The author is basically marketing this on TikTok as Zutara fanfic, and...not really? The king has fire powers and the queen has water powers (and darkness powers, and dragon riding powers lmao), but that's about where the similarities end. I'm not exactly sure what the author thinks are the reasons for the long-enduring appeal of Zutara, but I am pretty sure she doesn't have the same ideas about it as I do. 

ACOTAR is the other primary inspiration, and considering how much I despise that series, I don’t have much commentary to offer. ACOTAR itself was so palely derivative of 80s fantasy classics that, by the time that these storylines and characters inspired by ACOTAR have been diluted down into this new generation of books (generally in abridged form, as most authors are unwilling or unable to replicate Maas’ overinflated wordcounts), they leave a very faint impression - like a carbon copy of a carbon copy. 

The aspect of this book that brought this to mind for me was the fact that Kell (our Zuko/Rhysand analogue) has in his circle of friends and advisors a woman who is, apparently, an ancient goddess. The full extent of her powers remains a mystery, and her primary function in this book is to occasionally dispense exposition and hints about the mysteries of past events (particularly with regard to Kell’s missing relatives). This character unfortunately has even less presence than Amren in ACOTAR, who is, in turn, a pathetic imitation of Sethra Lavode from Steven Brust’s Dragaera. 

Regardless of its weaknesses when compared to the source material, romance between royals from enemy kingdoms with opposing elemental powers is an eternal winner of a storyline.  

It's the kind of silliness that you can only get from self-published books (and the absolute trashiest fantasy romance imprints). There's dragons and faeries and witches. Iconic lines and character bits from other stories are shamelessly recycled. Characters' emotions and beliefs pivot on a dime. The cast is squarely divided into 'friends' and 'villains'; all the 'friends' are good and supportive of the main characters, and all the villains are cartoonishly evil. 

This is pretty unremarkable, inoffensive self-indulgent nonsense, but I still liked it, and it will never stop being hilarious to me that it's the BadWrong shippers who are always writing novels. 

Docked an entire star for awful grammar, creepy AI art., and the terrible formatting of the map in the paperback.