The Book High

Wow. I'm still reeling from this book. Brutal and bloody barely begin to describe it. But it was also beautiful and honest and powerful. The only things that keep this from getting 5 stars are the editing and the ending.

I've not ever lowered a rating for editing before, so I went back and forth on whether to do it to this book. But I've also not ever read a book that was this poorly edited before. I usually do my best to overlook misplaced commas and misused apostrophes, but this went way beyond just that into the realm of making me wonder if this could be a first draft. And I'm not sure if it's a result of formatting it as an ebook or what, but there were three or four times when a sentence just ended in the middle. When the editing is bad enough that it pulls me out of the story, I have to lower the rating.

And the ending. It just seemed so abrupt. I felt like the whole book had been this perfectly-paced, believable, sweet (comparatively) romance. And then the separation came when Yhalen's mind needed to heal and Bloodraven went to get the ogr'ron. Having Yhalen recognize his feelings while Bloodraven was away just added to the feeling of this tremendous, epic build-up... and then Bloodraven comes back. And it felt like the build-up collapsed and then the book ended. Yes, Bloodraven took off the collar, and yes, Yhalen admitted he belonged to him, but it still didn't feel like they'd met in the middle enough to have it be a successful culmination of their path to that point. After reading the end, I almost wish the book would have ended with them in the cave at the ogre city. Having Bloodraven get Yhalen's consent was just so perfect and so sweet and would have been a great end to their story. Yes, we wouldn't have known what happened with the ogr'ron, nor with Yhalen and his magick, but that seems like the culmination of their relationship to me. The way they are in Elvardo's castle seemed like a step backward. Perhaps I'll need to re-read it (at least the end, I'm not sure I could handle re-reading parts of the rest of it) and see if I still feel the same.

Now, as for what I liked: I loved both Yhalen and Bloodraven. They both were just such well-crafted, believable, sympathetic characters right from the very beginning. And their romance progresses in such a realistic, believable way that it had me cheering them on every step of the way instead of rolling my eyes as has happened with other enemies-to-lovers stories.

I loved Yhalen's powers, and his journey toward understanding and accepting what he's capable of. I loved how his reactions to his abilities gave him the innocence that Bloodraven needed in order to trust him in spite of his abilities. That what Yhalen could do scared both of them enough that it was one of the things that helped bond them.

I loved Bloodraven! The fact that he'd survived the upbringing he had with as much compassion as he did is remarkable. I loved the way he was with Yhalen, even without realizing it himself sometimes.

And I loved how the two of them together, in the midst of this brutal story, are a message of hope, not just to Bloodraven's people, but to the reader. The way that they each individually and as a pair overcome circumstance and bad luck and unfortunate timing and insist on doing what they believe is right is inspiring. They could each have given up so many times, and honestly, after what the ogres did to him, I kind of wished Yhalen had! That was so horrific, I wasn't sure how Ms. Nunn was going to help him back from it. but they chose to keep going in spite of the difficulty, because they knew there were individuals who depended on them.

So, yes, it was difficult to read at times, and I did end up skipping parts that were just TOO horrific, but I think that it almost needed to be in order that the sweetness between Yhalen and Bloodraven could shine like it does. Beautiful book!