Review: Betrayed by Lindsay Buroker

Betrayed (Legacy of Magic #2)
by Lindsay Buroker
narrated by Vivienne Leheny

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
After thirty years, Matti has learned that the dwarven mother she believed dead might only be missing—kidnapped by those who want to control her ability to enchant powerful world-changing artifacts.

But where is she now? And why is the elf assassin Sarrlevi so invested in helping find her?

Matti knows she shouldn’t trust Sarrlevi, or be drawn to his dry humor and dark past. But he keeps standing at her side to battle enemies, and she keeps forgetting that he might be an enemy himself…

My Review

I really like the Death Before Dragons series and this series Legacy of Magic is a great spin-off so far. I really enjoyed the first book and excitedly dove into this second book. Having read a bunch of Lindsay Buroker’s books so far I always know what to expect and with this series being a spin-off that’s even more so the case. This book was a comfortable listen because of it, I knew what to expect and this book delivered. There’s plenty of action, lots of banter, a well written plot, interesting characters and a hint of romance. Add in recurring characters from the first series and the joy of seeing Matti work together with the previous main character Val. And the narrator Vivienne Leheny is awesome and I think her style fits Lindsya Buroker’s books really well.

I definitely think this series is best enjoyed after Death Before Dragons due to all the recurring characters and references to events from there, but it has it’s own plot line. There’s an overarching plot line that continues throughout the series involving Matti’s heritage and her mother and then each book has a plot line that sort of gets resolved within the book. In this case there are missing artifacts that get stolen from the military and Val and Matti are asked to retrieve them. I also liked how there are some connections between the overarching plot line and the book specific plot line. It all moves along at a good pace and kept my attention. The wrap up is done well and made me eager for book 3 which I started right after it.

I like reading about Matti, she can be quite snarky and stands up for what she believes in. I like reading about her work restoring houses and her passion for it, as well as seeing her fight and handle the more supernatural side of things. She’s capable, but also has her own worries and struggles. I like how she’s a half dwarf as that’s not common to see those as main characters and I think it’s interesting and well written.

I like the romance between Matti and Sarrlevi, it’s a slow burn, but there are plenty of scenes with them together. I like their banter and these little touches that show they care as well as the bigger gestures. I also liked learning more about Sarrlevi’s past and how he became an assassin. The only thing I am starting to struggle with is Matti going back and forth about whether she can trust him and also if she can trust her own judgement when it comes to him. She wants to trust him, but then everyone around her warns her against that and she isn’t sure whether she can trust him. So she can never fully trust him and also her temper gets the best of her at times. I like the build up for the romance, but I already look forward to the part where they’re actually a couple, those were my favorite parts of the Death Before Dragons series too. These two already make for a great couple when they are working together now, so I am excited to see how that goes when they fully trust each other and commit to each other.

Besides sometimes getting a bit frustrated by the lack of trust between Matti and Sarrlevi, there was one other thing I struggled with. And that’s a certain scene where Sarrlevi is coerced into something, it just made me feel really uncomfortable. No graphic details, but it was clear what happened. There’s a reason for it and I felt the motivation of Sarrlevi to help Matti was nice, it just didn’t feel right that was the price to pay. It just felt wrong and I didn’t like it. I also felt like this almost got brushed over too easily by everyone except Mati. It just really bothered me and I found it uncomfortable to encounter such a scene in this book. I also felt it didn’t fit with the rest of this book’s vibe.

To summarize: This was a great read, I listened to this and Vivienne Leheny is an awesome narrator for this series. The overarching plot line from book 1 continues as well as a sort of contained plot line that gets mostly resolved by the end of this book. There’s plenty of action, banter and interesting characters. It kept my attention and kept me reading. I like Matti as main character and the fact she’s a half dwarf. I like how she stands up for what she believes in and is capable, but she still has her struggles as well. There are again some fun scenes of her working with Val from the first series. I like the romance between Matti and Sarrlevi, it’s a slow burn, but there are plenty of scenes with them together. It only bothers me how much Matti goes back and forth about whether she can trust him or not and I am eager for them to get at the point where they fully trust each other. There’s a scene involving Sarrlevi and something that he got coerced into that made me very uncomfortable and I felt it didn’t fit in this book and almost got brushed over too easily by anyone except Matti. The wrap up is done well and made me eager for book 3, which I started right after finishing this one.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– Audible
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.