Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Harem Master Review

Lord Demir has spent his life trying to appease a brutal, selfish king, and keep the concubines under his care alive—and now he is on the verge of losing everything. The council wants to abolish the harems, there are no heirs to the throne, and the foreigners control the Steward. One wrong move will tip tensions into civil war.

Crown Prince Ihsan returns to find his home in turmoil, and the royal court so full of vipers it's impossible to say which of them will strike first. Removing his father from the throne, one way or another, should be a simple matter. Staying alive and proving himself a worthy king will be far more difficult.

Crown Princess Euren has spent the last five years in hiding so that she could not be used against her father or Ihsan. But she is the daughter of a soldier, never meant to wear a crown, never trained to fight battles where words are the weapon of choice. If she hopes to keep herself and her loved ones alive, she'll have to learn fast.

Note: This story contains polyamory


My Review:
5 stars


I have always loved Megan's books, and her Tavamara series is a personal favorite of mine. When I heard that this book serves as a prequel to the other books in the series, I had to read it. As a prequel to some of her earlier books, it shows how the harem system seen in those books came to be, something I found fascinating. 

Derr's writing is as phenomenal as ever. For example, there are multiple first person POVs that she switches between. I’m not usually a fan of multiple POV switches because they can confuse the story and because authors overuse them. Yet with Derr, the multiple POVs allow the reader to experience the events through different angles, allowing the various plots to be told and then seamlessly come together. This also allowed the reader to learn more about the characters and to form a deeper connection with them. All of the character were phenomenal, but my particular favorite was Lord Demir. Living in a precarious position, yet loyally fulfilling his duty as Harem Master, both master and servant…he is now one of my all-time favorite characters. 

The plot was also fantastic. When I started reading, several side plots were introduced along with the main overall plot. I was confused, since I didn’t know how the author could possibly manage to tie them all together to get to a HEA…yet she did. Once I made it to the end of the story I saw how it all came together, even when I didn’t think it was possible. 

The only downside about the book were all the grammar and editing mistakes. Usually Derr’s books are edited better than this, so I’m not sure if this is because I received a review copy or if that is present in the final book. All in all though, this is a wonderful story that I highly recommend. You can read it as a standalone novel, though I would recommend reading books 1 and 2 of the Tales of Tavamara series first, as you would get more out of this book if you read those two first.

*Review copy provided via Reading Alley in exchange for an honest review.*

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