Iris Foxglove

An absolutely wonderful read! I love Devon and Sebastian and their demon, it's just... ach, it's so good! All the characters are great, the story set-up is amazing, the world-building is fun. It's funny and sweet and heartbreaking.

I think the dialogue problems are more noticeable in this entry. Plenty of the dialogue is still excellent, but there's a lot more... "Then. . . . Then you should. Not. You shouldn't-" and it's... it's just kind of strange and hard to parse. Mostly it's just "the sentence would benefit from the use of hyphens and ellipses rather than periods", and not just because it looks better, but because it's often hard to track tone and/or what characters are feeling. I think the idea is to go for how it sounds speaking it, at times, which I know is difficult to do, but this structure actually makes it HARDER to understand how characters sound when they're talking. Are they afraid? Are they overwhelmed? Are they angry? It's just... It's more obvious here than it was in book 1.

But overall, really great story about a disaster sub and his doms. Far more fantastical than the previous book, and enjoyably so (though I still love them both). Looking forward to book 3!… (more)

An absolutely lovely continuation in the series! Both leads are wonderful, and I love seeing the way their relationship evolved! The scenes between them hit a lot of things I really love, so that helped. Adrien's confidence, Izzy's loyalty, Summer and Tanis being absolutely wonderful in every way... I just had a lot of fun with these characters and the world we got to see more of.

"The Duke's Demon" was even more fantastical than "The Traitor's Mercy", and "The Prince's Vow" is even more focused on magic, which is even more fun. In a way, it reminds me a little of Tamora Pierce's "Circle of Magic" books, at least in the sense of location and emphasis on Adrien's teaching. I love the way the magic system is designed, and how what he found was just as valuable as the training, and helping him find some peace (or inspiration anyway).

Overall, a very enjoyable book. Looking forward to "The Exile's Gift"!… (more)