Consort's Glory by Abigail Kelly | Book Review

Hello, reader!

I picked up this book after seeing people excitedly flail about the entire series. Now that I’ve read these books . . . I understand why.

Why I read it: This was another Broken Circle discord recommendation. This year I started picking up a lot more fantasy/sci-fi books, and when this romantasy series was talked about, I grabbed it. (I am highly suggestible.)

Review #insixwords: Refreshing and sweet fated mates story.

More:

• While Consort’s Glory was published first, the author’s own recommended reading order says read this book second. The first book in the suggested reading order, Fragile Beings, is a collection of novellas that introduce you to the world and the various creatures. (I read both books in one day during the Bout of Books readathon because they’re that good.)

• Worldbuilding starts slow in this one, but it’s worth sticking with it—the New Protectorate Universe is expansive and immersive. Seriously, every book in this series features a new aspect about the world and I just want to keep reading.

• Back to this book! It’s fated mates but he falls first.

• When I say he falls first, I mean he knows of her and knows she’s his mate (ahem, consort) many years before they ever meet. There are reasons for this. Despite him knowing of her and the initial imbalance in the relationship, he knows and accepts that she needs time and space to develop her own feelings at her own pace—and he loves her right through it all. Consent is an important theme.

• He = Teddy, leader of the Elvish Protectorate. She = Margot, a witch and healer with secrets who’s just trying not to die.

• No instalove, just instalust. Because of the mate thing. Even still, this felt like a fresh take on the fated mates trope.

• Trauma is not necessarily mentioned by name in what happens to Margot, but it exists, and was really well handled in the epilogues, in terms of how Teddy supported Margot. There’s no magical peen or vagina here.

• Content warnings listed in the book: death, illness, familial estrangement, parental death, brief mentions of minor character infertility and infidelity, explicit sexual situations, biting, minor body modification, and violence.

• This book—and series—is exactly why I love reading self-published works. It’s unique and engaging and not at all what traditional publishers pick up. (To their own detriment, tbh.) Every book in the series gets better.

Recommendation: For fans of fantasy romance, especially for anyone who enjoys expansive and fun worldbuilding with many paranormal and mythical beings. Start with Fragile Beings, as suggested—my final thoughts on that book: these stories explore what it means to be fragile, but also how there can be strength in fragility. And how their partners care and support them? Chef’s kiss.

Add it on StoryGraph | Buy it

Like this? Subscribe to receive updates and new posts.