I grabbed this one mostly because the cover art reminded me of the cover art for 'The High King's Golden Tongue' but this one surpassed that one on my favorite books list for several reasons! This is not the first book by this author where the characters have arranged marriage, and find respect and love in it - this however is the first book where while I completely believe that the men are suited to each other and I am sure became good friends, I just did not feel much chemistry from them. It is well done, fast paced, makes you glued to the pages, but I am kind of puzzled about romance. I guess the book is technically a fantasy, because the world is fictitious and there are dragons present as pets in one of the countries, but otherwise I would just characterize it as a political thriller with a love story thrown in and be done with it. It made sense of course, because political games, betrayal, terrorism are at the front and center of the plot and I think this is the first book by this author where politics felt so merciless and cold and that is why so real to me. I expected to see the pragmatic characters who rarely wallow in self pity despite dealing with tough circumstances (and if they are at a breaking point for a page or so, you can be assured that there is a very good reason for that), but boy I did not expect to see them being *that* pragmatic. I buy pretty much every novel by this author, so I had to get this one.
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