michael stellman

Okay. OKAY. So I fucking love this book, ok? Like. A lot. Back during the years where I was really too disabled to actually sit down and read books and was only listening to audiobooks, this was one of the books that I read several times. There’s a great deal about the story to enjoy. As is frequently true with Megan Derr’s fantasy books, there are very few white people. Alan is on the lighter side of things, but I think that the only true white people are those in Benta?...

I honestly love this book. It’s a great fantasy book that doesn’t get too bogged down by world-building. It also makes me very happy that the prince in the book is dark-skinned (and, if memory serves, Rath is also not white). The book also gets bonus points for the portrayal of sex work as not being inherently shameful and that Rath isn’t ‘saved’ by the prince. Watching Rath win all the challenges while actively trying to fail is super amusing....