Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A reluctant and sad DNF at 38%. I wanted to love this book — as a British desi and as someone who studied Anglo-Indians and the British Empire during my BA. I must emphasise that this wasn’t bad; it was just not for me right now.

While I enjoyed the start (particularly the plot, humour and history), I soon felt bored by the repetitive narration, slow pace and underdeveloped MC (her only traits were being a historian in a long-dismissed field, sassy, and horny). I found myself skimming the text and forcing myself to pick it back up.

I wish this book held my interest better. But just because it didn’t hold mine, it doesn’t mean it won’t yours. I can see this book working better for readers who gravitate towards romcoms more often than I do.

I will also say that I learned more about Indians in England here, and that was a delight. I’m particularly interested in learning more about Princess Sophia Duleep Singh of Punjab, who became Queen Victoria’s goddaughter, and then later, a suffragette.

I still want to support this author (indie, South Asian, and seemingly very sweet), so I’ll keep an eye on her future releases. Maybe I’ll pick this back up again, who knows!

This is a gorgeously written novella prequel about a squire, Kaelen, and his devotion to his crown Prince, Richard, that winds up with a diplomatic incident and my entire heart being devoted to these two. I’ve seen the authors shared snips on Threads and that was how I first knew the characters, but they’re as expertly developed in a longer format as they are in a handful of sentences.

Richard, in particular, is my most favourite out of the story. It’s a careful tightrope to have a colder scheming character done well and also be kind, and this was such a wonderful character to see through Kaelan’s eyes, understandably rose-tinted at times they may have been. I also liked how Richard’s asexuality is portrayed in the story, it felt truer to life with echoes of feeling broken and not quite understood or fitting into the traditional model of relationships. I appreciate that he’s the older out of the two as well, he’s established in how he is, even if the culture around him and his own view of himself leans disheartened. For that, Kaelen is a delightful contrast, devoted and hilarious with his reactions to the situations he winds up in. Their dynamic is settled, but is starting to shift in this story so I’m excited to see how it unfolds.

It’s a gentle introduction to the world, the magic system, and the wider cast of characters, enough information to follow along with but not diving into anything overly heavy. There’s hints of wider backstory in the character’s (notably the king and his commander) banter and it makes the world feel so very real.