Synopsis

In a land where humans and elves find it difficult to communicate, Tari—an elf—is bound to Captain Arion—a human military officer—in a ceremony designed to promote friendship between the two races. When the ceremony is over the pair discover that the impossible has happened: they can understand each other in spite of the language barrier.

Thrown into a storm of politics, Tari and Arion are put in danger by those who want humans and elves to remain separate.

To make matters worse, Tari realizes she has fallen in love with Arion, who has the emotional capabilities of a rock. As both societies dictate that an elf and a human can never be together, Tari must conceal her feelings. Unfortunately the taciturn Arion is watchful and attentive to Tari’s well being, constantly pushing her to her limits with his loyalty, friendship, and dreadfully informal habit of touching her.

If Tari and Arion survive, their tumultuous relationship will either strengthen their countries’ alliance, or cripple the human courts of nobility. The deciding factor will be Arion, and his indecipherable feelings for Tari.

(via Amazon)

Review

I have been seeing K.M. Shea’s books popping up on pretty much all recommendations, so I figured it was time to give one of her series a shot. ‘The Elves of Lessa’ has been on my TBR for several months at this point, the cover art was what initially caught my eye as I love the graphic novel feel of it. The characters look beautiful as well!

I loved the romance and the main characters, it just did not feel like too much happened in the book. That being said, I am aware this is only the first book in this series, and it did do a great job at setting up the nuances of the world to be further built upon.

‘Red Rope of Fate’ is a dual-POV that follows both Tari and Captain Arion as they maneuver their new lives of being a bonded pair.

The entirety of the story takes place in what is known as Haven which is described as a sprawling city situated along the borders of Lessa (elven kingdom) and Calnor (human kingdom). As mutual ground, Haven is where the majority of the political sphere seems to take place, as such this is also where the bonding ceremony of “Nodusigm” occurs. Per the political lore of the book, humans and elves enter into these bonded relationships in order to cultivate friendly relations between the two races. The history of the high elves who seemingly up and vanished one day, seem to be mainly responsible for the push to get the races into hospitable relations. This gets into some spoiler range so I will not go into too much detail.

How the competing cultures between the humans and elves were handled was one of my favorite aspects in this book. The interactions between the two very different beings took center stage in every single plot line in this book. There were moments in which the cultures seemed to clash, and moments that seemed to draw them together and I enjoyed the realism with that. One of the main clashes throughout the book was the language barrier. Apparently, it is incredibly difficult for each race to become fluent in the other’s language, so interpreters are regular occurrences in court life here. Even amongst bonded pairs, interpreters are a necessary part of life. This aspect added to the high energy and chaos of this story as I could just imagine elves and humans alike, running to and fro, all hectic like trying to interpret, while people are still actively talking. It led to some funny moments for sure.

As mentioned previously, I felt as though not a whole lot happened in the story. By that I meant that this book took on a slice-of-life genre in which we see the characters acting out and experiencing their everyday lives as usual without any real consequence or long-standing drama. There were about 5 big events that took place in this story, and only about three of those scenes involved some rough housing in which the main characters always seemed to handle it perfectly. There were multiple plots that I felt were being set up to be drawn out and quite dramatic, but I feel like the conclusion came a bit too quickly and easily if that makes sense. I personally did not mind the more laid-back plotlines, but if you are wanting a story with way more drama and action, this may not be the book for you.

Tari was probably my favorite character in this installment. She had a tremendous attitude about her whole situation with having to leave her homeland to become bonded to a total stranger. Back in Lessa, she was considered an “Evening Star”, which basically means she has access to some high elven magic and can take care of herself as long as the ones hurting her are not from Calnor (per her oath to become an Evening Star). This characteristic of hers comes in clutch in the story so I will not delve further. Tari is a bit different than the typical elves as she is a bit more cunning and outspoken which added to her spit fire nature. She took her bonding with Arion seriously since the beginning and was willing to do whatever it took to fulfill her duties as such. She questioned things that were sketchy and followed words with action, so I enjoyed her as the main character.

Arion is the human bonded partner to Tari. He is a captain in the military. Similarly to Tari, Arion’s family has royal blood but due to some political drama, his family does not get the best treatment. In fact, they get the cold shoulder the majority of time in court. This tension fueled some of the more dramatic plot lines in the story. Fortunately, Arion does not seem to mind too much as his attention is towards his work and Tari. He is a gruff individual for the most part with some tender moments thrown in as he began lowering his guard. Arion becomes more and more protective of Tari of the story goes on, leading to one scene in which he has to step in to save her. He also had to leave his former life and roles behind after he was bonded to Tari, and he settles into his new role quite quickly, out of respect for the traditions. As my second favorite character, I am glad he was the main male love interest.

So, Tari and Arion’s relationship is a tad bit different than normal bonded pairs. As mentioned, the language barrier is still strong for pairs, so translators are still needed. For some reason, Tari and Arion are not only able to fully understand each other, but they also discover an even deeper bond between the two of them. Another fact to keep in mind is how normally bonded pairs are of the same gender, meaning the pairings are typically not for romantic purposes. In fact, there are those in this society who would rather have the humans and elves living totally separately from one another. Needless to say, the courts were intrigued to discovery the uniqueness of Tari and Arion’s bond which led to some interesting moments for sure. These two could not have been better made for each other. Even being from two very different cultures with their own social norms, Tari and Arion made sure each other felt comfortable being themselves while teaching each other their own ways. I truly felt as though I was witnessing two worlds collide with these two and I loved it.

All in all, ‘Red Rope of Fate’ was a great introduction to the Elves of Lessa series. I am excited to read the sequel as it appears to follow two very interesting characters from this book. If you enjoy the more laid back and chill fantasy stories involving elven and human royal life with some magic and romance thrown in, I HIGHLY recommend this book!