{Book Review} Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson

Synopsis:

Once he drove back the darkness.
Once he loved with such passion his name was legend.

Once, driven wild with grief over the murder of his beloved, the majestic Fey King Rain Tairen Soul had laid waste to the world before vanishing into the Fading Lands. Now, a thousand years later, a new threat draws him back into the world—and a new love reawakens the heart he thought long dead.

Ellysetta, a woodcarver’s daughter, calls to Rain in a way no other ever had. Mysterious and magical, her soul beckons him with a compelling, seductive song—and no matter the cost, the wildness in his blood will not be denied.

As an ancient, familiar evil regains its strength, causing centuries-old alliances to crumble and threatening doom for Rain and his people... he must claim his truemate to embrace the destiny woven for them both in the mists of time.

Lord of the Fading Lands always gets rave reviews, and I’m a little uncertain as to why. It wasn’t a bad book, it just…wasn’t great. Maybe I just look for a little more plot in my romances. I would rather read about a romance forged through adventure and thrilling action, rather than the slow courtship of an alpha male and his soulmate.

Cause that’s pretty much what Lord of the Fading Lands was. A fairly boring courtship between a Fey King alpha male (an overprotective, pushy, do what I say alpha male) and an almost annoyingly innocent, irritatingly looked down upon daughter of a wood carver. I mean, sure, it was romantic, but in sort of a boring way. Fey King Rain Tairen Soul is immediately in love with Elysetta because she’s what’s known as a “truemate”. And it’s pretty much she gets together with him, or he like, goes on a rampage and dies. Or some nonsense like that.

I mean, I’m all about the viscerally romantic stuff. But that just felt silly.

Like I said earlier, for the most part, the plot is about Rain trying to win over Elysetta in pretty boring ways. Like, lets go to the park. Lets go to an art museum. I THOUGHT THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A FANTASY NOVEL. NOT A CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE. There are snippets of fantasy, sure, with some of the fey magic and the plot to incite war, but those moments are few and far between the long stretches of boring courtship.

Plus, like, everyone hates Elysetta. Except for the fey. Calm down humans, your shallow character development is showing.

To be fair, not all of the romance was boring. There was some mildly interesting fantasy elements, but they were underdeveloped, and so when the ending came around, I didn’t care much about the main “conflict”. Alas, I don’t think I’ll be continuing this series.

Also, based on the cover, I would have never picked this book up without a mountain of recommendations.

This book if filling the category “A Book with a Steamy Romance” in my Bingo Challenge, and is part of my Read My Own Damn Books Challenge.

Content: Sex, language, violence, disturbing images. Recommended for 18+