Format: Kindle, 401 pages
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Publisher: Starwater Press
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Fantasy / Romance
Bound to a man she hates more than she ever thought possible...
Everything
Morgan Pendragon knows and loves is gone as she wakes in the dangerous
court of the Siabra. The man she was falling in love with is dead, and
in his place is a man she barely knows. Surrounded by liars and knives
in the dark, all Morgan wants to do is run the other way but Kairos
Draven is determined to keep her by his side.
As Morgan and
Draven's lives become even more irrevocably entwined, little do they
know the sins of the past are coming for them both…
Court of Claws, by Briar Boleyn, is the second installment in the authors Blood of a Fae series. Morgan Pendragon wakes up to find that she is half way around the world from Camelot in a place called The Court of Umbral Flames, bound to a man, Draven Kairos, who has returned home after a 20 year banishment for taking revenge on the man who killed his loved ones. One that is ruled by a people known as Siabra and a Queen Regent who loathes the very fiber of Morgan because she is Valtan Fae.
This story is a bit different than the first installment in that some of the story is told by memories thought forever forgotten and flashbacks, including right from the beginning of the story. 150 years ago, a strange plague has started to affect all of the Fae children of Valtain. In an effort to save her, a mother makes a difficult choice to save her youngest daughter and leave her family behind. 150 years later, Morgan was given a mission to find a powerful sword known as Excalibur in order to help King Arthur defeat his enemies.
After traveling a long distance, Lancelot catches up to them, only to be taken away by an attack by deranged children. Whether she is alive or dead, is unknown. During the attack, Morgan was severely injured and Draven, Prince of Claws, made a choice to save her. Morgan is now in the Siabra Empire, on the continent of Myntra, and a very long way from home and her brother Kaye. Because of what Draven did at the end of the first novel, Morgan is bonded to Draven, and must play a part as Prince's paramour in order to not gain more attention from the Queen Regent.
The first part of this book gets weighed down by Morgan's hatred of Draven for what he did to her even though she is alive. For Morgan, losing Lancelot, or not knowing if she is alive or dead, weighs heavily on her. The other part of this story is a competition between 12 contestants to see who will be named the next King of the Siabra. This includes Draven and a bunch of cut throat individuals who want to see him fail spectacularly. The other issues is that Morgan seems to be having true dreams which gives readers that final piece as to who she really is, and why the flashbacks are so important.
*Thoughts* This is a curious story with some interesting characters like Beks of Noctasia who is a human with magic; Rychel, who is Draven's sister trying to find a way to cure the plague that hurt so many children; Sephone, the Queen Regent who may be in an alliance with Draven's cousin, and rival Avriel; and Lyrastra who is not only a contestant in the games which is contested in 3 parts, but also a woman who is as mysterious as she is dangerous. There is one storyline that I am disappointed that was not wrapped up and that pertains to Rychel. This book once again ends on a cliffhanger after Morgan once again feels as though she has been betrayed, and wants to find a way back to Camelot to help save Kaye and her people from Arthur.
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