Book: Cursekeeper by Alexandra Christo
Reviewed by Rallie X
Rating: 3.5/5
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for giving me the eARC, and to Atria for sending me a physical proof. This review and opinions are my own.
When your main character demonstrates right off the bat that she is in fact a badass as well as deep you know you're gonna be in for a good time, and Thalia is one of those romantasy FMCs who is like. Actually cool as hell. She's clever, fast, and has a strength of spirit that carries the book.
The only reason this isn't 4 stars is because the MMC, Soren, spent a lot of time on the edge of "I hate this man" and "well he's an average dark fantasy MMC". I had a physical ARC and all throughout the front portion of this book are a lot of 👿 faces in the margins. His crimes:
I'm really not a fan of the kind of "morally grey" where it's represented by the guy being a major asshole to the main character until she "understands" where he's coming from. Like sorry, no, "enemies-to-lovers" being represented just by him being mean and her being sassy back about it isn't what I want to see when I'm told to expect that.
I also hate the cliche "nickname to annoy her but that becomes romantic".
There is a training montage scene. Thalia has trained for 15 years to fight Fae and others who would attempt to break into the Library, why is she all of a sudden not good enough at that and needs to spend extensive time learning rudimentary things like "footwork" as soon as she (reluctantly) teams up with Soren. The book literally begins with Thalia and Soren fighting with her stabbing him in the chest and him having to flee.
I had other issues with him but can't complain about them without spoilers. But it annoys the hell out of me when the transition between sexy enemies to reluctant sexy allies is purely based on trauma bonding and the FMC getting rescued from extreme violence by the MMC.
My beef with Soren aside, I really enjoyed this book! I'm a sucker for the fighter librarian archetype and Thalia was a perfect Scion of the Library (you don't even need to know what a Scion is in this context to know that sounds cool as hell - and don't worry it is!!!!). The world Alexandra Christo has crafted here is different enough from other similar settings that it feels fresh and exciting - the Fae courts and the Fallen Fae (of which our MMC is one of the leaders as the former Prince of Winter), Demons and the long-dead Demon King, and the three human kingdoms with their Library. Humans with extra sauce (human with nonhuman ancestry) can be so much fun and Christo gave the Scions not just special powers but a specific purpose/role within society. Thalia's special sauce lets her hold her own in battle and in bed ;) (she and Soren get it ON, like, there are some spicy things throughout the book that actually had plot relevance, if you can believe it).
As much as I would love to talk about the secondary characters, literally anything I could say would include so many spoilers because twists and turns, fake-outs, and real development makes them all interesting in their own ways (but Oriel is my favorite). But between exciting and interesting characters, delightful villains with actual motivations and not just Snidely Whiplashery (screw Minva screw them straight to hell), and complex, multifaceted conflict, this book is going to be someone's 5/5 and possibly the genesis of somebody's favorite book boyfriend. I know I enjoyed it enough that I'll be continuing with book two, which I'll probably like more because I won't have to wade through Soren hitting my least favorite cliches in what is otherwise a great book.
For Fans Of: Shield of Sparrows, Heir of Prophecy, The Death-Made Prince, The Bone Witch