The Raven and the Dove

I voluntarily read and reviewed ARCs of these books. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

DNF @ 9%

This is another book I was super excited to read from Netgalley. I watched Tristan and Isolde as a teen and remember crying my heart out, so seeing that this would be a retelling AND featuring characters with magic and wings... I had to check it out.

The thing is, right from the get go I was confused about what was going on. I tried pushing through hoping something would make sense, but continued to get more confused and then more I thought about things and tried to make things work... the more I didn't like it.
All the royal families at this point are related to each other and the inbreeding is super hard to get around. The games for a mate and then the ones without a mate at the end are the ones who actually bring fresh DNA into this storm.
But, hey, this is how past royalty works– I can get over it... except for then at 9% when a 5 year old becomes king – loses his youth, becomes a “man”, and his tone holds “authority” that everyone listens to.... because any rational adult is going to listen to a child when sound authoritative.

I just... I just could not go farther.

Books, Coffee & Passion
What attracted me first in this book was the amazing cover and then I read the synopsis and I knew I had to read it. I'm happy I did but I have to admit even though I do love retellings I am not familiar with Tristan and Isolde's story, so I can't say much about that.

What I can tell you is that the world building is AMAZING. At times I struggled to keep up with so much information. This is the first book in a 4 book series so there's a lot of details and information to remember but the mysterious world and the atmosphere are breathtaking.

Lyana, Cassi, Rafe and Xander are an interesting group of characters. I really liked Rafe's and Xander backstory, they definitely felt the most developed characters of the book. Rafe's story is something else, I loved it and his actions made sense considering his past. Also, it didn't hurt that he was a broody sarcastic cute guy. Lyana is a likable character, I liked how feisty and determined she was but she wasn't my favorite character, sometimes some of her actions were a little childish but still understandable. Cassi... well I liked her, hated her, pitied her, it was a roller coaster which means the character was well developed and I'm very, very, very intrigued about her character's future. She's definitely the wildcard in the story.
I was enthralled in this story and the entertainment level was great. There was not much happening by the middle of the story but in the end things were a bit chaotic, including the romance, and I wanted more from a certain character, Malek, but he ended up having a small role that I thought. I hope we get much more from him in book 2.
Overall, The Raven and The Dove was a very entertaining story with a unique, distinct atmosphere and world building and I enjoyed it very much. I'm excited for book 2!