#wicked kingdoms

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Book Review: Throne of Secrets by Graceley Knox

Rating: 5/5

Review below the cut for post brevity.

Looove this book! I try not to write super long reviews in the middle of series, simply because it's so weird trying to avoid spoilers when I don't know if people have read the previous books or not, but this book... this book gets a full review. HEADS UP, this is BOOK THREE in the Wicked Kingdoms series. I'm going to assume if you're reading this that either you’ve read the first two books already or you don't care about spoilers for the books leading up to this series, but in either case that you do care about spoilers concerning this book, so I won’t divulge too much of what happens within this book itself.

Anyway, review time.

Let's do some summarizing to kick things off. Throne of Secrets picks up with Ever staying in the goblin kingdom. Her problems are piling up more than every before. She's working on tracking down Cashel and defeating the Order, she's trying to raise Arela, and there's still no conclusive evidence on whether or not she and Dare are officially mates (even though, let's be real, they definitely, definitely are). There's also issues going on with MECA, Ever's mother is missing, and there's this really fun prophesy all about Ever and her bloodlines bringing harmony to all the fae.

Ever has a LOT to deal with just at the start of this novel, and it only gets crazier through the book. I say this knowing that as I list things out, it sounds like an overwhelming read. When does Ever get a break? Never. That said, Throne of Secrets does this amazing job at having Ever transition and mature into her new, more courtly role of a leader. In the previous two books, we've gotten used to Ever as the warrior with no tangible responsibilities: she likes to run her mouth, she likes to point her weapons and ask questions after, she's headstrong and doesn't care who she pisses off, and she's incredibly reckless. 

Don't get me wrong, I love Ever. She is arguably my favorite literary character of all time. That said, I feel very relieved to see her mature. Throne of Secrets is really a book where Ever passes through a crucible and it's absolutely fascinating to watch her make that transition. What happens with MECA, specifically, - and I honestly don't remember if what happened was in book 2 or book 3, so I'm not going to go into details there - has really rocked her world and within this book, you can see her kind of stop, look around, and re-evaluate everything. 

Ever is full of doubt at the beginning of the book. She's thrown off-balance by recent events, and she does what's incredibly natural for anyone in that situation: she questions herself. She overthinks. She worries. It's a side of Ever that I think has always been there, but that we simply didn't see as much of in the previous two novels because she was only making decisions about herself or a few members of her crew. Now, she's making decisions for her herself, her mate (who supposedly isn't her mate but c'mon, he's obviously her mate), her crew, her ward, and by the end of the novel, she's making alliances with the rulers of kingdoms. And yes, that's technically a spoiler, but it's also really vague sooo hopefully it doesn't ruin anything.

The bottom line is, I really adore Ever's character development in this novel. Yes, there's a little less anger and a little more maturity, but it was necessary for her as a person. And just like in book one, where I believe my review calls her "the female protag of my dream," she remains the badass she was when she was wielding weapons and taking down rogue fae. 

I've seen some reviews saying that Ever becomes weak in this book. I would argue that she actually becomes stronger within this novel. It takes considerable strength and tact to pull off what she does - and no, I'm not gonna tell you what all she gets into, y'all can read it for yourselves - but considering her background and complete lack of political training, she does really well for herself. She's way more unnerved by words than weapons, but she consistently rises to the occasion and I can appreciate that.

All of that said, I do kind of want to talk about the ending. I don't plan on spoiling anything in this review so from here on out it may sound a little bit crazy, but I’m hoping if you’ve read the book you know what I’m referencing. Bearing that in mind, I’m a little wishy-washy about the ending. I'm not mad about it, but I do think it could have been done a little better. The final altercation that happens seemed a little anti-climatic and out of the blue..

There's also the other thing that happens. I'm not sure how I feel about that, either. I'm kind of really curious, actually. So far, Ever has been built up as this really awesome female protag and as a reader, I'm a little bit worried that she will develop down a path that leaves me feeling disappointed. By the same token, Ever is at a spot where her character could go in pretty much any direction. She could settle down, she could go back to her old life, she could be a rising star, she could do everything and wear a cape, or she could figure out how to properly delegate tasks and stay behind the scenes. She might be in serious danger in the next book, or she might take up cooking and never leave the house. She might even do both and take up cooking and get kidnapped. I'm not going to know until I start Yuletide Revelry (which, if anyone's curious, will be directly after clicking "post").  

