Main impression: just an outright entertaining audiobook. The plot did not take too many twists and turns and had a nice enough flow for easy listening, but also had enough action and flavor to make it stand out in its genre. Most characters were pretty standard fantasy types, not too much pizazz, but they still carried the story wonderfully. The magic system and world building was really clear, and the villainy was of a classic sort with a hint of unpredictability. It had the right amount of adversity, bloodshed and heartache to be palatable to someone like me who can’t always handle blast your sanity tragedy all the time.
The romance was my favorite type: two mild tsundere types building a bond through adversity. It was like a familiar cup of slowly simmering cocoa. And the spicy scenes were so perfect! Just the right amount of seasoning peppered throughout. Definitely a delight for adults–I actually had to take a moment to cool off after the first love scene. Oof!
The narrator is irrefutably top shelf talent. I had previously listened to a non-romantic fantasy audiobook with this narrator with lots of querky characters and it was a blast. I was doubtful of the narrator’s voice in a romance scene though, since it is more of what you imagine in a comically engaging DND campaign, but major props. This guy blew me away with the performance every bit of the way.