I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

Okay.. So when does book two come out? I cannot wait to get my hands on it! I wouldn’t even call this a book, it is more like an experience. This book had such an amazing story line and a great set of compelling and complex characters. I just could not put it down. 

I felt this was written in the perfect way for a follow up novel. It left me with tons of questions and I was instantly ready to read the next book. I love how LGBTQ friendly these books are. I really loved how multidimensional the characters were. They didn’t fall flat at all and just had soooo much depth. 

The author has created such an interesting universe. The story itself is full of intrigue and suspense. The interactions between the character felt so natural and fluid. I genuinely love this authors writing style. 

Thank you so much to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this title.

This is my first book from this author and as soon as I finished all I could think was 'How long until I can read book two?'. It has a great cast of complex and compelling characters and a storyline that totally drew me in with it's flow and top-notch world building. I am most certainly going to have my eye out for more from this author.

*I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by NetGalley and NineStar Press*

This was a really interesting world to experience. I had so many questions when I finished reading that can only be answered (hopefully!) by the next book in the series. There's a lot of factors to consider with all of the characters, and there's a lot to consider. I will say the POV jumping got really confusing for me. I wasn't always sure who people were or why I should care about them. The connections were sort of made eventually, but I would definitely have liked to have more clues as to who the POVs were and how they related to the rest of the story.

The book could be classified as science fiction with strong undertones of fantasy, featuring some magics and potions. 

The plot revolves mainly around general Auryn Tyrus and his former lover Kaneko whose son, Keita, Auryn rescues, and it is brilliant with ups and downs of raising a child who bears a resemblance to someone assumed lost, and the struggles of overcoming torture and abuse. Here is a content warning - the book does feature a brief description of the horrors young Keita has survived, however it is not a great part of the book and could easily be overlooked by those who find themselves spooked away by it.

The world Kale Night has created makes sense in its own universe, with strong notes of dictatorship and the struggles of keeping people under control and running. As much as I would love to spoil the dynamics of races, the details about how said world is run, how the people's needs are covered and the strain of suppressing memories, I can not. You will have to read it yourself. 

The book is LGBTQ friendly, the main characters are without a doubt homosexual, and most certainly not flat nor one-dimensional. Each holds their own drives, their own concerns, and frankly, it is rather well written - descriptive, but not needlessly; the conversations between characters are fluid, and as mentioned before, the world stays true to its own limitations. If you want to enjoy a book featuring its share of intrigue, love, angst, drama, and everything else between, wrapped in a sweet blanket of science fiction - this is it.

My only question is - when is the sequel coming up?