Kingdoms of the Compass

Ugh this was such a disappointment. I wanted to love this book because we LOVE J.R. Ward and became obsessed with her when we met her at ApollyCon and wanted to support her first romantasy book. It had so much potential, but I can honestly say I have NEVER hated an MMC more than I hated Merc.

The chemistry between Merc and Sorrel was non-existent and cringey at best. Not only is there zero emotional connection between them, Merc is a TOOLBAG. The shit that he says… I cannot. I have so much disdain for this fictional character 😂

The good: the magic system is cool, there's some fun twists at the end that I genuinely did not see coming, I liked the found family aspect for Sorrel, and the mystery of demons and the compass and Sorrel's past is entertaining.

Where oh where to begin here? I'm so torn because like Jamie, I also became obsessed with J.R. Ward at ApollyCon and wanted to love this SO much and the BDB series is still on my list! I think I hated the MMC Merc less than Jamie, but not by much…he was pretty awful and for this to be J.R.'s 1st Romantasy, when I've heard how spicy the BDB is…I was very disappointed there. I was overall disappointed in the whole "romance" part altogether. It was very lacking.

That being said - if you don't care about spice or romance in these books - the plot, world building and magic system was fun! I loved how the FMC Sorrel used her magic and how in the most unexpected place, she found her real place in life. But Merc really said some shit I wanted to throat punch him for. I would say the last 10% of the book made up for some of the stuff that really pissed me off…..

I am sad to say that even though I didn't DNF the book, I'll have to DNF the series. But read it for yourself and give it a try - I just saw another review of 4/5 and they really liked it - to each their own!