Review by Booklist Review
Tamsyn knows she's different. Raised as a royal whipping girl, Tamsyn is a princess but not a princess. Her skin breaks but leaves no scars. Her hair is red while her sisters' hair is gold. But Tamsyn doesn't think anything of her differences until King Hamlin asks her to perform one final duty. Fell, Beast of the Borderlands, is tired of protecting the borders of Penterra with barely a thanks. To bind himself to the king, he demands marriage to a princess of Penterra. King Hamlin dupes Fell into marrying Tamsyn, with the marriage becoming binding upon consummation. The passion between Tamsyn and Fell can't be denied, but a marriage based on lies is dangerous. On the way to the Borderlands, Tamsyn soon learns that the danger may lie within her when she's forced to defend herself from an attack and the claws come out. Dragon claws, that is. Romance author Jordan's latest (after The Duchess, 2024) contains a lot of popular romantasy tropes (including lots of spice), and fans of the genre will enjoy.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Jordan revisits the world of her Firelight YA series (begun in 2010's Firelight) with a seductive adult prequel set 100 years after the Threshing that essentially eliminated dragons from the world. Tamsyn, who heals remarkably and mysteriously quickly, is raised as a sister of the princesses of Penterra, but used as their whipping girl. When the terrifying Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, demands one of the princesses as a bride in exchange for his continued protection of the kingdom's northern border, the royal family deceive him by sending Tamsyn instead. Though furious about the trickery, Fell finds himself surprisingly both protective and fond of his new wife, while she discovers the dangerous, wild magic that exists beyond the walls of the castle--and maybe also within herself. Jordan's protagonists fit nicely into outsider tropes--Fell as the violent warrior with a righteous heart, Tamsyn as the pampered fish out of water who finds her inner strength--while also exhibiting complexity beyond the stereotypes. Jordan keeps the politics and the action simple to instead center the love story and Tamsyn's self-discovery, leaving the novel with something of a YA feel despite the notably adult sex scenes. The final reveal, meanwhile, will keep readers on the hook for future installments. Fans who grew up with the original series are sure to be delighted. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A whipping girl's life is transformed beyond her wildest dreams. Tamsyn is a beloved member of the royal family of Penterra--sort of. Abandoned on the castle doorstep when she was a baby, she's been raised alongside the young princesses as their whipping girl, taking the physical punishment whenever one of the untouchable royal sisters does something wrong. Penterran society no longer fears dragons a century after their eradication, but fear of raiders has kept Tamsyn and her sisters close to home. She's starting to look forward to independence in the next chapter of her life, but then her family asks one more sacrifice of her: She must marry Lord Beast, the so-called barbarian whose people keep her city safe, who has requested a royal marriage as recompense. The Beast of the Borderlands, better known as Fell to friends and companions, is desperate to improve life for the impoverished northerners he rules, so he hopes that a royal marriage will help. That's why he's horrified to learn, after publicly consummating their hasty marriage, that he's been tricked into wedding the less-than-royal Tamsyn. Despite his anger and her fear, they find that they have an intense, unusual connection, and they set off north together, going home to Fell's people. When a surprise attack leads Tamsyn to learn she has the ability to turn into a dragon, their world expands far beyond what they initially expected for their lives together. This book, the first in a new series, serves as a prequel to Jordan's YA Firelight series, which centered romantasy before the current vogue for it. It will be enjoyed by many fans of the original tales, especially if they're now adults; though it has several explicit scenes that are decidedly not YA, it ticks all the romantasy boxes. Fans of Jordan's historicals, on the other hand, may be disappointed by a lack of the depth they've come to expect from her work--though that may be worth overlooking thanks to the compelling plot. A cliffhanger ending will leave readers anxious for the next installment. A promising adults-only continuation of a YA romantasy series. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
