She was raised to hate him. Now she shares his bed.
Princess Mayah of Tundrayn isn’t allowed to want. Not freedom. Not love. Not even her own future. Instead, she’s spent her life healing others’ pain and swallowing her own. But when her father strikes a fragile alliance with enemy-kingdom Arbinj to crush a rising rebellion, she is bartered into a marriage she didn’t choose for a crown she doesn’t want.
She expects a prince. She gets the Dark Commander.
Zevayr is ruthless, unyielding, and a stormwielder with a reputation soaked in blood. He is everything Mayah was taught to fear. Yet as they race across rebel-torn lands, the less certain she is of where the monster ends and where the man begins.
In Arbinj’s glittering courts, the Rebellion surges and dangerous secrets stir from Mayah’s past—secrets that could shatter her kingdom, and her heart, if she lets them.
Review: I saw this book recommended and praised so much in Facebook and IG that I finally decided to give it a try. Sadly, I ended up disappointed.
Between Tides and Thunder does have a genuinely interesting world-building, and there were enough intriguing ideas here to keep me reading. Unfortunately, I struggled much more with the characters and the way the plot developed. Several of the twists and turns felt forced or unrealistic, as though the story needed the characters to behave a certain way to get to the next plot point, regardless of whether those choices were consistent with who they were supposed to be.
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Mayah was especially frustrating for me. She lies and cheats herself, but then gets upset when she discovers that other people also lie and cheat. The hypocrisy might have worked if the story had explored it more deliberately, but instead I mostly found myself increasingly irritated with her. And honestly, I have no idea how Zev can still be in love with her after everything that happens.
Zevayr was another disappointment. We’re told that he’s a fierce and capable military commander, but in this book we see surprisingly little actual commanding from him (except maybe almost at the end). And when his soldiers disobey him, his approach to discipline is apparently to kill them all. I’m pretty sure eliminating your own soldiers is not the most effective strategy when you’re actively trying to win a war.
There’s a fascinating world underneath all of this, which is what kept the book at three stars for me. I just wish the characterization and plot had felt as carefully constructed as the setting.
Happy readings otherwise!
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| Start the series with book 1 |
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