• Interesting worldbuilding! I felt fully immersed in the Torian culture; it was matriarchal in a sneaky way, where the men felt like they were ultimately the more powerful ones because they drove the war machine, but the women were making the societal choices that ultimately protected their own interests. The concepts of building Torian loyalty through familial ties without a traditional family unit, warriors bringing Torian soil with them in case they died while out on campaign, and everyone treating sex as less of a romantic act and more companionship and stress relief ... the culture felt fully formed and it was easy to follow Torian logic.
• Building off of the culture, seeing how Finvid and Theos philosophized together about the pros and cons of their respective ways of life was an interesting thought experiment for their characters and showed growth for them both. 
• I appreciated that Theos wasn't shown as all that intelligent. He wasn't easy to manipulate, mostly because of how black-and-white he saw the world and his place in it, but his lack of cunning made him a more believable character. It also made his character arc from perfect soldier to
  unwilling interim Torian leader
  all the more dynamic.
• The story took turns I wasn't expecting.

• That ending, though. We enjoyed a long, plotty climb only to have the climax and subsequent resolution be essentially a short cliff, and it really felt like the author ran out of steam and just wanted the book to be over.
• Finvid's 180 on
  how he viewed penetrative sex, and then the author skipping the actual first time he was on the receiving end of said penetrative sex. In the hands of another author, that would be a great moment for Finvid to fully come to terms with the repression from his old life in Elkat, and to have feelings and experiences that allow him another element of character development and personal growth. Did he like that kind of sex? Was it hard to let go of his old ways of thinking, even when sharing something so deeply personal and transformative with a person he loved? It was an experience he never thought he would even want, let alone have - what did that mean for him? How did he react to it? Did it hurt, was it awkward, was it easier than he expected, did it feel freeing or was it surprising in how beautifully mundane it was? All great questions we as the reader could have had answered ... but instead, we fast forward to the time when he's super used to it and loves it wholeheartedly.
  A waste, in my opinion. 
• There were parts of the story that dragged a little bit, and the political machinations weren't as complex as I'd like them to be. The warlord never even got a name, which, in CaPri, is an amazing tool given who he is and what his plans are ... but in this story, it felt weird and like he was a caricature villain.

If you enjoyed Captive Prince this is probably somewhere up your alley

3,5 blood smeared stars for this interesting read

While on patrol, Theos and his comrades encounter a group of Elkati soldiers who trespassed on Thorian territory. They are, minus a few casualties captured and supposed to be brought back with them. Prisoners in Thorian are either sold as slaves, kept as bedwarmers, or, if they're man enough, trained in combat.

The clash of cultures couldn't be any more mind boggling for the young Elkati prince and prisoner Finnvid. Back in his motherland the social and power structure differ so greatly that one can hardly compare them. The woman are in charge of everything besides the military training and there is no royalty,not aritrocracy or marriage! The Elkati army isn't nearly as good trained as the Thorian man, especially the Sacrati, an elite group of soldiers to which Theos belongs. And most of all back in his home country man don't have sex with each other. Especially not where others can see or hear everything that's going on! Of course there were rumors about their practises, but hearing about it and actually witnessing things are two completely different things.

The Sacrati Theos knows that something about the captives is different this time around when the warlord wants to sell each and everyone of the Elkati trespassers as slaves. Especially medically trained, Thorian speaking Finnvid won't stop nagging at his mind, and in the spur of the moment he saves Finnvid from being sold to who-knows-where. The warlords reaction shows that something big is going on and that Theos really shouldn't stick his nose into it if he cared about his own well-being.

Finnvid obviously knows more about the whole affair, but refuses to offer any information to Theos and soon enough the Sacrati's need to find out what's going on, makes room for a totally different kind of need. It's only his luck that Finnvid is Elkati, which think that the act of man lying together is a sin..

But who is Finnvid? And what sinister plot is slowly unfolding that threatens not only their lifes but the whole Thorian system?
Lies, betrayal, slaughter, difficult journeys and dicisions are awayting Theos and no one knows what the end of it all will look like. But Theos is Sacrati and Sacrati fight.


It was a bit difficult for me to rate this book as I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, my expectations were set much higher. Probably because the summary reminded me so much of Captive Prince by S. U. Pacat and my thought were little more that 'Yes! Gimme gimme gimme!'
The plot was good though, and the different systems, were interesting, although the world building was a bit lacking. I kind of found Finnvid's appearandly sudden love for Theos weird. For me their relationship lacked the chemistry.

What I found nice as well was that, though it was fantasy, the names were easy to raed, not like some of the names I encountered in other novels of the same genres. It ust is no fun if you need minutes to figure out how to read a name or get so frustrated that you just stop reading the name at all and end up simply registering the appearance of it.

~I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review~

This way to the review on my blog

Theos & Finnvid.
So exactly what I crave in a MM story! I enjoyed myself through the whole book, loved the characters, both as much, and the fantasy world, the plot...
Hope to find other great reads from this author

The narration started of very poorly. Predictable story, nice characters.

Guys, it's a very average read, alright? It's not particularly good, but, you know, I read it, so... It's not that bad?
My original point stands - it's a bad rendering of Captive Prince, but sometimes you have to read books like that, since the original masterpiece has been read too often in a short period of time.