Of Beast And Burden

An enjoyable delve into the classic selling points of fairytales, with some added fae elements! An enjoyable read, with intriguing characters. Easy read, simple,

WOW. 5 out of 5 stars.

I cannot WAIT to see what happens next in this story. I absolutely devoured this book. The writing was captivating. The story unfolded at the perfect pace.

This is about Faye, a half-human half-fae teen, as she discovers her true identity and her destiny. She is snarky, honest, true to herself, and funny. The supporting characters are well fleshed out and I also found myself invested in their stories.

Love triangles, destiny, human and fae friendships, magic, and a TRIAL. I'm a sucker for a good trial.

This is a MUST READ of 2022.

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Thank you to Netgalley and Independent Publishers Group for providing an ARC copy of this novel.

To start off, let me just say that Of Beast and Burden reminded me a lot of The Cruel Prince, and a tiny bit of A Court of Thrones and Roses. Thankfully, I liked Of Beast and Burden quite a bit more than I liked The Cruel Prince. (I was not a fan of that series at all, sad to say.) ANYWAY, the comparisons will absolutely be made, and with good reason.

Of Beast and Burden is about a girl named Faye (Insert a tiny eyeroll here) who grows up believing herself to be completely human. Her, her grandmother and her cousin live in a tiny town on the Georgia coast. In this town, all the humans are well aware that the Fae live close by, and that they must be careful. These are old-school cruel Fae.

The novel starts off with Faye and her friend, Delia, throwing a party by the edge (or inside of? I can't remember) of the woods. They've been told to never go here because the Fae dwell near by. So, of course, they do what any good teenagers do, and do the complete opposite of what they've been told. Two Fae show up at this party, and take Delia. Faye follows, because she's not about to let the Fae steal her friend without at least trying to save her.

Long story short, she saves her friend, and finds out that she's half-Fae. Her dad was the Mad-King of the Unseelie Court. She goes home to find out that her Grandmother isn't really her grandmother, and that she knew Faye was half-fae the entire time. Her cousin isn't her cousin, she was a changeling. Her “cousin” gets kidnapped, and Faye makes a bargain to get her back. This is what really starts the plot of the novel.

Of Beast and Burden does a lot of things right — the characters all have their very own distinct personalities, the world-building is pretty good, and the plot is semi-decent to decent. There are a few things I have to nit-pick, though. The Trials she has to go through in order to get her crown are mentioned all throughout the book. I got to 80% of the way through the book and the trials STILL hadn't happened. It honestly left me wondering if they were going to be in the second book. When the trials did finally kick off, I swear they lasted less than twenty pages. If you're going to put some hype into something, at least spend some time there!

There's a love-triangle which is completely unnecessary — but I will say it was refreshing to have both a female and male love interest. The resolution to the main problem at the end of the novel felt shoved in at the last second. Very little foreshadowing to the solution, not to the problem. I'm not going to spoil it, even though it's ridiculously obvious what's supposed to happen.

Overall, I enjoyed most of Of Beast and Burden. A solid three-and-a-half stars for me.