Review: Radiance by Grace Draven

Title: Radiance
Author: Grace Draven
Series: Wraith Kings #1
Genre: Fantasy Romance/New Adult/Magic
Publisher: Self-Pub
Publication Date: January 13th, 2015
Edition: Kindle Edition, 297 pages
Source: Library
Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

   The Prince of no value
Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.
  The noblewoman of no importance
Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.
   Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.

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This was an enjoyable read. There are a few things that could've been polished up a little. I liked the characters, both Brishen and Ildiko were well developed characters. Their romance was actually built on respect and  admiration for each other. They didn't fall in love because of physical attraction, though that did come later, but who they are at their core of a being. It was sweet and kind of romantic. 

The magic the Kai have in this book is very glossed over, and I would have preferred that to be explained and expanded on, maybe it will be in the second book.

There's a lot of focus on eyes in this book, I know it was supposed to be something to emphasize their differences, and be a little humorous. But for me, it was overdone. Their physical differences were already obvious with the Kai having grayish skin, fangs and claws. And for  a creature who is nocturnal, they'd  need a pupil. Ildiko often called  his eyes "owl" or "wolf" eyes. The main thing those  eyes have in common is a pupil. Maybe I'm over thinking  it.

There are some other plot stuff, that I am a little on the fence about, I hope the sequel focuses a little more on it than this book  did.