Review--The Robin on the Oak Throne by K.A. Linde

 

Can you trust the dark when you know that it lies?

Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways.

And then he shows up to save her.

Graves—the warlock who ensnared her, betrayed her, and left her to fend for herself. He’s a villain. A monster draped in charm and shadows. And gods help her, he always knows exactly what she wants.

But Graves never does anything for free. He has a job for his favorite little thief. One that will pit her against the most powerful monsters in existence, including his mortal enemy, the Oak King.

An ancient artifact has been located, and only together can they hope to steal it. She just has to let him in.

But once she lets a monster in, he’s impossible to forget… and even harder to resist.

K.A. Linde’s The Robin on the Oak Throne is the second installment in her Oak & Holly Cycle series and is quite an exciting read for a second book! The danger and action really amp up in this one and my emotions have definitely been put through the ringer with everything that happened!

Kierse and Gen are across the country as Kierse plans to steal a bracelet to get herself into the Goblin Market in order to find out more about herself and her wisp abilities. But it’s not long before Graves comes from her…just in the knick of time and offers her a job. Help him steal the cauldron, one of the powerful objects he and Lorcan are gunning for and he’d help her with her powers.

Kierse is reluctant to trust Graves again so soon, but she cannot deny the connection between them and her feelings for him haven’t really diminished despite the secrets he kept from her. He promises her that he is trying to change and open up to her more and this shows over the course of the novel.

Kierse is trying to access some memories of hers that have been hidden by a spell, memories of her parents in particular and what really happened to them.

This book was packed full of…everything! I mean so much happens in this one that my mind is still reeling over everything and trying to retain enough information to coherently review the book! Needless to say it has left me awestruck and speechless, but oh the opinions I have! The opinions and things I cannot really give voice to because of spoilers! But omg, SO. MUCH. HAPPENS.

This book will definitely have you changing your opinion on certain characters. I know some of my skepticism with some has gone fully into one direction and other characters have now made me skeptical of them! It’s quite a wild rush to say the least! So many emotions, so many feelings and I am left tongue tied for very good reasons!

Linde still treats us to an excellent romance though! While Kierse and Graves start out on the rocks, you know it won’t be too long before the heat fires up between them again! And, oh my, were things steamy between them!  I can’t really tell if Linde is trying to build up a love triangle in this series with Graves and Lorcan. I mean, I know what “team” I’m on already but as the story moved along, you were never quite sure what was going to happen. Never fear, the steaminess came mainly from Graves with just a few “wondering” moments with Lorcan. Kierse definitely makes her choice well before the end of the novel.

One of my favorite things about this series is the characters! There’s a great cast of characters here and in good variety! They are not perfect, they are flawed and sometimes you love them and other times you hate them and sometimes you just want to throttle them. But in the end…you just love them! Lol. Seriously, my opinions on pretty much every character in this book changed at least 2-3 times each! I feel like we’re in a good place for the main players, but there’s still more to come, so we shall see!

Just as you think things are settling into a good ending place, literal chaos ensues! Things went from smooth and almost steady to non-stop chaos! My heart was racing for the last 50 or so pages! It was unbelievable! Things end with a bit more cliffhanger nostalgia than we had the last time around and it’s going to make the wait for the third book pretty rough but that book will be epic whenever we can get our hands on it! I had just attended one of Linde’s tour stops for this one and it’s not quite written yet, but she said, “don’t worry, I’ll make my deadline!” Lol.

The Robin on the Oak Throne is what one would call a game changer! This book seriously shakes up everything we thought we knew was going down in this series and in this world. We were (possibly, likely, or if you were me, totally) wrong! What happens next is tenuous at best but I have some ideas! I cannot wait to see what will happen next in this completely awesome series.

If you’re a fan of supernatural type characters, fast paced, action packed and steamy romantic reads, then this will be one for you! It’s truly unbelievable!

 

Overall Rating 5/5 stars