I enjoyed this book a good deal. I won’t lie, it took me a minute to get into the novel because of the magic system built into it, but I feel like that’s more of a me problem than anything else. My brother was big into some of those trading card games as a teenager and I’m afraid that’s all I could imagine for the first little bit reading the book. Once I equated the magic system to a regular deck of cards, with mild callbacks to the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, I was able to get into the book more.
The characters were well fleshed out and the narrative itself was smooth. I enjoyed the Nightmare and the conversations the main character had with him. Elm has to be my favorite character on the page, but who doesn’t love a reckless Prince thumbing his nose at the Crown?
It’s not your typical fantasy romance. The main characters have secrets to keep that make sense within the society on the page, and the attitudes they present are understandable. It’s not like the character jumps in with a chip on their shoulder and a crude gesture to the rest of the world, which seems to be the popular route these days. The fact that they had relatable reasons for their distrust is what really held my attention.
For those of you who love or hate spicy scenes, this book has just one really spicy moment. So if you like that sort of thing, it’s there, and if you don’t, it’s easily skimmed through.
Four of five stars.
Happy Reading!
