My major issue, and what caused me to DNF the book, was our main character Rory. First of all, her name is Aurora Raven. Do with that what you will (again with the YA feeling). Secondly, she was built up (and admittedly started) as a badass vigilante character hellbent on justice for her murdered sister. While she began the story along those lines, I became less and less convinced of her competency and intelligence as the book progressed. Also, if I have to read one more enemies-to-lovers book where the MC has an uncontrollable physical attraction to (what is to her) a literal murderer, I'll scream. STAND UPPPP! Am I not horny enough to understand the appeal of that concept?! Normal • Speedy • Slow • Normal Boss • Hidden • Mystery • Breaker2 • Breaker • Necromancer • Strong • Slow Boss • Hidden Boss • Bolt • Speedy Boss • Mystery Boss • Breaker4 • Breaker3 • Mystery Summoner • Grave Digger WHY did I sleep on this book for sooo long?!! This book was such a mood! I can tell you what this book is and what isn't. It isn't the most cleverly crafted fantasy romance, and it isn't the most well plotted book, but honestly, I could not care less bc what it is, is ENTERTAINING AF and I had the best time reading it!! Thank you so much to my beautiful bestie, Rebecca for suggesting this book for our buddy read. 💖 I am so excited to read book 2 together! I would like to thank the author for the eARC opportunity. Like always, this review is voluntary & honest!

Rory- Rory is such a badass murdery FMC. I loved her so much, she has zero chill when it comes to bad guys and does what she feels has to be done. (She's also completely unhinged, but in a really " her heart is in the right place" kind of way) I love her loyalty to her friends and the way she goes toe to toe with Caius is thrilling! 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?”GAHHHH this book!! I think I will forever be scarred by the phrase "Time to wake up now" 😭💔 After that brutal cliffhanger in book 1, we're dealing with the aftermath of Rory no longer remembering her time in Vincula and her love for Caius, while she is unknowingly being hunted because of that relationship. The Umbra King follows assassin vigilante, Rory, after she is apprehended for killing 13 men. After watching her sister brutally murdered and soul stolen, she vows to avenge her and find her soul. Things obviously go sideways and she ends up thrown into the prison realm of Vincula and at the feet of the Umbra King, Caius. While a little slow to start, I ended up loving this. main characters being apart, then having sex but not really communicating, because he needs to "protect" her form the memories she has lost. (this went on for half of the book)

our favourite side character, Sam, not being with the person we wanted him to be with because the author decided to throw in a random new character for him to fall for after three encounters. (no, thanks) Before reading on please keep in mind that all of my opinions on this book, are simply that, personal opinions that are relative to my preferences! I am absolutely HONOURED to have been allowed the privilege of reading an ARC of The Umbra King. Oh my god, when I say this was fantastic - this was FANTASTIC. This is an urban fantasy, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, mistaken identity, female serial killer who's an all around badass and hellbent on revenge story told with fascinating world building complete with thorough history, multiple species with unique abilities and characteristics, well developed side characters that make you care about their story, a logical plot, and a dash of "Who did this to you?" In the very beginning there's a link to an audible pronunciation guide along with the text pronunciation guide for names and places, a printable world map, brief rundown of each realm, and a list of the different species with their attributes and characteristics. The detail that went into this is astounding! I felt that this book was a lot of fluff for our main characters, and ended up being an introduction to a completely separate plot with Sam as its lead. 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.

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But when Aurora drops into his throne room, representing everything he despises, they begin a game of cat and mouse, and before long, their hatred turns into something else. But as if you needed any other reasons to love him, he is also loyal, caring, protective of his realm and his people. The way his relationship with Rory develops and how he comes to care for her and becomes devoted to her is so sweet and romantic and I was immediately owned by them. What can you give a book that made you feel all types of emotions & happiness besides 5 stars? This book was everything I needed it to be for the ending of this duology & it perfectly set up for the next standalone novel, A Silenced Fate! The ending was bittersweet for me. A part of my heart was warm because of how the story concluded with these characters I adored, but the other part was heartbroken. Which leaves me on the edge of my seat to see what happens next for other characters. Unfortunately my expectations were crushed while reading. Both the MCs were extremely childish, even though they were adults ( 25yo and +500yo ) and I tried very hard to like them but I couldn’t. Rory’s character started out really well as we get to see her in her vigilante duty, but everything went up in flames when she reached the prison realm or whatever it was. 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.

This story has a lot of magical characters including Fey, Alchemists, Angels, and more. The author does a good job building the realms and explaining each type of "mystic" character throughout the chapters. She also included a “World Guide” at the beginning of the book, and I appreciate that extra effort made for readers. I feel like both Rory and Caius are broken in their own way and yet they complete each other. Their story is one of my favorites and I really am looking forward to what is to come. Also, the development of all relationships in this book was written extremely well. Seriously, the friendships, the found family, EVERYTHING!Congratulations. You have been given the longest sentence of any mystic in the history of the realms.” I was so excited for this book, bit I felt like it was a bit of a letdown. The ending felt hasty and a bit crazy. Hear me out: so obviously this is a fantasy book and so on but the thing is that even in fantasy books there are certain rules to how the magic works so it is kinda stupid to throw it all over just so Rory can be the scales of justice an so on. I also feel like there was an opportunity lost to talk about the shadows and darkness and so on and it is a cheap shot to say: "yeah, this time it miraculously worked. Although they were so afraid that something bad might happen, everything went just great and all of the sun's are gone now without any repercussions." There were too many side characters and a good few were irrelevant to the plot. I only really liked Sam and Lauren, but I was kind of confused by their relationship, I thought it was more serious but now Sam has a new love interest? High DPS towers, such as the Accelerator, Ranger, Pursuit and Turret, are recommended to defeat this boss. Most of the side characters were awesome. There were several to keep up with, and a couple of their introductions were a little choppy, but the author took care to develop the important ones.