The Golden Dynasty (Fantasyland, #2)

by Kristen Ashley

[Caitiebelle]

Ok. Phew. I think...I'm going to be completely honest here and actually say that I did struggle with this book. And it had nothing to do with the non-con or the way of life that the nation of Korwahk has, this actually was really good.

So before you kill me, let me tell you why:

This was the first book that I read by this author and no, I didn't read book 1 because these are stand-alone and I was looking for something very specific so I got recommended this book. The Wife Hunt is one of those specific things I wanted as a trope.

Now let's talk about what my problem was throughout this book that seriously bothered me.
I'm not saying the Author has done anything wrong here - I'm just saying that sometimes when something has been written previously and become sort of a "national recognized thing" (or what to call it) that everyone knows about and will always associate with when reading something similar very quickly - that's not always a good thing, and I think it's good to try and stay away from that for your own sake when you write.

So what am I talking about? Well...the fact that there was just way too many similar characteristics to A Song of Ice and Fire here. I am then specifically thinking about Martin's Dothraki vs. Ashley's Suh Tunak.

As a reader, I felt that the book opened up extremely well, but once Circe started to look around, more and more of the world and people/warriors of Korwahk came into view, and I just kept getting flashbacks to Martin's Dothraki and even more so in the case of Dax Lahn whom I felt was the spitting image to Khal Drogo. Right down to the plated hair, the way it was worn AND body paint, even the custom of cutting it off (the braid).

And from that moment on...it kind of ruined the book a bit for me.

Because not only do I keep getting sidetracked over the fact that the similarities are just so in my face here, but the female heroine also shares a name from GOT AND there's even a 2nd char in the book who shares a name from GOT (even he looks very similar in description, though he's not a prince or a king.) Not that you can't use the names, but this just adds into it for me, since I was already constantly comparing the two.

We also have The Eunuch, whom at first I didn't react dramatically to, his story is sad, but once he explained in more detail what his job was for the Dax? Again that screamed far too much of GOT.

So yes, I'm going to be one of THOSE people, and I'm going to say that it might not be illegal, it might not even be "wrong", but I think you hurt yourself and your own writing, by not being more original.

And even though there are TONNES of tropes in a fantasy genre and we have the building blocks for a lot of it in this book (a lot of the book IS original and I enjoyed it a lot) - when you decide to include mannerisms, descriptions, people and so forth - that is so so similar to something so Iconic as A Game of Thrones, you do yourself a disservice.

But who knows Martin probably doesn't have a copywrite on how Drogo looks, maybe he took that from someone else and so forth - but the fact still stands that HIS version of his "barbarian people" made it to the big screen, and because of that - people will most likely instantly identify a lot of the Suh Tunak and Dax Lahn here, with that. And that's not fair to the author, because I think she did a good thing here - but it is how it works, and some might not have issues with this. *shrug*

I see lots of reviews that comment on this positively - but for me? It just doesn't work for me. It's just not something I enjoy. It's OK to have some similarities - but when I straight up feel like I'm looking at Khal Drogo and his band on Dothraki, that is too much for me.


So what DID I enjoy with this book?

I really do think that the book had a lot of elements that I liked. I love that the author created a language - even gave a dossier of said language, that is admirable!
And that said language was used in the book and Circi had to learn it, Lahn had to learn English etc.

I love this whole alternative universe thing we have here, we're delving into a bit of a Star Trek thing here with that alternate mirror image, but instead of your twin being evil - they are just...you but different.

I thought the world itself as a whole is great, and I really liked Korwahk and its customs.

I loved the dark elements of the book, I thought it fitted in very well. The book was emotional at parts and even though I had issues with the GOT similarities, I still fell in love with the characters, though I will say that I still don't quite know how old Circe is supposed to be because she states 35 at one point, but the way she's written just screamed the early 20s to me.

Sexy time was also hawt once we got to the consent development - but I still don't mind the non-consent parts because this is Fantasy and the whole way of life here worked very well into who these people are and their way of life.

I give this book a good 3.5