This book was something of a first for me. This is the only book with a love triangle that I’ve ever read where I found myself thinking “a threesome would actually solve most of the problems here.”
This book has more of what I’ve come to expect from Hannah Whitten: lush writing, a very character-driven story, and interesting worldbuilding that isn’t explored as much as I would like. I’m not going to go too deeply into the plot of the book because I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t read The Foxglove King, but things moved generally in the direction I expected, though the path taken wasn’t necessarily what I would have predicted.
What I was probably most excited about was how much we learned about the Bleeding God and the Buried Goddess and all the events around the Godsfall. There’s an interesting history there, that trickles out over the course of the story, and I’m definitely looking forward to learning more about it in book 3.
Now, I wasn’t the only one reading book 1 who was a little confused about how something marketed as a romance managed to have no one having any sex. That trend continues here, though there is a little sex this time. Anyone who has read the first book will know who I am referring to with my threesome comment above - I spent a good deal of time growling at this book “will you guys just f— already?!”
My only real complaint about the book - aside from the three protagonists' chronic unwillingness to get it on - was the pacing. There were definitely segments of the book that dragged. It would have been significantly stronger if it was like three-quarters as long.
But a minor complaint overall. I put this in the same category as Foxglove King: a book that I enjoyed reading, and would be a great choice for a beach or an airplane.