📝 What is Lore of the Wilds about?:
A captivating Romantasy debut unfolds as Lore Alemeyu, faced with her village’s peril, strikes a dangerous bargain with a Fae lord to access an enchanted library. With the help of two alluring Fae companions, Lore embarks on a perilous journey where survival means risking her life and her heart in a world ruled by deceit and desire.
📚Genre: Romantasy
🎧 Format: E-Book
💞 Feels: ⭐⭐⭐
Loved the vibes of the first 75% of the book. The pace was perfect, the setup of the world, societal rules, magical elements and character dynamics were great.
[Note: couldn’t resist starting the review before I’d even finished reading lol, will note below when I’m reviewing the end of the book] So at this point of the book (75%) I started to suspect I was reading part 1 of a series (my suspicions were confirmed when I started googling 🤦🏾♀️). Not that I hate reading series’, I just like reading them once they’re complete. So finding out that the story has really just begun was heartbreaking, only because Lore, Asher, Isla, Finn and Gryph were so interesting. We only get to know a couple characters well in the first part of the book, I wish some other characters had received more love and attention – hopefully they’re more fleshed out in the next book.
Now that I know this is a series, the slow pace of the journey makes more sense. Wish we’d spent more time in the magical library, to be honest, crossing my fingers we get to go back and figure out what’s up with humans, fae and magic.
Is it just me or does the relationship of humans and fae sort of feel like an allegory for slavery? Maybe, I’m seeing things where they aren’t, just because these are POC characters. Seemed like someone has displaced the humans. Humans do not have magic (i.e. freedom) and are subjugated by the Fae, who are magical beings.
Anyway, now having finished the book…I’ll review the last 25%. This last part of the book felt rushed in comparison to the first three quarters. After sleeping on it how I felt about the book in total, I think the last quarter could’ve been it’s own book – the unnatural changes of scenery from one page to the next was a very big contrast from the beginning of the book, in terms of pacing. And some characters disappearing and then being reintroduced into the book felt forced in order to make other plot points happen.
I truly did love the story setup and all of the characters. I hope for the next book the pacing matches the beginning of this first book. So readers can hang out with these characters for a little longer and enjoy the personalities and the tension.
✅ Spinoff novella nomination:
Asher and Isla’s adventures leading the sentries away from Lore
What are you reading? Let me know in the comments.