Lera of Lunos (Power of Five #4)
by Alex Lidell
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: Reverse Harem
Blurb:
Two immortal realms on brink of war. One mortal standing in their way.With the quint squaring off against the king of Slait, Lera is running out of time to tame her feral magic. Worse still, just when the quint must weave together to survive, demons from Tye’s past surface to tear them apart. Demons he fears facing, let alone sharing with Lera.
But when Griorgi makes a move that no one expects, throwing River, Shade, and Coal’s lives into question, the clock runs out. Lera and Tye have no choice but to fight their battles within—or risk losing Lunos and their quint forever.
LERA OF LUNOS is a full-length reverse-harem fantasy novel, the stunning finale to the Amazon-bestselling, KU-All Star POWER OF FIVE series.
My Review
I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
I enjoyed the first three books in this series and was curious to see how the last book would wrap things up. Lera of Lunos is a great ending to the series. At the end of book 3 they uncover a plot they have to stop and this book will deal with that. They still have their last trial to finish and Tye seems to be a bit off recently. Lera is still struggling with her weaver powers. So there’s enough going on.
I have to admit I am not a big fan of the whole citadel plot line and I was glad when they finally finished their last trial and left the place. I felt the citadel restricted their movements and I was happy when they were out and about in Lunos again and we could see more of the world. While I appreciate the fast pace of the story and how things don’t get dragged out, it felt a bit rushed in certain points. I liked that the battle at the end didn’t get too drawn out during or before by showing their suffering, but at the same time it was over so quickly. I kinda liked the emotional part after that, but there was also a part that I didn’t really care for.
The ending is still a bit open, but wraps up the most important issues for now. I wouldn’t have minded a bit more of an epilogue. The part at the end is mostly a sex scene a few hints of how things will go in the future. I just would’ve liked to see a bit more how Lera experiences the changes and see what would be next for them and what would happen to the world now that things stabilized. I think there might be a spin-off later, so that could explain the more open ending.
I did have a few minor issues with things happening in the story that sort of added up over the course of the series. And I noticed I wasn’t quite with my head at the story. I have been having some troubles finding the right books to read for my reading mood. So that diminished my enjoyment of the book a bit and made me notice the small issues I had more.
In this book we finally get to see Lera and Tye bond a bit more. I like how Tye’s character changed over the course of the series and how it becomes clear there is more depth to his character that seems at first. In this book we get to see a bit more about his past and tiger and see him finally get closer to Lera too. I like how the romances with the different males develop at a different pace in this series. And each male has a different personality.
It did bother me a bit how Coal got distanced a bit again after I thought they resolved that, but I am glad they got past it again. They just rarely communicate at all and it causes trouble at times. It also bothers me a bit that they never talk about things as a group. It seems everyone is okay with them all being in love with Lera, but I really would’ve liked to see some conversation about this. As now it just seemed to be a non issue and from what we know of the world that’s not the norm and all the males are pretty possessive. I just wished they had mentioned this or discussed it shortly. And while there is more than enough steamy scenes in this series, I would’ve liked a bit more of the sweet, normal and touching scenes. But that probably has to do with my current reading mood.
While the series has a solid plot, the focus still remains on the romance. There are at least 4 sex scenes in the book and quite some focus on the romantic relationships. I liked seeing Lera bond with Tye now as well, so now she has coupled with all four of them. But I would’ve liked to see more of them function as a unit now that they resolved these things between them. It still is mostly Lera with one of the males working things through or connecting.
The sex scenes didn’t fully work for me, while the author did a nice job varying things up a bit, there are parts that seem the same no matter which male she is with, like the possessiveness. And parts that were a bit unrealistic and weird descriptions which just got me out of the scene. And the sex scene at the end seemed to come a bit out of the blue. It also bothers me that there is something Lera says no about, even tough she seemed mostly okay with it, it still bothered me that they didn’t stop and communicated if she wants that. They just went ahead with it anyway.
I mostly like what we’ve seen of the world of Lunos and the Gloom and Mors, but now at the end of the series it still feels there is so much we don’t know. They visit Blaze toward the end of the book, which makes me realize how little we’ve seen of the world and the different courts. There is some new magic that pops up that we never heard about. And certain world building rules that seem to have come out of nowhere. It’s not like it was ever stated this wasn’t true, but as it never got mentioned before, it felt a bit inconsistent anyway how they got suddenly brought up now. I also still have trouble remembering these are hundreds of years old Fae warriors as so many of them still act like teenager or adults, but not old immortals.
To summarize: Lera of Lunos is a solid and fun end to this series. It leaves thins open enough for more books, but wraps up some main things. I liked part of the end, but I also would’ve liked to see a bit of an epilogue and what the future holds for the quint. The plot moves quite fast paced, which works well, although it did feel a bit rushed in some parts. I liked getting to see Tye share his story with Lera and connect with her. Although I had some issues with the sex scenes being a bit similar and a bit unrealistic at times, which got me out of the scenes. I also wish they had discussed the polyamory situation, they all seem okay with it, but it never quite gets stated or discussed which just felt off to me. There are some world building rules that seem to come out of nowhere, even tough they don’t contradict anything we learned before it still felt a bit off how some things about the magic and Fae only got brought up here in the last book. I also feel like there is still so much of the world we haven’t seen yet. All in all this is a solid reverse harem fantasy series that I enjoyed although I had some issues that kinda heaped up at the end.
Hmm, so maybe there is to be a spin-off series since this one left some things still in play and the relationships weren’t as resolved in ways, either. Or, sadly, maybe this last book was simply under-developed. Though, I do get what you’re saying about how a mood and some small niggles can put one off a story.
Glad you still enjoyed the overall series and story even if there was some disappointment with this last one.
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It just got announced there will be a spin-off indeed, so that explains why things are left a bit open. Not sure if I will read the spin-off tough. It’s sad my mood wasn’t quite right for this one and the small niggles added up. It’s still a pretty good series overall.
Ending with a sex scene but not a lot of closure does sound frustrating. And I can definitely see why you wanted them to all talk things out as a group, especially if that kinda relationship is not the norm. Ugh, it really bothers me in books when the character says to no to something in a sex scene and the other(s) do it anyway because they assume she’s ok with it, and I always point it out in reviews when that happens. I’m glad you got closure on a couple things though and enjoyed some of the book and the rest of the series.
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There will be a spin-off series so that’s probably why things were left a bit open. I really wish they had talked a bit about the relationship as everything we learn about the world indicated those types of relationships aren’t the norm.
I think she was sort of okay with it, but she said no so I still thought it was very inconsiderate of him to just assume she was okay with it. It just rubbed me wrong.
Mostly it’s a great series, but there were some things that didn’t quite work for me.
I have’t read a reverse harem yet but if I find the right one to read I will.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Review: Counsellor by Celia Aaron
There are some good reverse harem series out there. It will be interesting to see which will the first reverse harem book you pick up.