📕 Title: Lore of the Wilds
✏️ Author: Analeigh Sbrana
📖 Genre: Fantasy
⭐ Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

BOOK BLURB

Lore had given up on her dream of venturing outside of Duskmere, a human village ruled by Fae. But when tragedy befalls her family, Lore strikes a deal with a Fae lord: she will catalogue an enchanted library if he sends aid to her village. As an outsider in the Fae world, Lore finds some unlikely friends, but can she really trust them? And what exactly are the Fae hoping to find in the library?

REVIEW

What really pulled me into this book was the enchanted library storyline, which offered fascinating insights into Lore’s world and fae history. For a while this felt like a cozy fantasy but then things flipped and suddenly Lore is running for her life. The first half of the book felt much stronger than the latter half, but the introduction of several new characters and Lore’s experiments with magic kept me invested.

I loved the diverse cast of characters and the way Lore’s haircare is integrated into the story. It seems like Duskmere is a queer normative society, and there is an asexual character as well.

However, I think this would have been more successful as a YA novel. Aside from the middling (and sometimes repetitive) prose, Lore comes across as younger than twenty-one and the spicy scene felt out of place. Especially given the ending, I really wish that scene had been a fade to black moment.

Was there a love triangle? Ehhh…sorta. I didn’t know there would be a love triangle, but I had looked at the cover illustration and kept wondering who the second guy was. This revelation was much further into the book than anticipated, which significantly affected my opinion about the both relationships. The initial relationship had its moments, but despite an instant connection there was always something off about it. Intentional? Perhaps, but to the point that I was always skeptical about it.

The pacing was inconsistent, and at times I was like, “WAIT, how did Lore get here?” because she would decide to do something and then be there without any lead up. Many situations seem dire, but Lore escapes relatively unscathed by sheer luck / plot armor.

Still, despite its flaws I was VERY invested in this book and enjoyed it a lot! It was an easy read, I devoured it in a day, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next book.