Reviews and Comments

This volume starts off by building a bit into the mystery behind Nadeshiko. She’s clearly advanced tech - beyond anything Akane is aware of - but her maker is a mystery that the volume slowly drop feeds at different spots in the volume. The mystery is interesting, but remains so firmly in the background of the story that it’s more an afterthought. While the virtual gathering of sexadroid owners at the very beginning had some fun bits, it was a bit of a letdown from what I imagined from the ending of vol 1, and it barely takes a chapter. Instead, the majority of the time is spent building Akane and Nadeshiko’s relationship, getting Akane more used to and embracing of Nadeshiko’s presence, whether she’s conscious of it or not. Oh, and tons of smut. Good stuff, though it may have taken up too much of the page time for the story minded. I’ve already read the next volume by the time I’m writing this, and this volume definitely feels like a higher concentration of on page sex. The one part that I wasn’t thrilled with was when Akane regressed age-wise mentally while she was sick. I could have done without that, or maybe if it was done differently. Ah well. Still a good volume, overall.

This volume continues to occasionally drip feed the mystery of Nadeshiko’s background to the reader in tiny doses, but this time instead of taking a back seat to mostly-smut, it now takes a back seat to the interpersonal drama between Akane and Jun - a girl who Akane used to watch over a bit years ago when they were both kids, who has sought her out in Tokyo because she’s always been secretly in love with Akane. Don’t you worry, there’s still plenty of nice smut. But now we have the love triangle of Akane, Jun, and Nadeshiko. With Jun’s confession, Akane finds herself having to confront how she really sees and feels for Nadeshiko. Is she just a sexadroid to her? Should she return June’s feelings?

Should they have a threesome!?!? (My answer is yes, but Akane doesn’t agree)

We also start seeing Nadeshiko express feelings in secret that seem very much at odds with the way a typical sexadroid would be programmed to feel, like jealousy. Can robots truly feel love?

I mean, the answer in these types of stories is yes, of course. Not exactly having to read the tea leaves on that one. It’s not a groundbreaking story, but it remains a solid cute Yuri ecchi. Looking forward to vol 4.

This volume continues to occasionally drip feed the mystery of Nadeshiko’s background to the reader in tiny doses, but this time instead of taking a back seat to mostly-smut, it now takes a back seat to the interpersonal drama between Akane and Jun - a girl who Akane used to watch over a bit years ago when they were both kids, who has sought her out in Tokyo because she’s always been secretly in love with Akane. Don’t you worry, there’s still plenty of nice smut. But now we have the love triangle of Akane, Jun, and Nadeshiko. With Jun’s confession, Akane finds herself having to confront how she really sees and feels for Nadeshiko. Is she just a sexadroid to her? Should she return June’s feelings?

Should they have a threesome!?!? (My answer is yes, but Akane doesn’t agree)

We also start seeing Nadeshiko express feelings in secret that seem very much at odds with the way a typical sexadroid would be programmed to feel, like jealousy. Can robots truly feel love?

I mean, the answer in these types of stories is yes, of course. Not exactly having to read the tea leaves on that one. It’s not a groundbreaking story, but it remains a solid cute Yuri ecchi. Looking forward to vol 4.

This volume starts off by building a bit into the mystery behind Nadeshiko. She’s clearly advanced tech - beyond anything Akane is aware of - but her maker is a mystery that the volume slowly drop feeds at different spots in the volume. The mystery is interesting, but remains so firmly in the background of the story that it’s more an afterthought. While the virtual gathering of sexadroid owners at the very beginning had some fun bits, it was a bit of a letdown from what I imagined from the ending of vol 1, and it barely takes a chapter. Instead, the majority of the time is spent building Akane and Nadeshiko’s relationship, getting Akane more used to and embracing of Nadeshiko’s presence, whether she’s conscious of it or not. Oh, and tons of smut. Good stuff, though it may have taken up too much of the page time for the story minded. I’ve already read the next volume by the time I’m writing this, and this volume definitely feels like a higher concentration of on page sex. The one part that I wasn’t thrilled with was when Akane regressed age-wise mentally while she was sick. I could have done without that, or maybe if it was done differently. Ah well. Still a good volume, overall.

I enjoyed this one. I wanted something with a legitimate sapphic romance in it, and I got that. I liked the main character’s love interest. They were fun to watch together and I liked their personalities. The side characters were also good, though I didn’t really get enough time with any of them. That’s all right. The book is focused very heavily on the main pair and their story. There is a very clear three act structure and the first and third act are by far the strongest, in my opinion, and ends with a satisfying if bittersweet conclusion. It’s not that the second act is actually bad, per se. It’s more that, since I am really big on world building, I could see a lot of the cracks and thinness of some of the supernatural elements. By the time the third act came around, I was able to shrug off my misgivings in favor of enjoying the melodrama of the final act. While tragic LGBTQ stories might be a bit overplayed, if you’re looking for a YA, supernatural sapphic romance, this one is quite solid.

