Review: Reasoned and difficult decisions, plus a lot of adventure!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2012
This book kind of broke my heart, but in a good way.Kessa is genuinely fond of Iathor, and vice versa, but there are some dark clouds each of them is dealing with that make it hard for them to relate to each other like we would hope.""Thioso," Iathor said, "I'm living in the same house as someone who views secrets as personal pets, to be fed, cosseted, and possibly bred to produce litters of little secrets. Kindly don't add new ones to the kennel.""Kessa does have a lot of secrets, and one of them has to do with the heir she needs to bear for Iathor. I will try not to spoil it, but she is particularly brave, and not a little pig-headed.I love that Iathor is coming to accept that part of what he's going to get in a wife is atypical, because he is marrying out of his class. She's uncomfortable with the trappings of wealth or comfort, and she frequently feels trapped or constrained by the expectations on her.This book has some interesting economic viewpoints, which I enjoyed. For example, if your brother and his household arrive and live with you for a while, it wrecks your grocery budget, even if you are Lord Alchemist. Even if you are titled in a way, you still need to earn money somehow. And it takes time and money to get dyes and make dresses.I also enjoyed the vigilante roof patrols of crime suppression. Lord Iathor and his household, now doubling as Batman!Read if: You enjoyed the first one. You are interested in the high points of self-publishing in the year 2012. You like actually complicated forced-marriage scenarios, and not stupid ones.Skip if: You have childbirth squicks. You resent forced marriage plotlines. You would rather not read about (unrealized) rape threats.Also read: The other two books in the series.