A review by bexi
A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was.. fine? Might lower the rating later on. I'm not really into fae books with the exception of the Emily Wilde series, but I liked this more than I expected to.

The romance did nothing for me. It felt forced, and I don't like the MMC. Also he might have ruined the word "wildcat" for me. I liked the FMC when she wasn't vowing vengeance every other chapter (like okay girl, I get itttt). Not sure how this is considered a slow-burn romance
because they have sex in the first book of a series that's 4 books long. Where's the YEARNING?
The writing was sometimes extremely cringe. And I need to rant for a moment about the
prison stuff. You're telling me they snuck down there almost daily, seemingly for quite a while, and never got caught? And when Prisca was unconscious for two days, how the heck was her brother still getting down there without the use of Prisca's power? It doesn't make sense and was never explained.


So what did I enjoy? I thought the world building was done well and the plot outside of the romance kept me engaged. I found many of the side characters interesting and likeable, especially the mercenary group. 

I have an Audiobooks.com subscription and this was the only option they were offering in their monthly VIP section that I thought I might like, so I gave it a go. I don't feel compelled to continue the series, but if the next book shows up in their VIP section in the future I might pick it up.



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