Synopsis:
~The Prince of No Value~
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.
~The Noblewoman of No Importance~
Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.
Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
I was simultaneously impressed and disappointed with this book. Lemme explain.
Since this is a fantasy romance novel - emphasis on the romance - I expected Ildiko and Brishen's characters and relationship to be the best part, and for the world-building and plot to just sort of be "meh." Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful the world was, while Ildiko and Brishen fell a little flat for me.
I've read enough YA novels to know how paper-thin a fantasy world can be. Not so with Radiance. While the world wasn't particularly original, the infrastructure of the cultures was more fleshed out than even some of my most beloved fantasy novels. You can tell a lot of thought and research went into it.
I also particularly adored how Grace Draven emphasized the difference between human and Kai, both in terms of physicality and culture. I find that in fantasy novels, difference between races is either such an incredible chasm that the two are just too different, or are so alike that you wonder at their difference at all. Draven made the Kai feel distinct and alien, while still compatible to humankind - a balance I haven't yet seen as artfully done in any other fantasy novel.
As for Ildiko and Brishen, I wanted to love them. I really did. Their first interactions while still in Gaur had me excited about them. But that's the thing - their time in Gaur, at the opening of the novel, is the pinnacle of their relationship. Their banter is clever and flirtatious, careful and curious. I loved it. But it doesn't last. Too soon, they fall into ease with one another. Too soon, they're sweet and caring to each other. It's not love or lust - not yet - but it's too comfortable to feel sexy and swoon-worthy. That clever banter gets drier and drier until it just feels like someone's smacking the dead horse over and over.
Maybe this just wasn't for me. I don't often read romance novels, but ooh if I don't love a little smut in my life. But even the smut, by the time it came, read as uninspired as Ildiko and Brishen's relationship.
So why'd I rate this book so highly? Because it is a good novel, even if the romance portion fell flat for me. The world-building is attentive, the prose is solid, and the side characters are so lively that I hope some of them get their own novels. And that ending encourages me that the next novel will be more plot-driven, spurring me on to continue living in this world if only for a little bit longer.
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