So this book, 5/5. Absolutely amazing read, super fascinating to watch the character development. Excited isn't the right word for how I feel going forward, though. It's more like politely curious. Reserved. Waiting to see where the dominoes fall before I state my full opinion. So we'll see how the rest of the series goes.

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Review: Mark of Truth by Graceley Knox

We all yearn for something more--for the ability to touch the land our ancestors came from. We all need to be with others who not only understand us but accept us fully for who and what we are. * Surrounded by humans outside the walls of MECA, we’re never allowed to forget that we’re different. But maybe being different isn’t such a bad thing. Maybe it’s something to be revered. Something to teach our children and our children’s children. For a people so diverse, we’re exceedingly close-minded. The realization saddens me. I probably can’t change the thinking of so many being whose way of doing things is the way they’ve lived for centuries. But even if I can change the way one person is affected. . . I’ll consider it a positive impact. Or even a step in the right direction.

Rating: 5/5

Review below the cut for post brevity:

Tl;dr in advance: this book is so good it made me not want to go into work today just so I could stay home and finish it. For quick context, I'm an indy bookseller, I'm literally paid to go talk about books with people, it is my dream job and it takes a lot for me to not want to go to work.

I'm not sure I know where to start with this--it's that good. Actually, backtrack, before I start the review official, I'm just going to talk a minute about how I found out about this author and series. Fun story, it turns out Graceley Knox is a local in my neck of the woods. She was actually browsing at my store over the weekend and I met her and wound up getting her card. It was a really cool, kinda out-of-the-blue experience and I really enjoyed talking with her. Anyway, I figured I'd give one of her books a go just out of curiosity more than anything else. And let me tell y'all--I was not prepared for this. After Mark of Truth, I am completely hooked and prepared to unabashedly binge read this entire series within the next week or so. It's arguably one of the best para-romance books I've ever read.

So now, official review.

Mark of Truth follows Ever, a half-Light Elf living in Indiana and working as a guard for MECA, an organization made up of half-fae that are akin to supernatural bounty hunters / police officers on Earth, basically. Ever is a total badass: she's rough, she has a potty mouth, she's hardened on the outside but she's loyal to a fault. She consistently protects others around her more than herself and she's self-aware of her own short comings. Basically, she's the female protag my dreams are made of and I love her for it. She can be slightly yo-yo-ish at times, but I think that's to be expected considering the insane situations she gets herself into. She behaves in very a realistic way that sometimes is glossed over in comparable books, and I can appreciate Knox keeping her MC real.

I also really loved the dynamic Ever has with her crew. She behaves very much like a warrior, and she trusts her crew like a warrior would trust their fellow fighters. I loved seeing them all constantly having each other's backs, knowing what to say, and just the general familiarity between them. The dynamic going on, and the idea that they're all family even if they're not blood, was really awesome to read about. I feel like in a lot of romance books, the heroine's friends are usually forgotten about or there's this stereotypical plot thing that the strong female rides alone. That's absolutely not the case here--and yet this also isn't one of those series where each book has a new romance in store for someone else. We're not dropping Ever off at the end and picking up with the story of someone else in book two (as far as I can tell, anyway; I haven't actually gotten there yet).

The plot is also amazing. I don't want to go into detail over it because spoilers, obviously, but I'm really excited to see what happens next. I love everything that's going on.

Lastly, once again I really just want to touch on Ever as a person and how fantastic she is. Ever has all of these core values at heart that she won't part from, even if it's inconvenient or life-threatening. She's constantly looking out for the little guy and treating everyone with fairness, respect, and kindness. I cannot stress enough how refreshing it was to see a character who consistently makes an effort to treat others by the golden rule--and yet she's not a goody two shoes, either. She curses, she walks around half-naked, she;s prickly, but she’s fair. She also makes mistakes, and then admits her mistakes. She doesn't always know what decision to make, and she can admit that. She can be a warrior who takes down supernatural badasses, but she can also be the sensitive MC who adopts baby gargoyles. She's so, so good. I love her.

At the end of the day, I think that's why this book - and series - appeal to me so much. There's so many other good things - the setting, the plot, the love interest, the amazing smut (tangent, there's a lot of really well-written sex scenes lurking underneath this somewhat YA-looking cover, and they're all great but at the same time, if you're not there for smutty, making love on the kitchen counter at 1 AM sex scenes, here's your warning) - but most of all, there's Ever. I cannot get behind this book more fully. If you’re a paranormal romance reader, you have to read this.