This series does not give up its secrets easily. It holds them closely and tightly like a squirrel with its nuts. I was left at the end of the last book with a lot of questions, and really pressing plot developments that I needed answers to, and “Harrow the Ninth“ wasn’t going to give them to me lightly. The book does its best from the get-go to upend your sense of reality, attacking your memories of what exactly happened in the first book. It does this both in story content - it directly contradicts events as you remember them from book one - but also in the narration. style. I can’t say that I have ever read another book that spends this much time in the second person. It took me quite a while to get used to it, as I typically despise second person, but once I did it won me over. It’s use emphasized the tone, and set up some surprising reveals in the last act. I don’t want to say too much aside from the fact that all of the strangeness and confusion is worth it for those big reveals, and I recommend sticking with the book through it. It is worth the ride. The story follows Harrow in both the present and past, with the past reliving events from the first book from a different angle and with those big inconsistencies, while the present focuses on her experiences with the Emperor and the other Lictors, as she learns more about the truth of the state of the empire, and her role in it. The book is full of interesting world building, conflicting personalities, mysteries, and occasional flashes of action and violence that are thoroughly satisfying to read. I personally would not say that I like this one better than the first, because I missed some of the characters I liked from that first book, but this is very easily a worthy successor that does very interesting things with its narration, and it is a strong recommendation from me.

Let me start off by saying to all my fellow fantasy and urban fantasy fans out there, do not go into this one expecting strong world building or magic systems. The magic and the trials are used for instigation, and as basic plot tools to put characters into confrontation with one another. In that, it is used well enough, but it is definitely not the focus of the story.

The characters and relationships, as well as the core conflict inside the main protagonist, are the key to the book's successes. Much of the tension comes from the connection of he main character, Emmy Harlow, to her hometown, and the way she is torn between loving it, and not wanting to feel trapped in it. Will she return home to the place she loves but with all the responsibilities and past pain that entails, or will she stay away in the big city that she likes a lot, but doesn't have the magic, both literal and not, that she finds in the town she grew up in?

I resonated with the core conflict a lot. It's something that I've struggled with in my own life (we even both moved to the same big city, no less), and while we came to different conclusions, I felt a kinship with Emmy's struggles.

Add to that complex family and friendship dynamics that were made all the more-so by Emmy moving away, and a steamy romance with Talia Avramov, and you have a recipe for lots of interesting character development and struggle, which the story takes advantage of.

I bought the romance hook, line, and sinker, and is the other major thread of the story that I remember best. I love Talia and the way she both fits the archetype of the sexy dark witch and slowly adds layers of softness and complexity to it. I have enjoyed a number of sapphic relationships in my reading lately, but this is a standout in that it feels like the relationship was really focused on and important to the story and the characters. It was also quite hot, and I'm glad it didn't shy away from being intimate.

The plot's resolution is a bit weak, though. Where most stories try to intertwine the different major conflicts near the end of the story, at least one major danger to a character's life happens mostly off-screen, on the periphery of the main action. It felt a bit like we were looking in the wrong place. That's the downfall of writing entirely from one character's perspective - she can't be everywhere at once, but it does make it feel a bit disjointed. After the main action is complete, it switches gears a bit to suddenly feel like everything wrapped up into too tightly and nicely a bow. Like things worked out a little toooo well.

Honestly, in terms of quality of the plot and worldbuilding, the book deserves three or fewer stars, but the themes, the romance, and the character relationships all elevated an otherwise mid fantasy story to something that I enjoyed quite a lot.

If romance isn't your thing, or if interesting magic systems being a strong pillar of the story are important to you, you might not like it. But if that doesn't hold true for you, it's a light and breezy read, and I recommend giving it a try.

True to its title, this follow-up to the first book, “Malice,” deals with themes of what it means to rule, to lead, and the ways cycles of abuse and violence result in misrule and bad leadership that further feeds those cycles. It asks the question, can these cycles be broken? Is reconciliation possible? Is forgiveness possible?

The misrule of leaders past and present on all sides fuel the chaos and tragedy that plagues the lives of everyone involved, as does systemic bigotry and abuse. All of this feels very pertinent to our times, while being broadly applicable at any time.

I don’t believe the novel nailed the conclusions the book arrives at in those themes, but I admire the attempt, and it’s far closer to the mark than every fairy tale perfect ending. The author recognizes that mistakes are not easily rectified, and forgiveness may or may not ever be possible. But there is hope.

I felt this strongest in the fluttering and faltering relationship between Alyce and Aurora, which after the end of the previous book start in a very perilous place indeed. Watching them both struggle with the fallout, it was hard to see how they could ever come out the other end the way they were.

There is political maneuvering, diplomacy, and especially war throughout the book that make up significant parts of the plot, but the heart of the story always revolves around the core relationship, and those political machinations mostly feel their weight in how they affect Alyce and Aurora. That is, in my opinion, how it should be, though if you find politics and war in a fantasy setting to be one of your primary interests, then the book might feel a bit melodramatic to you.

All in all, I found the book to be very satisfying. I was invested in the characters who are all morally complex, and the themes, which were done well, if a bit uneven. The plot is good, but a bit secondary to the relationships of the characters, which may or may not be your vibe but it follows well after the individual focus of “Malice,” and I dug it. I strongly recommend it to people who enjoyed the first book.

I just wish I had gotten some soft and sappy sapphic romance 🥺 Unfortunately everything’s too muddled for much of any of that.