This series is turning into some kind of guilty pleasure for me. On the one hand I don’t think it’s very well written and it’s repetitive as hell – I mean I’m at the end of the book 3 and they’ve just gotten through one semester and they’ve finally earned the way to START being serious students at the Academy. Seriously?
And yet for some reason I’m gobbling the books up and wanting to see what happens next.
I’m still appalled by Fae culture as it’s depicted here. The idea that being more powerful gives somebody license to do anything they want is how you end up with world leaders making deals with demons to get more juice and thinking it’s perfectly justified. Although I imagine you could look at it as an allegory for people who keep electing billionaires to run your country.
I do not get monarchists one little bit – we have plenty of them in my country and I don’t get them in real life either – but Geraldine is absolutely one of my favourite characters. She is hilarious and loyal and badass. And she’s strong but without being cruel just for the sake of it.
I am entirely disappointed by Diego. I thought he was a genuine friend through the first two books and they even helped him pass his exam. I’m really hoping he sorts his shit out and doesn’t turn into some kind of incel just because Darcy rejected him. I hate the whole ‘men and women can’t be friends’ things with a fucking passion. (And what is with the whole ‘have you been working out’ moment? Are muscles attached to the asshole in fae?)
I’m also not much impressed by the Heirs. Giving some of their background was probably intended to make them more sympathetic, but instead it just makes them seem incapable of learning from their experiences. Their utter contempt for their girlfriends, their indifference to non-powerful fae, the way they just fall into line with the whole we-must-be-mean-to-the-Vegas-even-if-we-like-them… I can’t imagine a group of men I would be less interested in bonking, no matter what they look like. And their utter lack of empathy would make them terrible rulers.
At least Orion has demonstrated the ability to care about somebody other than himself, even if he is so emotionally constipated he thinks electrocuting himself serves as an apology.
I think at this point I’m invested in the series just because I want the twins to take charge and teach the fae how to run a fucking society. Starting with some laws around sexual harassment maybe.