K.J. Charles's Reviews > The Fool

Fantasy romance set in a magical realm based on Australia, which makes a change.

I enjoyed absolutely masses of this. The premise is really fun--a prince studying magic is catapulted into kingship by his parents' murder, and struggles with trying to given and fix the mistakes of the past, revolution, the harassment of his deeply obnoxious compulsory fool, and his attraction to a mysterious man who won't give his name. (You get null points if you think you've figured out the plot twist, that isn't the point, ahaha.) The writing is energetic and fast moving, though with slightly episodic pacing, there are some very fun aspects to the set up especially the Fools, the romance (closed door) is really nice, and in general the author can tell a story, which is not a gift possessed by all.

To my mind, unfortunately, the book draws its own teeth with some plot developments in the latter half. (view spoiler)[Basically the Fool/Raven is forced to stop being a fool, and at that point the character basically becomes a cipher, there to support Leo the king who now takes centre stage. I can see why that decision was made from a structural perspective, but for me it stripped away so much of the fun and kind of wasted the frankly terrific build up with the whole Fool concept. (hide spoiler)] Others' mileage may vary on this, and it may well work better if you're more invested in the fantasy plot than the romance, but for me it took out one of the most enjoyable elements of the book. Which is to say, I wouldn't have made that writing decision. But writing mental editorial letters is something I only do when I'm highly invested in a book, so there you are. I will look forward to seeing more from this author.