Taming the Forest King by Claudia J. Edwards
This book was recommended to me by Goodreads itself, based on my ratings and my favourite genres. To be fair, Goodreads tends to get it right. Not this time, though.
First of all forget the title. It has absolutely nothing to do with the story.
I picked up this book thinking, "Yay! A book from the 80's! No clichés that became obnoxiously ubiquitous in recent times!" Yeah... no.
Heads up, this book contains a love triangle - that by itself made me want to put it aside. But I had actually ordered it for my birthday...
So onto the plot. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good things about it. Tevra, our main character, is at the top of her career. She's a no nonsense lady, she navigates well the sexist culture and the political traps that keep springing up.
That is, until she meets the Forest King and starts falling apart over her attraction to him.
Despite being a strong and observant character (you can't get to her post without a gift for reading people) she is blind until the very end about the feelings of her closest friend/soldier, Hetwith. This dude could not have been more blatant about his interest.
The Forest King is basically an underdeveloped wishy-washy idiot who had been raised to be king but was so inept that he'd probably wear his crown pointy-side down.
Another thing, Tevra kind of sets out to be this experienced woman, one who's had lovers in the past and is unashamed and in control of her sexuality (as she should be). Yet, get her near a love interest and she acts like an inexperienced virgin.
Conclusion: a nice fantasy with well developed political intrigues, that got swamped by a love triangle and trite romance.
Buy Taming the Forest King
@ amazon
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