Synopsis:
A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance with the future of the world at stake, this charming fantasy tale is sure to satisfy fans of Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree.
The kingdom of Farsala is broken and black clouds hang heavy over the arid lands. Former Grand-Mage of the High Court, Cyril Laverre, has spent the last decade hiding himself away in a ramshackle hut by the sea, trying to catch any remaining fish for his cat familiar, Shoestring, and suppressing his guilt over the kingdom’s ruin. For he played his part – for as the King, Eufrates Margrave, descended further and further into paranoia, violence and madness, his Grand-Mage – and husband – Cyril didn’t do a thing to stop him.
When Shoestring wanders away and dies one morning, Cyril knows his days are finally numbered. But are there enough left to have a last go at putting things right? With his remaining lifeblood, he casts a powerful spell that catapults him back in time to a happier period of Farsalan history – a time when it was Eufrates’s older sister Tig destined to ascend to the throne, before she died of a wasting disease, and a time when Cyril and Eufrates’s tentative romance had not yet bloomed. If he can just make sure Eufie never becomes King, then maybe he can prevent the kingdom’s tragic fate. But the magical oath he made to his husband at the altar, transcending both time and space, may prove to be his most enduring – and most dangerous – feat of magic to date…
Featuring a formidable Great Aunt, a friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romance, an awkward love quadrangle and a crow familiar called Ganache, this charming story is imminently easy to read and sure to satisfy fans of fanfiction who like their fantasy lite.
Review:
Thank you Angry Robot for sending me an early copy to review.
This book is quite the rollercoaster, and I was quite enjoying myself by the end. It’s a slow starter with lots of plot to set up and backstory to explain, you’re catapulted into Cyril’s life just as it is ending, to then be thrown back in time with him to just before everything started to go wrong. It gives some whiplash until things are explained, as the past/present/future gets unveiled over the course of the first 50% of the book. Once you’re up to date I found I enjoyed the book far more.
It’s tough to describe what this book is. The publisher has gone with ‘A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance’, which to be honest is about as close as you can get. It’s also been described as ‘cosy’ which I don’t necessarily agree with as much but I can see why it might dip into the category at times. Basically it kind of defies explanation and you’ve just got to go with it and see where it takes you.
By the end of the book I was really enjoying the trio of main characters and their interactions. It took a minute for me to warm up to it as past toxic behaviours are explained (although I’m still not a fan of theirs…). The book takes a dive into more traditional fantasy and it really thrives in the last 25% or so.
Sadly the one thing that bothered me throughout the book is that characters who are meant to be in their 40s/50s were acting like people in their early 20s most of the time. They bicker like children and don’t seem to have much emotional maturity (it had me going ‘I don’t care if you love them please run from the toxicity). It just bothered me as they supposedly had lived these whole lives but yet they acted like they were quite young.
By the end I did enjoy Shoestring Theory. If you like your fantasy fresh and new but with a more traditional fantasy story woven in this is one for you. Go along for the rollercoaster ride and see where you are by the end.
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