She challenged the powers in her life, her royal family. The irony of that stings, since we find out Arley is the last person who needs saving, both because the twist concerning the Grinning Man and the fact that she saves herself in the end.Īrely was my favorite of the three.

I have compassion for him, and I understand he is doing anything for love, but I'd question if a person as principled as Arely would want him to step on others in order to find her, and save her. She was almost out of there, and he drug her back in. He uses people, his betters, and this makes me prickly toward him, especially where Lily is concerned. A reminder we must help ourselves and each other. Through Andrew, I saw the disheartening effects of living in a world where those with power are only interested in using you. Some Thanos-level finger snapping endings, I suspect. I implore you reader, don't fall for the speeches, all these people are bad, all these people, if that is what they indeed are, are out for themselves. The one thing that could bring him comfort, his memories, his identity, the love of his life, it's all been robbed from him by one of a charismatic group of villains. He's been wounded by the world, and even death can't bring him peace because it's delivered him to yet another world, one just as dark, just as willing to inflict fresh wounds. Askew felt the need to tell this story.Īndrew reminded me of myself, at a younger and more painful age. It wasn't the easy, light read I needed at the moment I snagged it off NG, but with time, a little perspective, and the firing of the worst president in US history, I was able to embrace the darkness here, and understand why Mr. The torture, the visions, even the ever present knowing that the young, somewhat naive characters were being used as pawns by dark souls with dark ends in sight. Parts of this book made me want to set it down. Ensoulment takes place in a realm outside our own, but with problems and power dynamics that mirror our own in disturbing ways. Just because we need light, fluffy, happy worlds free from bigotry sometimes doesn't mean we need to completely shy away from the sad, poignant, and darker experiences that we experience in our lives. This book defies that expectation, among others, and after some reflection I've come to appreciate that. Easy breezy beautiful cover girl cover up. LGBTQ+ books have this extra burden of needing to portray perfect, loving, happy ending romances regardless of genre.

And I'm happy I dug a little deeper and thought about this more. I deducted a star originally because of the lack of romance between Jack and Andrew, something I assume will get more attention in the next book.

I've had some time to think about it and I'm bumping from 4 to 5 stars. Update: ok I'm back because as of today I can finally breathe a little easier! Sorry life is crazy rn I'll be back to review xx

Ensoulment by Nick Askew