Expect spoilers – I’m too lazy to review a book without specifics.
This story had no conflict and very little driving force to it. Every single character in this book was reasonable, kind, considerate, understanding with the exception of one who makes an appearance near the end for all of a few minutes, and the worst thing you could say about him was that he was belligerent and tactless (but his position – that the country should be preparing to mourn the death of the ailing king, not preparing for a party – is one that a rational, reasonable actor could hold). Other than him, there isn’t the slightest bit of unpleasantness or the smallest obstacle in the book.
There are references to the main character’s past. He was enslaved for 6 months, chained, and beaten, possible deprived of food and tortured to some degree just before the start of the story. But prior to that he seemed to have a fairly privileged life in that his father supported him going to a skill for gifted (magical) healers (this did ultimately lead his father into debt and the loss of everything, but this is not explained in depth, likely as the main character didn’t know the state of his father’s finances until after the fact). It’s also explained that the country in which he grew up was not accepting of magic (except as controlled by the crown – a dynamic not well explored and rather flimsy in my opinion) and not particularly accepting of gay relationships (though somewhat permitting – the actual degree of bigotry was not developed). That is the entirety of all things to struggle against in the entire story – all happening off book prior to page one.
The main character starts with some trepidation about revealing his magical gift due to the fact that he grew up in a place magic was feared (one of the reasons why he was enslaved, in fact), but he is discovered in the first chapter and made to feel right at home, so that tension disappears (it’s also unclear how he managed to not gather any sense of the culture in which he was living – he had been there for some amount of time, though I forget exactly how long – maybe a week or two, but enough to learn something).
There’s a bit made of griffins in the story, enough that you can tell it’s supposed to have a payoff, but it just ends in a griffin-sighting à la bird watching at the end.
The political structure makes no sense – there are royals/nobles and commoners, but the country is so enlightened that intermarriage/socializing is accepted and status is not made much of other than in a very fairy-tale way, which begs the question of why this country is still run by kings/queens at all instead of a more democratic process. But again, this is not explored.
Clearly, I’m asking the story to be something that it just isn’t. If you are looking for a fantasy story, this isn’t for you – there is the barest hint of that. If you are looking for a well-developed world, this isn’t for you. If you are looking for a believable, realistic story about a romance/relationship, this isn’t for you. If you are looking for a brief sex scene with a small amount of buildup to it but with minimal character development or basis for the relationship being described, this might be for you.
I hate to be negative because there seems to be a lack of LGBT fantasy out there, but I just don’t think this story lived up to much. It could have if the author had invested in expanding it and providing more substance to the world and characters.