Rule of the Aurora King (Artefacts of Ouranos, # 2)
By: Nisha J. Tuli
Expected Publication: March 19, 2023 by NJT Author
272 pages
Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Fae
Source: Publisher via NetGalley (Thank you!!)
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Goodreads description--“ I am not his conquest. I am not his to claim. I am my own castle.” Freed from the golden clutches of the Sun King, Lor now finds herself in the hands of Nadir, the Aurora Prince. Convinced she’s hiding something, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make her talk. But Lor knows the value of secrets—she’s been keeping them her entire life—and she’s not letting hers go without a fight. When Lor and Nadir team up to search for a lost item that holds the key to her past and her future, she isn’t sure if she can trust him. All she knows is she won’t fall for his promises and make the same mistakes again. Lor also hasn’t forgotten her vow to destroy the Aurora King. As Atlas hunts her across Ouranos, Lor plots to bring down the Imperial Fae who took everything. But she soon realizes that the future of the continent is about so much more than just her shattered legacy. The Rule of the Aurora King is the second book in the Artefacts of Ouranos series and combines romance, intrigue, action, and adventure. If you love enemies to lovers, fated mates, and fake dating, don’t miss this exciting next installment!
I jumped right into Rule of the Aurora King after finishing Trial of the Sun Queen. Lor rejected Atlas, the Sun King, and was thrown in the dungeon. But Nadir came to rescue her and held her prisoner himself until he could figure out what his father wanted with her. That's where we pick up. Lor refused to talk until Nadir brought her Tristan and Willow. And that's where things start.
I was almost immediately annoyed that Nadir and Gabriel's behavior toward Lor was similar. Gabriel used to call her Tribute as a means of putting her in her place, and Nadir called her Inmate. Maybe this is meant to be funny or attractive in the bad-boy sense. But I think it's the author trying to make Lor stand up for herself.
Lor and Nadir are at a standoff. He finally gives a little by bringing Tristan and Willow to her and so she decides to trust him with some of her secrets. She is the long-lost descendant of the ruined Heart Queendom. The three siblings have been hiding their Fae bodies by appearing human. Willow only has enough magic to do that, but Tristan has a little more. Lor has a lot of magic, but it's locked deep inside her. She can no longer access it. She can still feel it, and it responds to Nadir in a way that no one else has ever triggered in her. That leads me to believe the two might be mates, but none of that is revealed in this book.
Regardless, Nadir and Lor share a common enemy: Rion, the Aurora King, Nadir's father. Nadir hates him for being a terrible ruler and most of all for the trauma and abuse he's put Nadir's mother through leaving her a shell of herself. Lor hates him because he killed her parents and had her and her siblings thrown into prison as children and everything they have suffered since has been his fault. He also abused Lor to get her to reveal her magic to him...which she did not.
But that reminds me, Lor blames Nadir and Amaya, and basically anyone and everyone else, for the trauma that she experienced being in prison for no reason. She claims that Nadir doing nothing to stop the imprisonment of people who have done nothing wrong is unforgivable. She specifically states she can never forgive him for his part. This was starting to bug the snot out of me. You don't know what you don't know. And you can't be held accountable for something you don't know. You can't even ask the right questions when you don't know there are questions to be asked. How could he have known? Perhaps if he'd chanced upon the right question? But even still. We should all do the best we can with whatever information we have and when we know better then we can do better. But no one can be held accountable for what they don't know. This was a character flaw that I was beginning to think should be attributed to the author more than to the character.
Almost all of my highlights were frustrations or incongruencies I noticed. How can someone who has been locked in prison for twelve years and has fought over a bar of soap know how to do their own makeup? The random LGBTQ comments that weren't as common in this book, but still existed with zero plot enhancement. And what? Does the main character believe in socialism? Or should I say, does the author believe in socialism? That seems to be a common theme. How can anyone possibly be rich when they are poor people suffering? How can someone sleep in a soft bed when others don't have a bed at all? How can someone have jewels and go to parties when others are being tortured for no reason? It isn't the purpose of my book review to actually answer all of these questions, but I noted this as an annoyance. Also, she comments about Nadir needing to work through his issues by himself without offering him comfort when he needs it. Of course, we all are responsible for working out our own issues, but none of us exists in a vacuum. We can be plenty influenced (and helped...aka encouraged) by the comfort and a kind word from others whether they can empathize or not.
One of my biggest complaints about Trial of the Sun Queen is that Lor abruptly turned on Atlas after the last challenge. She did such a 180 from where she was that it felt jarring. She went from pursuing a relationship to "I never want to see you again." And she did the same thing with Nadir in Rule of the Aurora King. So maybe this is supposed to represent a character flaw...impulsiveness? But it feels more like a writing flaw--like a quick and easy way to create conflict or even conflict resolution. More polished writing could make the necessary transitions without feeling so jerky. It's like being a passenger in a car where the driver has never driven a manual transmission before. The shifts are jerky and rough, but an experienced driver can make the transitions between gears seamlessly so the passenger might not even notice what is happening.
I also have to note the trigger warnings. There's sexual assault and trauma--not specifically written on the page, but implied and discussed in the past tense. There's also physical abuse and trauma. Sexual content is present in the book, as well as quite a lot of language. And I already mentioned the random LGBTQ scenes that were brief but unnecessary.
There's an additional narrator, Serce, who is Lor's grandmother. Her parts were interesting, although I can't say that I looked forward to reading any of her chapters.
All of that being said, I plan to continue the series to find out what's going to happen next. I want to find out if Nadir and Lor are mates as I'm predicting. I have enjoyed these two books and read them both quickly. But I don't think the writing is as smooth or polished as I would like. I had some glimpses of similarity to A Court of Thorns and Roses, but nowhere near the quality of writing as Sarah J Maas. Rule of the Aurora King gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Rule of the Aurora King? What did you think? Let me know!
