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The Umbra King (Vincula Realm)

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The banter, threats, and progression from enemies to lovers were well done and entertaining. (more quotes and content warnings at the end of this review, in case you’re interested) Caius lost his charm and mystery fast; he turned into a whiny, helpless burden who had to depend on everyone else instead of being a 500 year old King! DFN at 70%. The concept and the premises were super intriguing: Morally grey MCs, badass vigilante FMC, enemies-to-lovers, angst, I-hate-you-but-I-am-attracted-to-you? I’m sold. This book also had so many fun side characters, but the highlight was definitely the angel Samyaza aka Sam and Caius's best friend. He is lethal and imposing but somehow also so endearing and lovable. I can't wait to see more of him in the next book.

I would like to thank the author for the eARC opportunity. Like always, this review is voluntary & honest! I basically inhaled this book at the fastest speed my brain could comprehend the words my eyes were seeing. I practically read this in one sitting (probably would have definitely if I didn't start the book at midnight last night), which is quite an achievement for me at the moment since I have been going through quite a little bit of a slump and slowly getting out of it.

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The Umbra's name is the word for the inner shadow of any opaque object. When an eclipse happens, the celestial body caught within the umbra of the overlapping object experiences a total eclipse. too many convenient reveals that didn't feel exciting, and twists that didn't make sense because they were not explained well.

I also feel as though Cora’s soul was just forgotten about.. like it’s talked about quite a bit- how Gedeon must have it, how he does have it and covets it despite being bad.. it gets released and then that’s it. That’s it? What was the purpose? I expected there to be some purpose for it being in the story tbh. Did you think your blood would deter me? I have bathed in the blood of your enemies. What makes you think I would not paint myself with yours?”

Oh, and this book is spicyyy. I rarely rate/mention smut, but it’s generously written throughout and it’s very hot! (except for one scene, but that was awkward on purpose.) I think I liked Umbra King much more than I liked this book. I had a few months to hype up in my mind what this storyline would look like and it was just different than I expected. Rules were broken, exceptions were made, it was a long story but things were still too fast paced or just given easy solutions. There wasn't too much mystery, and the story took place in one week. I'll put it on my "middle of the road" shelf, fantasy elite tier for me are authors like SJM, Armentout, Roehrich, Kennedy, etc, and this just didn't compare with works like that. This fantasy story is about Aurora (Rory) who witnesses her twin sister Cora's murder at the ripe age of 15. Left extremely traumatized, she makes it her personal mission to find and avenge her sisters' killers while also taking justice further into her own hands by murdering 13 men. Sounds awful, right? Wrong, all the men she murdered were in the process of murdering or attempting to rape someone. She unfortunately gets caught and is sent to prison with a sentence of 500 years. Let me be perfectly clear: I support women's rights AND women's wrongs.

The enemies to lovers is done so well the transition feels authentic and entirely unavoidable as they surrender to their mutual attraction. Pumpkid • Overgrowth • Ghost • Scarecrow • Swamper • Citizen Plush • Knight • Cobalt Guard • Executioner Plush Throughout the book, I kept thinking this was going to be a 4-4.5 star book. However, once I finished it, I couldn't stop thinking "how can this book be anything but a 5 star?? I am so thankful for those who recommended this book to me because I LOVED it. Like, I really enjoyed it and could not put it down... even while I was working, my kindle did not leave my side! Blighted • Boomer 1 • Necromancer 2 • Mystery 2 • Gravekeeper • Super Mystery • Ultra Mystery • Uber Mystery • Ninja • Frost HeroI wish the information given during the first 5 or so chapters had been shown in smaller pieces throughout the book as needed, as opposed to being written as an aside to the story;The Umbra King is fast paced, almost too fast at times, and left me wanting for detail on both the side characters and the world itself! (That being said this is a personal preference on writing styles for myself!)

The Umbra is tied with the Frost Spirit for having the third highest amount of health out of any enemy in the game, only beaten by the Void Reaver and the Nuclear Monster. This book was mostly Rory and Caius in the soul scape having sex and setting up for Sam and Stassi’s story. And I’m also a little confused about why the prophecy ended up being about Sam and had nothing to do with Rory and Caius- when it’s literally their story.I am The Butcher, Your Grace, and I will not hesitate to string you up with a dagger in your heart.“ She never gave up her search for the man who killed her sister, but when she is convicted of thirteen murders and sentenced to five-hundred years in Vincula, the prison realm, she knows her sister’s death will never be avenged. The one thing that kept this book from being utterly spectacular is that even though the characters were slightly older, there were aspects of this that felt very juvenile. Our main character goes through a period of being a little bit (read a lot) jealous and almost has a temper tantrum because she thinks he hooks up with somebody. That just feels like a little bit of high school drama! BUT I do appreciate that they do seem to talk out their differences. However, there was this one side character - Sam, for whom I bared my entire annoyance from slamming this book down. Sam and Stassie deserved so much better🥺 and this is another entire story. Although, I loved seeing them, the author decided to show glimpses of her new story about these two rather than writing about the story in hand. At one point, Sam became the MC and nothing else.

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