter provides a great insight into their relationship. They are not star-written lovers, they are people who met in the darkest times and eventually fell for each other. I loved the dynamic between them, I loved that they eventually opened up about their vulnerabilities and the pain they’ve been cursed to live with. I loved that both of them were trustworthy people, doing things that they think would be the best to make something “good”. To make difference. Though both had their own demons, unlike many adult fantasy books, they weren’t eaten by them, they didn’t let them ruin them, they fought against them no matter what happened and I appreciate a man and a woman without complexes in books.
The plot was full in every aspect. We didn’t just read about the chemistry between them, just like one of my favourite fantasy romances (Lords of the Underworld series) this book also promised a plot to me. Something else continued to happen, a decent story with a villain from somewhere else. Something bigger than their love and steamy moments, something evil threatening both worlds. Some people do not prefer this and only want to read about the steam but I personally enjoy a solid plot besides the romance and drama between characters. We have a lot of things going on, the sleeping knights and the children of something… else. I am sure everything will come to a conclusion in the last book but regarding the building of the world and structure, it was a nice beginning.
There wasn’t much steam going on in the first book but the tension was there. The fact that these two had shared so much yet has been away for so long was incredibly sad, and at the end of the book I genuinely wanted to continue the second immediately (didn’t do it though lol).
I do have a lot on my mind and I want to continue this series without giving too much of a break, I did read the second book and I am going to wrap this series up this winter for sure.
Overall, it was a nice read for me and I am glad that there are books with plots and that steam still exists lol.
See you in the second book review! 💖
Luster of Books 