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A review by kickassleigh
Lor by Lily Mayne
5.0
Through all of Lily’s books (really all the many books I’ve read) I can count the amount of times I’ve cried on probably one hand. Lor has now joined this exclusive club. It is also very hard for a book to evoke strong emotions from me (not just sadness or tears) and again, Lor has managed to do this. That’s always how I know a book is going to be amazing, and let’s face it Lily doesn’t write anything that’s less than stellar.
The relationship between Lor and Jugs started off less than ideal, but you can feel through Lily’s writing that they are perfect for and need one another. Jugs’ parents are the ‘stereotypical’ cold and detached yet demanding upper class family that he just wants love, affection, and approval from. While Lor had that from his parents but they died when he was young and he had to ascend to Moric quickly and has been pretty isolated since, with the exception of his brother Lyri, his guard Seis (love him!) and Lyri’s guard Gryf (also love him!). Lor provides Jugs absolute devotion and affection which Jugs was (ridiculously) lacking in his life from the people who should have given him unconditional love the moment he was born. And Jugs brings Lor companionship, romance, and something to look forward to beside the mundane tasks of his Moric title that have filled his life until now.
The arrival of Jugs and the growth of their relationship happen to coincide with Lyri awakening Lor to the strife the salyik people are suffering in his fiefdom under his Council and unintentionally him. He begins making drastic changes to amend this and Jugs becomes sick. It is a representative for the salyik people who discovers it is poison (in a tertiary way) and Jugs progresses quickly from here and eventually comes to the monster world with the intention of staying with Lor until the end.
I found myself predicting the next part of the plot and waiting for Lor to catch up, which is where my frustration lies. This is primarily a fault of my own as I prefer nearly instant gratification. This exacerbated the emotions I was already feeling. I’m not sure my family appreciated this!
The waiting through the years, while absolutely essential, killed me (see previous paragraph). I felt at the begging they were soulmates or something equivalent as they both described a pull to the other, and then Lor’s grief, shut down, and willingness to potentially wait forever for Jugs solidified it for me. And I felt his grief and despair, I felt his depression and apathy, I felt his anger and frustration, and I felt his hope and love and relief when Jugs finally was cured and woke up. Jugs is such a strong person to have his entire world shifted twice in such a short time (for him and even by monster/beastie standards) and be able to process this pretty quickly and build his new life with Lor is amazing.
Once again the details Lily builds into her characters, species, and world continue to astound me. They are so unique and amazing, I just love waiting to see what will be next! I picture everything in my mind as a movie while I’m reading which makes Lily’s worlds particularly special to me!
I was already anticipating Cat and Lyri’s book prior to this, but I am so glad we got to know Lyri and his personality through Lor and Jugs before his book! It will make reading Lyri more fascinating for me, but I’m sure more heartbreaking as now I know why he went through the tear and also part of what happened to him. I was also so excited to read that Lyri was not male gender assigned at birth that I had to read that part like 3 times! There are not many books regarding this topic that I have seen and the fact that the monsters/beasties were so ahead of humans makes me happy.
The cameo from Wyn and Danny was so funny and like a little Easter Egg for me! I found myself laughing out loud multiple times! Couple that with Lily’s Author’s Note and we have the perfect combination for Wyn to look like an ass. Which we all love to see!
All in all, this was an amazing story set in the monster world (do we have a name yet?) from 1989 through approx 2019 (I googled when Ronald Reagan’s term ended and counted through the chapters so I hope I’m right lol) between two sweethearts that are perfect for each other and the worlds trying to keep them apart. I am so happy that this was not a novella because that would have been a tragedy. As always, I’m super excited for the next!!! Thank you Lily for gifting us with your genius! And thank you Lily for the continued opportunity to be on your ARC team!
The relationship between Lor and Jugs started off less than ideal, but you can feel through Lily’s writing that they are perfect for and need one another. Jugs’ parents are the ‘stereotypical’ cold and detached yet demanding upper class family that he just wants love, affection, and approval from. While Lor had that from his parents but they died when he was young and he had to ascend to Moric quickly and has been pretty isolated since, with the exception of his brother Lyri, his guard Seis (love him!) and Lyri’s guard Gryf (also love him!). Lor provides Jugs absolute devotion and affection which Jugs was (ridiculously) lacking in his life from the people who should have given him unconditional love the moment he was born. And Jugs brings Lor companionship, romance, and something to look forward to beside the mundane tasks of his Moric title that have filled his life until now.
The arrival of Jugs and the growth of their relationship happen to coincide with Lyri awakening Lor to the strife the salyik people are suffering in his fiefdom under his Council and unintentionally him. He begins making drastic changes to amend this and Jugs becomes sick. It is a representative for the salyik people who discovers it is poison (in a tertiary way) and Jugs progresses quickly from here and eventually comes to the monster world with the intention of staying with Lor until the end.
I found myself predicting the next part of the plot and waiting for Lor to catch up, which is where my frustration lies. This is primarily a fault of my own as I prefer nearly instant gratification. This exacerbated the emotions I was already feeling. I’m not sure my family appreciated this!
The waiting through the years, while absolutely essential, killed me (see previous paragraph). I felt at the begging they were soulmates or something equivalent as they both described a pull to the other, and then Lor’s grief, shut down, and willingness to potentially wait forever for Jugs solidified it for me. And I felt his grief and despair, I felt his depression and apathy, I felt his anger and frustration, and I felt his hope and love and relief when Jugs finally was cured and woke up. Jugs is such a strong person to have his entire world shifted twice in such a short time (for him and even by monster/beastie standards) and be able to process this pretty quickly and build his new life with Lor is amazing.
Once again the details Lily builds into her characters, species, and world continue to astound me. They are so unique and amazing, I just love waiting to see what will be next! I picture everything in my mind as a movie while I’m reading which makes Lily’s worlds particularly special to me!
I was already anticipating Cat and Lyri’s book prior to this, but I am so glad we got to know Lyri and his personality through Lor and Jugs before his book! It will make reading Lyri more fascinating for me, but I’m sure more heartbreaking as now I know why he went through the tear and also part of what happened to him. I was also so excited to read that Lyri was not male gender assigned at birth that I had to read that part like 3 times! There are not many books regarding this topic that I have seen and the fact that the monsters/beasties were so ahead of humans makes me happy.
The cameo from Wyn and Danny was so funny and like a little Easter Egg for me! I found myself laughing out loud multiple times! Couple that with Lily’s Author’s Note and we have the perfect combination for Wyn to look like an ass. Which we all love to see!
All in all, this was an amazing story set in the monster world (do we have a name yet?) from 1989 through approx 2019 (I googled when Ronald Reagan’s term ended and counted through the chapters so I hope I’m right lol) between two sweethearts that are perfect for each other and the worlds trying to keep them apart. I am so happy that this was not a novella because that would have been a tragedy. As always, I’m super excited for the next!!! Thank you Lily for gifting us with your genius! And thank you Lily for the continued opportunity to be on your ARC team!