Court of Claws (Blood of a Fae, # 2)
By: Briar Boleyn
Publication: June 30, 2023 by Starwater Press
409 pages
Genre: Adult, Fantasy
Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)
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Goodreads description--Bound to a man she hates more than she ever thought possible...Everything Morgan Pendragon knows and loves is gone as she wakes in the dangerous court of the Siabra. The man she was falling in love with is dead, and in his place is a man she barely knows. Surrounded by liars and knives in the dark, all Morgan wants to do is run the other way but Kairos Draven is determined to keep her by his side.
As Morgan and Draven's lives become even more irrevocably entwined, little do they know the sins of the past are coming for them both…
Court of Claws picks up shortly after Queen of Roses ended. Except for the prologue, epilogue, and a few dreams from another character's POV, the story is told from Morgan's perspective. We left the previous book with Morgan being fatally injured, but Draven bonds with her to save her life. Of course, Morgan doesn't know this.
Morgan wakes up in Draven's home court where he is the Prince who should be Emporer. His stepmother has been running the court as Queen Regent. And she's not thrilled to give up her rule. Draven and other candidates enter a contest called the Blood Rise to see who will ultimately win the crown.
Morgan has only been accepted into the court begrudgingly as Draven's paramour. And she isn't happy about playing the role. But he knows that is the only way to keep her safe and untouchable. I was just as frustrated with Draven as Morgan with his lack of information. She does learn some of what she needs to know. But Draven keeps so much to himself that he could have easily opened up about more than he did to save himself and Morgan some drama. But that wouldn't make for easy conflict, would it?
Morgan is so judgmental about some things while so accepting of others. It was somewhat frustrating that her view of the world and morality is offered up as "well of course this is wrong" or "of course this is okay." Like no one could possibly view things any differently than her without being morally out of whack. What is the standard she's following for such morality lines? Nothing but her own thoughts and feelings.
This was also a frustrating book in that Draven did seem to be working for the greater good and obviously cared about Morgan, but she just couldn't cut him any slack. And as soon as anything went out of her liking, he was public enemy number one in her mind. Granted, he did keep several secrets that were pretty big, and of course, trust would be broken in so doing.
Court of Claws does have the troupe of a game that must be played/challenges that must be won. Books like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Throne of Glass, Red Rising, etc are hits because of similar games/challenges. I will say I got a little confused about how the court was able to watch the trials when the contestants were in a cave, and the court was not. (I'm really going to date myself here, but I totally pictured something like the '90s kids' game show Fun House when reading about the trials.)
This series is obviously a feminist or semi-feminist twist on King Arthur/Camelot where almost all of the strong male characters from the original are either female, LGBTQ, or toxic masculinity abusive males. I DNF'd Kristen White's feminist Camelot retelling for similar issues. Only I do find Briar Boleyn's retelling more interesting. I like that Draven is still such a strong male character. But (highlight for spoiler) I don't understand why he couldn't have been Emporer and Morgan Empress through their bond without him having to "let" her take the position. His line about not wanting to leech power from her felt a bit thin to me. End spoiler.
Favorite quote:
-"How many times can you deny a gift before the gift no longer comes when you call it?”
I read Court of Claws quickly given its size. I stayed up late reading, and I don't give up sleep easily these days. I didn't want to put it down when I needed to. But at the same time, looking back I feel I can only give Court of Claws 3 Stars. Morgan's attitude was challenging for me through a large part of the book. Draven's refusal to share information only felt like a weak plot idea to be able to create conflict later rather than an actual need to keep said information to himself for any real reason that I can discern up to this point. I will be continuing the series; however, I hope it improves, and this book just suffers from SBIASS (second book in a series syndrome). Have you read Court of Claws ? What did you think? Let me know!
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