A Deal with the Elf King

4/5 ⭐️

GENERAL REVIEW

She was sunshine, he was midnight rainShe gives life to the kingdom and he takes away her pain- Midnight Rain (Luelle & Eldas' Version)



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CHARACTERS

✿ Luelle, 19
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✿ King Eldas
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REVIEW [spoiler alert]

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Tropes:
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Other Books Like This:
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For someone who loves romantasy or fantasy in general, I really like how this fictional world is slowly coming into view. We didn't get that cliche information dump that we usually see in other fantasy books when the main character first enters the different realm. Instead, we were treated with details that are substantial to the plot or to the character's views. As a reader, we get to paint the imagery from the perspective of a fellow foreigner. Like when Luella first entered the Elven Kingdom, she took in everything she could but she only saw the superficial part of it. Later on in the book is when she was able to see and understand it. She saw the good, the bad, and the ugly of the kingdom, both land and people. That's what I like the most about in fantasy novels. The ability of the author to convey an experience to the readers. Just merely dumping details of the forest or how the houses look is insufficient if you want to dive into the fictional world. I want to be swept away by the imagery, so much so that I could close my eyes (I was listening to the audiobook while reading on my kindle) and take it all in along with Luella.

Now the characters, I'll admit they're not perfect. They're not as blemish-less as Uncle Iroh or as forget-feminist as Zade Meadows. But they have their charms, even the side characters. Except for Luke. I think if Luke wasn't forced down our throats from the very beginning, I would have liked him more and have understood why Luella forgave him. No, we don't need a prequel or an entire book (a la ACOTAR's Tampon) to get his characterization. What I would have preferred was a little more backstory or scenes with him where we get to see how their dynamic is/was. The reasoning was because I didn't understand how Luella went from looking at him like a puppy in love to throwing Eldas at him to punish him in the next chapter. Same goes for Willow, I love his character and I would love more scenes of him and Rinni. But the best side character of them all–Hook. I don't think anyone who read this book can hate that giant cinnamon roll of a wolf.

For the main characters, I don't know how to describe how I felt about them because of the “slow burn”. Understandably, this was advertised as an enemies-to-lovers so you'd expect the slow burn. However, the burn was both crawling to instant. Maybe it was because it didn't burn at all. Luella went from tolerating him to wanting to fuck him in a snap (during that intimate dinner scene where he ran away after they made out