Ailyn Henbane
Written on May 30, 2022
This book that starts off the series gives Dark Elves, notably a species of evil, some compassion. As a concept King doesn't shy away from the fact that Dark Elves are meant to be cruel, especially as it seems these particular Dark Elves are modeled after the Drow of Dungeons & Dragons. Like the DnD Drow, Prothekan Dark Elvish society exists in a Caste Hierarchy. This one, however, is NOT gendered as it was/is in DnD. The world building is minimal, focusing more on how humans see the world they are foreigners in.
Coming to the fact that in this world Humans are NOT the top of the food chain as we're so used to seeing. In fact, Humans are on the lowest run of society, and are treated as such. Disposable playthings for the Drow of near any caste except for the lowest. It sets the world through human eyes about 80% of the time, merging fantasy with a sort of dystopian edge. There's a lot of time spent on this, to give you a sense of the world and what exactly our F. MC has to 'look forward to' as her life once she's auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The F. MC is a virgin, but trained to pleasure either her patron for the night or her owner, falling into the line of Dark Elves being sort of inherently evil. There's no glorification of that slavery, either. No one that you meet within the series WANTS to continue in a life of servitude, there are moments of pampered pet life, but ultimately the paper thin illusion is continually ripped to shreds.
Our M. Mc is sort of wooden. At least he was to me. Of the books in the series I've read he's the least memorable, when he's arguably the most important of all the Male characters. Our M. Mc chose to have his volatile emotions suppressed so he could keep a handle on his reportedly immense power. Which, frankly, makes a hell of a lot of sense because if you remember being a teenager mentally toss some magic into that and see if it doesn't look like a nightmare for everyone involved. While or M. Mc feels it is the F. Mc who is evoking emotion, one could argue if she were removed from that part of the narrative, it may still have happened. He wanted an adventure, which led him to her. It was the first chip in his mental cage.
Over all as the start to a series it could be stronger, but it's not weak, either. It's a good series to read between longer, more involved books. It's not a typical HEA, and it's not exactly a Dark Romance either. It lands pretty firmly in the middle for me.