Bastard's Honor (AUDIOBOOK)

I'm an avid reader but am very picky and will DNF a book. When I tell you I couldn't put down the whole world of books, much less this one, I absolutely mean it! Elisabeth Wheatley has done a masterful job at creating a realm full of magic and intrigue and engaging characters. Thadred and Sair have such chemistry, it's crazy they only exist in the realm of the books. I love the both of them so much and was so happy they made it through the book. I loved every twist and turn, every up and down. It was all perfect. My only gripe: It's over! I would love to read more of Thadred and Sair and how they navigated the world together as a couple.

I read the Amira and Daindreth series first so I was already hooked on the Sair and Thadred narrative. Zero disappointments here. (Well. There wasn’t a second Sair and Thadred book to immediately read after Bastard’s Honor, that’s disappointing. Write FASTER, please.) High adventure. Comedy. Strong, non-angsty, violent-if-I-gotta-be Sair is well met by powerful, hot-like-fire, doing-my-best-to-be-worthy Thadred. These characters are not cheap. They are beautiful, intelligent, funny, and well-crafted as is their dialogue and their relationship. Is it spicy? Yep. But it is well spiced. Not cheap spicy covering up a lack of plot or good character development. Are the other characters well written? Yes. There’s a very funny valet who reminded me of Jeeves, a twisty villain who could have his own book (I’m just saying), a heroic sister with a heck of a backstory. And. And there’s an awesome, faithful, violent kelpie. And magic. There’s magic. I’d read the Daindreth series first, then Bastard’s Honor. All the stars.

Bastard's Honor (AUDIOBOOK)

If you enjoyed the previous books, you'll probably enjoy this one, too. I didn't find Thadred and Sair to have much of the interesting character contrast that made following Daindreth and Amira especially fun, but there were plenty of other interesting things going on in this book.

The audiobook itself was fine, but I did not appreciate having to use the BookFunnel service to listen to it. I'm definitely in the camp of folks who don't love how big companies like Amazon operate, so I was initially thrilled to see that this book was not released on Audible. But unsurprisingly, I'm also in the camp of folks who care about privacy and security, and I didn't want to download another app (BookFunnel's) to listen to this audiobook. I listened to it in the browser (Firefox on an android device), which, while doable, was a pretty terrible experience -- roughly every other chapter it would error out and lose my place. I also couldn't listen to this when I was offline, which is what I usually do (I listen to audiobooks while hiking).

Frankly, it would not be difficult at all for anyone to re-record this audiobook and have a copy of it that could be listened to without restrictions, regardless of the platform -- which is to say, whether or not an audiobook is released by the author in a restricted state like this does not have the oft-expected relationship with piracy or with an author not getting paid. I appreciate not using Audible here, but I wish the author had gone the step further of just letting us download an .mp3.

Great wrap up to our favourite underdog. Loved digging deeper into the side character.