Name: The Wraith King (The Rise of Northgall #1)
Author: Juliette Cross
Publisher: Independently published
Date published: September 2024
Genre: Fiction, adult, romance, fantasy
Pages: 454
Rating: 3/5
A brutal, bloody war against the ruthless Wraith King has cost the light fae more than innocent lives. Una Hartstone, Princess of Issos, learns the price the Wraith King demands to end the war once and for all. Her. In exchange for the safety of her people, she agrees to give her life - and her body - to her greatest enemy.
Gollaya Verbane is determined to fulfill his destiny and his god’s prophecy. When his
seer points to the Princess of Issos as the key to the rise of the dark
fae, he demands her submission. But when she finally yields, he realizes
Una is much more to him than a priceless weapon.
A mystery that
has haunted Una for years awakens when she is abducted and dragged back
to Näkt Mir. The palace hides many dark secrets... and at least one
traitor. A traitor determined to take King Goll’s throne - and all
he possesses. What he doesn’t know is that Una’s magick is more powerful
than he can imagine, and that Goll will burn the whole world to save
her.
- From Goodreads.
This was an enjoyable story and had a lot of potential but unfortunately did not quite meet that potential. I liked the premise of the princess agreeing to marry the king of an enemy kingdom and to give him an heir to end the war and bring peace to both of their kingdoms, but the execution of the plot was not as great as it could have been. I think it could have been as good as Radiance by Grace Draven, which I really love, but it just had some parts that let it down and fell a bit flat for me.
The romance was good, I liked that they were such different people but once they had time to know and understand each other they made good companions for each other. However, I think it would have been good to spend a little more time building their emotional connection, as I think a lot more time was spent on their attraction to each other and their physical connection. Their attraction was written well and I did believe it, but it did also feel quite sudden, and I think a little more time spent not focused on that aspect of their relationship would have helped to build the tension for the more physical scenes. Speaking of which, there were some intimate moments between them where the phrases or descriptions did pull me out of the momet, and I think a few different choices in phrasing could have kept the moments more immersive, but that could be down to personal preference.
I did find the world very interesting, especially the differences between the dark and the light fae and how they interpreted the old myths of their world. I was curious to learn more and would be happy to discover more from other books set in the world. I think the plot and writing did keep me invested enough to continue reading from this author and series, even though it was not perfect for me.
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