Lacuna

Dropped it somewhere in the middle of chapter 15.

I have several issues with this novel. For the most part it was amusing enough to keep reading, but a lot of the plot didn't make sense. Reading other reviews I'm glad I didn't bother finishing it because there seem to be more questions than answers to the very end. There are also a lot of repetitive gags, at some point the whole knock on the door routine in some crucial moment gets old. And really annoying. There's just so many times I can stand it. The last one (that I read because I am pretty sure there were more) pissed me off so much!

But let's go back to the beginning.

Everything is peaceful, no wars for don't know how many hundreds of years, the kings and queen are supposed to participate in a festival of sorts. Although there are times of peace and the kingdoms are in good relations, everyone is so freaking jumpy, ready to draw their weapons and aim them at anyone, regardless of title. And speaking of titles, there are no kings in this novel. There is nothing in their behaviour and their companions' behaviour to indicate you are in the presence of a king. They don't have the respect a king has, they could more accurately be described as some young adults (I'd say teens, but they are about 25yo) who go on an adventure of some kind.

This is more like a bunch of kids playing pretend.

The centre... thing, a.k. because I don't know how to spell it, roams with magic apparently, yet no one else uses magic otherwise. It didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Crow and Tacho are instantly attracted to each other, so much that they can barely contain it, and yet they did a surprisingly good job at keeping their hands to themselves. I would have understood if it would have all started gradually, but no, it was already close to unbearable from the start. There are so many inconsistencies with these two I honestly don't know how I managed to read as much as I did.

Okay, okay, here's what I did like: Crow being absolutely furious at how much he liked Tacho. That was great, shame it only lasted as long as one interaction and that was basically the only funny bit in the book. Everything else is a mess and the plot is at best questionable.

Wasn't quite [b:The Lord of the Rings 33 The Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1566425108l/33.SX50.jpg 3462456], but an enjoyable M/M fantasy romance nonetheless. “Fated mates” is one of my least favorite tropes, but Walker did a credible job of convincing me that Crow and Tancho genuinely grew to respect, like and then love each other independently of the force that bound them together. There were some plot holes and unanswered questions, but I chose to focus on the emotion, the dialogue and the lively (albeit cliched) secondary characters, and I was not disappointed. I like Walker's straight contemporary romances better, but none of her books have ever been less than entertaining.