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Series Review: The Suitable 'Verse by R. Cooper

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. Full Audio Here Powerful noble families known as the beat-of-fours, answerable only to a ruler and the mysterious, godlike fae, scheme and squabble amongst themselves, and go to war for the chance to put one of their own on the throne. But the fae might be pulling more strings than the nobles realize and they definitely have their favorites. A series of love stories loosely centered around the political crisis that led to the current ruler, featuring oblivious librarians, crafty though loving kings, an innocent half-fae noble, a legendary outlaw turned conqueror, worried warriors, clever guards, and an infamous beauty. PUBLISHER: Independently Published LENGTH: ~1000 pages so far AGE: Adult GENRE: Fantasy, Romance RECOMMENDED: Highly Queer Rep Summary: m/m and m/m/...

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

The Lightning Thief shows kids trying to be better people than their parents and learning from their mistakes, plus swordfighting and quests. I love the sidestepping of classic portrayals of the greco-roman gods in a way that feels true, but modern.

I'm a sucker for modern interpretations of Medusa, in particular, so I really liked this one. Ares was particularly good as a modern update, and the way that the villainous plan was just hurt, but not stopped, was a good choice for book one. There's more to do, and a lot more to this world, but this is a great intro.

The pen/sword weapon is a nice touch, both useful to Percy and a great play on words. I like how the Mist is established, it's enough of a hand-wave to let the action keep going but the story doesn't rely on it too heavily. Something that pervasive and powerful needs to be consistent in its effects but not consistently helpful nor harmful, and I think this landed that balance.

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A boy (Percy) stands in water during a storm in front of a city skyline, holding a sword and a horn

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