3.5 stars
I’ve really loved this series since i read the first book. I love the characters. The banter is wonderful. The romance isn’t the strongest I’ve read, but it is good. Mostly, I like the world and the humor in these stories. I had read all the novels and anxiously awaiting the next book. I missed that there was still this novella that I hadn’t tackled yet. This is a prequel to the series. You can read it without having read the other books in the series.
This story follows Addolgar the Cheerful of the Cadwaladr clan and Braith of the Darkness of the Penarddun. Penarddun are a warrior people. They are also royals, though they don’t act like it. Penarddun also follows the female line. Cadwaladrs are known far and wide. They’re low born, so not royal. They are great warriors though and many fear them.
It takes place back when Bercelak and Rhiannon were still young and before Rhiannon become queen. She was just a princess in this story and doesn’t get along with her mother. Braith’s father betrays the queen and she is stuck in the middle. Addolgar offers to help capture her father and bring him back to the queen.
I love Addolgar, but then I usually love all the Cadwaladrs. I love seeing Bercelak when he was younger. I loved getting to spend time with their father, Aileen the Wicked. I was not as much of a fan of Braith. I get that she’s had a rough life. Her father is wanted for treason and her mother, the only person she really cared about or who cared about her, was dead. Her mother’s family had rejected her because she was her father’s daughter.
This isn’t my favorite story in the series, but I love anytime I can spend in this world. I’m really looking forward to the next book.
“I don’t know why,” Bercelak replied. “I’m known throughout the land to be so friendly.”
Addolgar and Ghleanna faced their younger brother . . . and stared at him.
“What?” he asked drily. “Everyone knows I’m like happy puppies in a meadow on a sunny day.”
Owena shrugged, flipped her hand casually. “We care for them. Love them. I have two of my own.” Her flitting hand swept the air. “They’re around somewhere. And I love them.” Her lips pursed a bit, and Braith felt her heart tighten when she recognized the gesture as one her mother had often made. “They are a bit stupid, though.”
The pain around Braith’s heart lessened when she had to laugh. “Aunt Owena.”
“They can’t help it, you know. It happens in the egg,” she reasoned. “As soon as they grow that genitalia, intelligence goes right out the window and we’re left with this thing that just wants to stick it in any hole.”
“Aunt Owena!”
“Oh, tell me I’m wrong!”